# From Oculus to Anduril: Palmer Luckey on Power, Technology, and the Future

> with @PalmerLuckey @cdixon In this special episode — our 100th on the a16z crypto show! — Chris Dixon interviews Palmer Luckey (founder of Anduril; founder of Oculus VR and designer of the Oculus Rift) to talk about the future of technology, belief, and building. What does it take to build hardware ...

- URL: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/podcast/palmer-luckey-anduril-oculus
- Authors: [Palmer Luckey](https://a16zcrypto.com/team/palmer-luckey), [Chris Dixon](https://a16zcrypto.com/team/chris-dixon)
- Published: 2026-01-23
- Focus areas: company building, tech trends
- Tags: bitcoin, founder stories, podcast, video, Founders Summits
- Format: podcast

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[Embedded media](https://player.simplecast.com/234c32ad-6fd2-4708-bb13-81325d67c73a?dark=true)

[Embedded media](https://www.youtube.com/embed/qxPE7dvjVOk?feature=oembed)

**with** [**@PalmerLuckey**](https://x.com/PalmerLuckey) [**@cdixon**](https://x.com/cdixon)

In this special episode — our 100th on the a16z crypto show! — Chris Dixon interviews Palmer Luckey (founder of Anduril; founder of Oculus VR and designer of the Oculus Rift) to talk about the future of technology, belief, and building.

What does it take to build hardware at scale? Where are many of today’s tech bottlenecks? And what’s the case for optimism about the future despite growing geopolitical turmoil, regulatory constraints, and other blockers to innovation? The candid, wide-ranging conversation covers crypto, banking, and stablecoins, as well as modern warfare, the U.S.–China technology race, AI and manufacturing, and much more.

Dixon also digs into company building in good times and bad with Luckey; the conversation was recorded live at our [Founders Summit](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjQ9HCQMu_8y1qG43ihHGIcBD3BXaYKKm).

**Highlights:**  
0:00 — Introduction  
2:08 — Early Oculus: Why VR was hard  
8:02 — Bitcoin & early crypto days  
9:49 — The Facebook acquisition  
13:36 — How successful was VR, really?  
18:59 — Starting Anduril  
20:01 — Hiring for mission (“Don’t Work at Anduril”)  
23:59 — How Anduril works (product dev, org design)  
27:47 — How Palmer stays ahead of the curve  
33:00 — The US-China technology race  
34:40 — What Putin understood early about AI  
39:45 — Stablecoins & banking risk  
45:00 — Politics as bottleneck  
47:00 — Future of technology: AI, fusion, quantum  
50:23 — Automation, abundance, and optimism  
53:23 — Ukraine, drones, and the reality of war

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Source: [From Oculus to Anduril: Palmer Luckey on Power, Technology, and the Future](https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/podcast/palmer-luckey-anduril-oculus) — a16z crypto. Full archive: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts