A visit to Prototown, a 1,200-acre hardware startup compound near Lockhart, Texas, where founders Josh, Merle, and Jod are building factories and housing startups in conex trailers. The founders believe America can manufacture at scale again, though their funding and timeline remain unclear.
We are in Lockhart, Texas, halfway between Austin and San Antonio. We're heading to Prototown. It's supposed to be this hardware startup town. It's been very secretive. We're getting the first ever look for an outsider. To be honest, I don't know who's backing this. I don't know what we're getting into. This could be amazing.
It could be underwhelming.
We found a young but active 1,200-acre compound. There were people living in conex trailers. There There were startups working away on projects, and there were foundations being laid for factories. All of this was drenched in America can do big shit propaganda. To try and begin to understand this place, I engaged in an ancient Texan ritual known as eating barbecue with the three Prototown founders, Josh and Merle, And then Jod, the only real Texan among the bunch.
Don't worry, don't fret. What are you waiting for? Come down to Prototown. We got housing, we got land, we got startup capital. Work on something absolutely crazy.
As far as aspirational hardware profits go, Josh seems pretty chill and well-meaning. Josh went to Duke and while there spent time building hardware. After college, Josh decided people like him needed a place to try out their big ideas. He came up with the Prototown concept and recruited his fellow Dookie and best friend Merl to join the quest.
