Eagle Electronics: Onshoring America's Critical Technologies with TJ Dembinksi

TJ Dembinski, Eagle Electronics: Onshoring America's Critical Technologies

The O.H.I.O. Fund Report's first episode features TJ Dembinski, co-founder and CEO of Eagle Electronics — dedicated to on-shoring America’s critical technology supply chain, starting with the IoT and automotive-grade cellular modules — and Jeffrey Stern, Principal at The O.H.I.O. Fund.

This conversation traces a fascinating arc — one that begins with the macro and geopolitical forces shaping global commerce and lands in a Northeast Ohio advanced micro-electronic manufacturing floor where Eagle Electronics is domestically building one of the most critical pieces of our digital infrastructure: the cellular module.

TJ's story, and the founding of Eagle, is deeply embedded in these broader structural shifts — from the decoupling of U.S. global supply chains to the bipartisan momentum around domestic manufacturing and reindustrialization, to the evolving national security concerns that now govern the production of connected technologies.

Before founding Eagle, TJ was a Partner at Drive Capital, where he spent over five years exploring and investing at the frontiers of emerging technologies — from AI to cybersecurity to advanced manufacturing. In our conversation, we explore how his vantage point as an investor informed his transition to becoming a founder, and how Eagle emerged from an intersection of powerful global tailwinds and one very specific customer need.

We also talk about the nuances of reshoring, what onshoring looks like in practice, what cellular modules are, and why Ohio — of all places — is emerging as the epicenter of America’s next industrial chapter. From partnerships to cutting-edge automation, from regulatory and security considerations to hard-earned insights about what it actually takes to build something physical at scale — TJ brings an insightful clarity to one of the most exciting, complex, and important entrepreneurial movements underway today and how Eagle Electronics is positioned to lead within it.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tj-dembinski/
https://www.eagleelectronics.com/

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For more on The O.H.I.O. Fund: check out & subscribe to future content @ www.theohiofund.com
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[00:00:00] Eagle Electronics
[00:01:17] Introducing TJ Dembinski  
[00:02:57] The Macro Trends Shaping Eagle Electronics
[00:06:03] Transition from Investing to Entrepreneurship
[00:07:54] Eagle's Origin Story  
[00:08:51] Advanced Manufacturing and Onshoring  
[00:11:23] Political Drivers of Reindustrialization  
[00:12:21] Defining Critical Technologies 
[00:13:42] Why Ohio?
[00:16:02] What is Eagle Electronics?  
[00:17:00] What is a Cellular Module?  
[00:17:46] Setting Up U.S. Manufacturing  
[00:18:59] Regulatory Environment
[00:21:22] Addressing Real vs. Perceived Risk  
[00:23:11] Startup Life Cycle
[00:23:47] Eagle's Market Strategy and Vision  
[00:26:25] Workforce & Talent for Manufacturing  
[00:28:13] Market Timing and Competition  
[00:30:01] Learnings as Investor and Founder  
[00:32:00] Capital and Funding in Ohio  
[00:34:34] Enabling Ohio's Manufacturing Ecosystem  
[00:37:15] Building in Hardware vs. Software  
[00:41:26] Fostering Nuance and International Collaboration  
[00:42:30] Earned Wisdom and Entrepreneurial Journey  
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Creators and Guests

Host

Jeffrey Stern

Principal @ The O.H.I.O. Fund

Guest

TJ Dembinksi

Co-Founder & CEO, Eagle Electronics

What is The O.H.I.O. Fund Report?

The O.H.I.O. Fund Report℠ — a podcast dedicated to elevating Ohio’s collective ambition by highlighting the most compelling stories of innovation and growth throughout the state. Each episode carries the industrious DNA of Ohio, exploring the state’s economic renaissance across advanced manufacturing, digital infrastructure, biotech, healthcare, energy, data centers & AI, consumer goods, and logistics advancements.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:00:00]:
We want to onshore the manufacturing of critical technology. One of the one of the most critical pieces of, of this is the cellular module. Kinda any connected device will likely have a cellular module in it. None of that manufacturing happens here domestically. And what we are doing is we're bringing back cellular module manufacturing to The US.

Jeffrey Stern [00:00:22]:
Welcome to the Ohio Fund Report, a podcast dedicated to elevating Ohio's collective ambition by highlighting the most compelling stories of innovation and growth throughout the state. Each episode carries the industrious DNA of Ohio, exploring the state's technological progress and economic renaissance. Before we dive in, just a quick note. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Nothing you hear today should be taken as investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Today's guest is the CEO of one of the Ohio Fund's portfolio companies, meaning we do have a financial interest in the company being discussed. As always, views expressed by our guest are their own and don't necessarily reflect those of the Ohio Fund or its affiliates. Any forward looking statements you hear today are based on current expectations and may change.

