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Nathan Silvernail is no stranger to launching a bold idea. After seven years at SpaceX helping build the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon, he took that first-principles mindset and applied it to an entirely different challenge: reinventing how to make one of the world’s most fundamental materials.

As co-founder and CEO of , Nathan is a new kind of “wood”—one that doesn’t come from trees but instead from fast-growing, sustainable biomass. This new material is designed to be carbon negative and a durable alternative to traditional wood products used in construction.

Outside of work, he’s an avid pilot, even flying aerobatics—an extension of his longtime passion for aerospace and engineering.

In this latest installment of the 51�Թ���’s “Forge Your Path” series, Nathan shares lessons from scaling teams at SpaceX, his approach to leadership and why rethinking manufacturing from the ground up can unlock entirely new possibilities.

Q: What is one lesson or insight you’ve gained in leadership that you haven’t widely shared before but that has been a key part of your or your company’s success?

Nathan: “I’d say it’s really about the energy you bring as a leader. Early on—whether you’re an engineering lead or a supervisor—you don’t always realize how much your team depends on your energy and direction.

I learned that quickly at SpaceX. I went from being an individual contributor to managing a team of about 20 people. Each person needs time—one-on-ones, reviewing work, team meetings—and you have to figure out how to manage that effectively.

When you’re already stretched thin, like when you’re running a company, it becomes even more important. I don’t think I’ve mastered it, but being intentional about where I spend my time, who needs more attention and how I communicate that has been critical.”

Q: Can you share a quote or mantra that defines your approach to leadership?

Nathan: “I tend to say, ‘No noise, all signal.’ That’s really my ethos—in leadership, engineering, business and even my personal life.

Time is limited, and when you have a lot to accomplish, you need to make sure the people in the room are adding value. A lot of conversations can get bogged down with unnecessary detail or noise. I try to push toward clarity—getting to the point and focusing on what actually matters.”

Q: What accomplishments at your organization are you the proudest of and why?

Nathan: “We’ve effectively redefined engineered lumber manufacturing. Instead of trying to optimize what already exists, we broke the system down to first principles—what are the right decisions and why?

Our focus has always been on carbon sequestration, efficiency and sustainability—not just financial outcomes. From there, we rebuilt the process.

Traditional systems can involve massive, centralized facilities with huge capital requirements. We’ve broken that down into smaller, more flexible systems that can scale over time with much lower upfront investment. That allows us to generate revenue faster and expand more efficiently.

That mindset—simplify, reduce parts and vertically integrate—comes directly from my time at SpaceX and the emphasis on first-principles thinking.”

Q: Where do you see your company in the next 5–10 years, and what are you hoping to achieve?

Nathan: “Long term, the goal is to transform the entire lumber industry. We’ve developed a system that can produce multiple types of engineered lumber using different biomass sources, ideally close to where materials are sourced or used. That creates efficiencies across the board.

In the next five years, I want us to reach the production capacity of a mid-sized mill—around 15 million oriented strand board panels per year—with multiple machines deployed across the country. From there, we can expand to other products, other builders and potentially other markets.

Ultimately, we want to remove the need for trees in a large portion of homebuilding. About 43% of a single-family home is lumber, and there’s a real opportunity to rethink that—from cost to sustainability to supply chain.”

Q: Is there a book that you have read or a podcast that you have listened to that you would recommend to your peers and why?

Nathan: “I haven’t been reading as much lately, but I do watch the ‘Diary of a CEO’ podcast quite a bit, which features a wide range of leaders and experts and really digs into how they think—uncovering lessons and insights that can help people be more effective and successful. I find it valuable because it covers a wide range of perspectives.

More broadly, I tend to study leaders and companies that resonate with me. I’ve looked at how Nvidia operates and drawn some parallels. But honestly, I’ve probably learned the most from Elon Musk—both in how to think about problems and, in some cases, how not to.”