What happens when your son drops out of MIT at 19, starts a defense company in his twenties, and sets out to reinvent the way America builds weapons? If you’re Tamara Diller, you get a job.

In this episode, Mike sits down with the Head of Marketing and Communications at Mach Industries, Tamara Diller, who also happens to be the mother of the founder and CEO, Ethan Thornton.

Ethan’s decision to leave MIT and pursue his vision for Mach has led to a company now valued at $1.8 billion. But the story gets more interesting when you hear it from his mother—and learn what Ethan was like long before he became a CEO.

It’s a revealing and often surprising conversation about family, ambition, risk, failure, manufacturing, and the remarkable journey from a kid who liked to blow stuff up to the leader of one of America’s fastest-growing defense companies.

At the center of it all is a fascinating question: What happens when the son you raised becomes your boss?

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