Jeffrey Stern [00:01:17]:
Please do your own research and consult with your advisors before making any investment decisions. Today, I had the real pleasure of speaking with TJ Dembinski, cofounder and CEO of Eagle Electronics, dedicated to onshoring and securing America's manufacturing of critical technologies starting with IoT and automotive grade cellular modules. This conversation traces a fascinating arc. One that begins with the macro and geopolitical forces shaping global commerce and lands in a Northeast Ohio advanced microelectronic manufacturing floor where Eagle Electronics is domestically building one of the most critical pieces of our digital infrastructure stack, the cellular module. TJ's story and the founding of Eagle is deeply embedded in these broader structural shifts from the decoupling of US global supply chains to the growing momentum around domestic manufacturing and reindustrialization to the evolving national security concerns that now govern the production of connected technologies and securing America's supply chains. Before founding Eagle, TJ was a partner at Drive Capital where he spent over five years exploring and investing at the frontiers of emerging technologies from AI to cybersecurity to advanced manufacturing. In our conversation, we explore how his vantage point as an investor informed his transition to becoming a founder and entrepreneur and how Eagle Electronics emerged from an intersection of powerful global tailwinds and one very specific customer need. We also talk about the nuances of reshoring, what onshoring looks like in practice, what cellular modules even are, and why Ohio of all places is emerging as the epicenter of America's next industrial chapter.

Jeffrey Stern [00:02:57]:
From partnerships to cutting edge automation, from regulatory and security considerations, the hard earned insights about what it actually takes to build something physical at scale, TJ brings an insightful clarity to one of the most exciting, complex, and important entrepreneurial movements underway today and how Eagle Electronics is positioned to lead within it. So with that, please enjoy this fascinating conversation with TJ Dembinski. I was thinking about where the best place to start this conversation would be, and I remember of the first times we met was when, I would frame it, you were exploring the idea maze. And it actually wasn't about critical technologies, advanced manufacturing. We we were talking about AI and where investing in AI, where enterprise value might accrue, where people were building in AI, and how it just kinda changes the whole landscape of things. And I wanted to kinda start there because I always find it really fascinating how from if you look at your decision tree of of your life and and, you know, kinda map your career against it, how it's very difficult with any kind of clairvoyance to say, and no, you know, this is the path that that I was on. But from a place of retrospect and where we are today, you know, you can kinda look back at your life and career and and identify maybe the the thread that that ties it all together. And as a way of of introduction, I wanted to ask, in reflection, what would you say is the thread that ties your career together?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:04:31]:
Interesting. I probably say the biggest threat, and it's actually more of a it's a philosophical answer to some extent. But I often think about whether you direct your life or whether life happens to you. And I think it's a funny thing, but most of us operate in contexts that are so much greater than us. Meaning, there are macro trends that are just so powerful that they pull you in. And if I think back to my career, I have ridden the tailwinds of a lot of macro trends, not so much because I was smart and I chose to do those things, but because I was exploring opportunities, and there were opportunities that originated as a result of those macro trends that pulled me in. And if I think about this past year and how we originally met, one of the opportunities that I was exploring was around investing in the AI space. It feels like this inevitable tailwind, all of the momentum is in that world, and we read about it every day in in the newspapers.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:05:30]:
And now I think so that was the trend that I was exploring at the time. But what's a funny thing is if you think about these macro trends that pull you in, there's another broader macro trend that's pulling us in. And it's probably the onshoring of manufacturing in The US and, frankly, the decoupling of supply chains between The US and China. And that was just another one of those tailwinds that was so powerful. I wish I could say that it was, this intentional effort of mine to go build a business in the space, but I think that that was the space that that pulled me in, and it was this macro trend that, I just couldn't shake.

Jeffrey Stern [00:06:03]:
Yeah. Well, and it it was powerful enough to kind of inspire the the transition from investing to to founding of an organization. Just kinda take us through the the evolution, if you will, of of how you thought about what this trend even was and and where where the opportunity within it was.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:06:22]:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that to some extent, this has just been this has been a trend that has been going on for, really, the last decade as geopolitics have played out and, and as this has just become more of a hot button issue. The way this specific opportunity with Eagle came about was it was actually the result of the last few years of work that I'd done. Back in 2016, so prior to founding Eagle, I had been an investor at Drive for the last, really, for the five and a half years prior to that. One of the businesses that we'd had the good fortune of investing in was a company called Finite State. Finite State had had, really the thesis for the business was most vulnerabilities that exist in an end hardware product are typically not the result of final assembly. They're the result of there being a vulnerability somewhere along either the hardware or the software supply chain Mhmm.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:07:10]:
And that being the ultimate exploit point. FinanceAid had its big break in 2019 when they were the ones that discovered many of the backdoors that existed in Huawei equipment. And as a result of that, really, a number of Chinese businesses had reached out to them and said, hey. We need to find a way to, to assuage our customers' fears and let them know that, hey. Our product is okay for American consumers, is okay for American businesses. There are no vulnerabilities, and therefore, it is okay for you to design into your end product. One of those companies was a company called Quechdel, and it has been and continues to be a good relationship. About a year and a half ago, though, as geopolitical tensions can continued to bubble up, they reached out to Matt, the founder of Finance State, and said, hey.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:07:54]:
We need to find a way to guarantee continuity of supply to our customers under any geopolitical scenario. Do you have any ideas on where to start? And that was how we got in. That was how myself and my partner, Mark, got introduced to to the team. And we pretty quickly said to them, we said, hey. We have no interest in this being a one off consulting project for how to onshore manufacturing. Yep. However, we do believe that all of the macro trends that you're caught in the middle of are not unique to you. Geopolitical tensions are only increasing.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:08:25]:
The desire to onshore manufacturing domestically is only increasing. And, frankly, end customers' desires to procure from from American suppliers and sort of onshore suppliers is only increasing. We wanna go build the onshore and partner of choice, both for companies like yourself, but also then for those end customers. And we would use the the sort of story of onshoring with you guys as the case study in how to do this. So that's kind of the origin story, and we haven't really looked back since.

Jeffrey Stern [00:08:51]:
To set a bit of maybe a a historical backdrop to some of those tailwinds that that you've been working with, in in the formation of Eagle, what happened with advanced manufacturing here? Like, what is the story of of onshoring and reindustrialization? I kind of love from the perspective of Eagle. You know, a lot of people are talking about what that looks like in practice, and there isn't a lot of what it looks like in practice.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:09:17]:
Yeah. That's that is true. Although, I would say if you look at the trend line Yeah. You're starting to see a lot of it happen in practice. If you zoom out for a second, thirty years ago, we offshored a huge amount of manufacturing, both advanced manufacturing and then also not advanced manufacturing. That was just the result of a labor arbitrage that existed between Asia and The US. The past, really, decade, I think you've seen a huge amount of investment in automation. And the irony is that that has actually made American manufacturing more competitive.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:09:49]:
So and it's funny. I think one of the things that we found is that in in Asia, a lot of the reason that a lot of the reason that folks have made investment into manufacturing technology is not for, cost reduction. It's actually for for, quality control. Basically, there's so much turnover on these lines that they need to have advanced manufacturing and and sort of automated manufacturing in order to control the the quality because there isn't a huge amount of, like, knowledge stability on the line.

Jeffrey Stern [00:10:21]:
But the byproduct is that you can do it more

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:10:24]:
often? And so what's interesting though is that in The US, what that has actually allowed for is it's it's allowed for kind of a cost parity or a relative cost parity, where all of a sudden the cost to produce a a product overseas is not so different than the cost to produce a product domestically. Just because now if you look at kind of the total product cost, the percentage that is the the goods has increased and the percentage that is the result of kind of a value add from the manufacturing side has diminished. And so the irony is that has now made American manufacturing more productive, and more and more possible. And while you're right, that in kinda if you were to look at it from an absolute number of of sort of advanced plants that exist here today relative to other parts of the world, we're small. But if you look at the trend line and probably the year over year growth rate, we're rapidly increasing. I think you've seen that with TSMC Arizona. Yep. You've seen that with all of the, all of the incentives that have come from both the federal and state levels.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:11:18]:
And then you've seen that probably most recently with last week's announcement of of Anduril coming to Ohio.

