Travis Kalanick & Michael Dell Live from Austin, Texas

Travis Kalanick operated thousands of employees across 30 countries under stealth—employees listed «stealth» on LinkedIn, the company used generic local names (Cloud Kitchens in the U.S., Kitchen Valley in Korea, Namah in the Middle East), and even investors were contractually barred from disclosure. The mission: «infrastructure for better food,» treating atoms like bits by digitizing the physical world. Kalanick explains that in an atoms-based computer, manufacturing manipulates atoms (like CPU manipulates bits), real estate stores atoms (storage stores bits), and logistics moves atoms (network moves bits).

The company, now branded Atoms, operates a «food computer»—high-capacity kitchens and logistics designed to deliver prepared meals at near-grocery-store cost, doing to the kitchen what Uber did to the car. Kalanick notes that restaurants have only 20% spare capacity; DoorDash and Uber Eats fill that gap, but true industrial-scale e-commerce for food requires purpose-built infrastructure. Atoms is now expanding beyond food into mining automation (via the near-closed acquisition of Pronto, a San Francisco–based mining-equipment automation company) and robotics wheelbases. Kalanick positions Atoms as the «Google of physical AI»—the inevitable question for any startup in the space will be «Why won't Atoms do this?»

Travis Kalanick, born and raised in Los Angeles, moved his primary residence to Austin in December after maintaining a Lake Austin property since 2021. He describes California as «too weird»—a collapse of «truth and justice,» which he calls «the immune system for society.» When that immune system is suppressed, all social ills flare up: homelessness, crime, bureaucratic paralysis. Kalanick recounts conversations with dozens of startup CEOs who want to leave but feel trapped by employees, offices, and facilities in California. He urges them to «just make the move and lead»—the pain is less than expected.

Michael Dell, a Texas native (born in Houston, founded Dell in Austin), notes that Texas has had a low-tax, pro-growth, pro-business climate «for a long time.» Austin is now the 10th-largest U.S. city; four of the top 10 are in Texas. One in 10 U.S. children is born in Texas, and more NYSE-listed companies are headquartered in Texas than in New York. The state has abundant land, power, and a regulatory environment that «lets you build stuff»—critical for AI data centers and physical infrastructure. Dell and Kalanick agree that San Francisco's decision to turn Market Street into empty bus and bike lanes symbolizes a «subconscious desire to choke the city off.»

The Invest America Act, championed by Brad Gerstner and passed in April 2025, creates a «Trump account» for every U.S. child: a $1,000 government seed deposited at birth starting January 1, 2027, invested in a diversified S&P 500 portfolio and locked until age 18. Michael and Susan Dell pledged $250 to each of 25 million children ages 2–10 in households with median income below $150,000—a $6.25 billion commitment. The goal: reconnect 70% of Americans who feel «left out and left behind» to the ownership society and defend capitalism among a generation that increasingly rejects it.

Brad Gerstner explains that every child under 18 is eligible to claim an account today; 4.5 million have already signed up, with 100,000 new claims daily. On July 4, 2025—America's 250th anniversary—all claimants will see a Robinhood-style app decomposing their S&P holdings into individual stocks (NVIDIA, Walmart, Dell), enabling parents and friends to contribute via Apple Pay or QR codes. The Act is «social security 2.0»: 3.7 million kids per year will receive automatic accounts forevermore (the $1,000 seed must be reauthorized every four years, but the accounts are permanent). Over 15 years, the program aims to move $5 trillion into families' hands—via government seeds, corporate matching, state contributions, and private philanthropy—replacing the «Ponzi scheme» black hole of traditional Social Security with visible, compound-growth ownership.