Jeffrey Stern [00:11:23]:
Totally. In reflection on where this kind of tailwind came from, and it's it's in one of these kind of rare bipartisan supports of it. There's there's an agreement that it is important for us to reconsider how we have done manufacturing and and supply chains. What what do you find was the the catalyst for, you know, this kind of of thinking at a at a higher level?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:11:47]:
I think in a lot of ways, it's a very easy political story to get behind. Jobs are bipartisan. Advanced technology is bipartisan. And the desire for America to be secure and can and control its destiny from a critical technologies perspective is a bipartisan, belief. And all of these trends have have kind of coalesced together such that Republicans, Democrats, everyone in between has been able to say, hey. This is an easy thing for us to support all of our constituents like it, and therefore, I'm gonna put my weight behind it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:12:21]:
When you talk about critical technologies, can you expand upon what we're actually talking about?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:12:26]:
Yeah. A lot of this is is kind of the advanced manufacturing on electronics, starting at really you can kinda start at the base chip level. I think there's a number of folks that worry about our reliance on Taiwan, for a lot of the the critical chips that that underlie most of our critical technology. And as a result, folks have wanted kind of to diversify our our reliance diversify away from our reliance on that to having a lot of those capabilities onshore. That's what's led to the TSMC Arizona plant. And, frankly, all of the, all of the subsequent chip manufacturing efforts that we've seen.

Jeffrey Stern [00:13:03]:
So you mentioned Andrewville, as a, you know, recent move from California to Ohio kind of story, and Palmer Luckey had mentioned this phrase, you know, hinting at why that that was the the case and kind of described Ohio as a place that can pull you in and speed you up, which is which I just appreciate very much as a a a pithy aphorism for, you know, why you might wanna do, and consider building here. From your perspective, though, as you considered, you know, all the the possible places that you could have built Eagle, What was it about here that made it interesting and compelling?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:13:42]:
So I think there's a couple of things. One, obviously, my cofounder in this is Mark Mark Kwame. He's one of the founders of Drive. He's the founder of the Ohio Fund. I've known him now for the better part of almost seven years. When we began working on this idea, I think it just so happened that, obviously, the Ohio Fund had been raised, and that was a wonderful source, of of opportunity and sort of a way to to have this vision be realized. I think, too, one of the things that we did was we called every contract manufacturer that we could find to understand who had the capabilities, the workforce to do this, and and and the knowledge to to run the machinery that we're gonna have to run. And, frankly, it's pretty remarkable.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:14:22]:
You start calling around, and you realize there's actually only a handful of places that are able to do that. We came across a a contract manufacturer up here in Northeast Ohio, called coax technology, which is where we were yesterday and where we're setting up the line. And first off, the team there was was wonderful. Management was was willing to work with us and and kind of architect what is a pretty unique relationship for this. And then lastly, there was just because this this is a part of the world and a part of America that builds things. And so there were a huge amount of incentives actually to to to base manufacturing here. Chiefly, we're able we're actually able to operate in a foreign trade zone, which means that all of the materials that come in are are there we do not pay a tariff upon import or, I guess, upon entrance into, the foreign trade zone. And then provided we ship out, which a lot of this a lot of final assembly for technology products still exist over in over in Asia.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:15:19]:
There's no tariff upon exit either, which means that, actually, we're able to do this at a pretty cost, cost competitive price. And then lastly, I think you just see it. I I wish I had the stat off the top of my head, but if you look across kind of all 50 states and where the majority of these projects, the sort of the major products that you read about in the newspapers Yeah. Have have originated, you got to think that there's not a lot of places that is ahead of Ohio. Obviously, the Intel plant is being built down in Central Ohio. Anduril's plant is being built down in Central Ohio. And I can just think of a number of smaller things that, we are all aware of just given given our proximity. And I you just don't read about many many of these many of these big infrastructure projects happening to the extent that they're happening here.

Jeffrey Stern [00:16:02]:
So with that backdrop and and context laid out, what what is Eagle Electronics?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:16:08]:
So if you zoom out for a second Yeah. Really, the thesis here was we want to onshore the manufacturing of critical technology. One of the one of the most critical pieces of, of this is the cellular module. Kinda any connected device will likely have a cellular module in it. The none of that manufacturing happens here domestically. And what we are doing is we're bringing back cellular module manufacturing to The US. We and so the way we have done this is we have licensed technology from Craigtell. They're the global leader, in cellular module manufacturing, and we plan on on producing our own modules, domestically here.

Jeffrey Stern [00:16:47]:
Help me understand what a a cellular module is. You know, when we think about, you know, semiconductor chips, where where does this fall in in the, in the the value chain of microelectronics?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:17:00]:
Yeah. So any connected device that connects to one of the carrier networks, so I think T Mobile, AT and T, Verizon, that will have a cell that is a cellular module. That is what it allows for the device to connect to the carrier networks, and ultimately have connectivity built in. We all use this cellular module on a daily basis. And this is like a anything if we if you zoom out for a second, you think, okay. Are there gonna be more connected devices tomorrow than there are today? I bet that the answer is yes. And and as a result, we thought this was a really competitive area to to go build the business and start just given the fact that all of this manufacturing for this technology happens overseas. None of it happens domestically, and we're gonna be the first to manufacture these here.

Jeffrey Stern [00:17:46]:
How do you do that?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:17:47]:
Yeah. So that is what we've gotten into. So that is with our arrangement with COEX. And so what we've done, it's actually pretty funny. We were walking the line yesterday at COEX, and what we realized is there really isn't equipment that is. The equipment that we have purchased just doesn't really exist in The US. Yeah. So we purchased the most up to date Fuji machinery, and then we've purchased a whole lot of proprietary, testing technology.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:18:11]:
So what we're doing now is we're setting up a line at COAX. That is our contract manufacturer. We've subleased space from them. And this is gonna be a line fully devoted to to manufacturing the modules. What's interesting is most most contract manufacturing on the electronics side that happens in The US today is high mix, low volume. What we are doing is the exact opposite. We are high volume, low mix. And as a result, like, the machinery that exists in most of the CMs that we look at today has a very different purpose than the machinery that we've that we've done.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:18:45]:
So the machinery that we've purchased is devoted to to mass production. Like, think this is wide commercial application scale, and that's that is what we are setting up just at at COAX today.

Jeffrey Stern [00:18:59]:
So if if you think about Eagle in the context of a way for international companies to retain, you know, access to the North American market while you mentioned assuaging of the security concerns of those who might buy those products domestically. What is the regulatory environment in which Eagle is operating and and kind of the the the challenges, the tensions that it has to navigate through?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:19:26]:
Yeah. I think the answer is it's constantly evolving. I joke that it's way better to be lucky than it is to be smart. So when we started this business, I think we we had a feeling and a sense that there were these inevitable macro trends that was gonna lead to decoupling of supply chains. I don't think that we had realized how quickly it was going to happen. So even just since we've started this, the the connected vehicle rule has been sort of the primary, catalyst for a lot of folks thinking of, okay, how do I start to make procurement decisions that are compliant with now a new and evolving regulatory framework? What what

Jeffrey Stern [00:20:02]:
is the connected vehicle rule?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:20:03]:
So the connected vehicle rule is it now governs how anyone that's making, connected cars, which is virtually every car that's on the road, every every new car that's on the road, how they have to make their purchasing and procurement decisions. And it has a specific, provision against purchasing from what we call foreign adversaries, meaning Chinese or or Russian companies. That is a it's a big deal for the supply chain, because a lot of this stuff a lot of this stuff still is manufactured over in China. A lot of the code that gets written is still is still written over in China, and a lot of the hardware originates over in China. And so this is a pretty meaningful, piece of regulation that is gone that every every company now that is a part that is affected by this has to make changes to their supply chain. What's interesting too is, obviously, there's a new administration as of this past Monday. And what we have wanted to understand is, okay, is this the starting point, or is this the ending point? And I think what we have found is that this is really the starting point. And that what is likely to happen is that all of the the, requirements of the connected vehicle rule are are likely to go and apply now to the rest of industry and and and govern, frankly, just the sort of a new supply chain that is just beginning to be built.

Jeffrey Stern [00:21:22]:
So I think we've all, as a society, been a witness to, maybe at its worst, what happens if you're dependent or reliant on an adversary supplying technology, that your, for example, maybe military is dependent on? What what what might happen, you know, in that scenario. How do you go about assuaging the actual security concerns?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:21:48]:
Yeah. Well, I think that there's there's a you have to bifurcate what is real risk versus what is perceived risk. And what that requires is actually a a pretty strong understanding of where the exploit points might come from and where the vulnerabilities might lie. And that is a big thing that we have had to go and do when we talk to customers. Because, obviously, folks are gonna say, hey. A lot of the technology that you are that you are building today is based off of a a a Quechtell design. And that's where I say, actually, no. A lot of the technology that we're going in in building today is really based off of a Qualcomm reference design, which is a Qualcomm's, obviously based out of San Diego, an American business.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:22:32]:
So that is kind of one of those things where is that a perceived risk, or is that a real risk? In a lot of the ways, I think a lot of the the the hardware piece, it's a perceived risk. Then there's the question of, okay, well, software interacts with this. And that's where you have to go and say, well, actually, no. We have a secure North American build environment. We have an American based software, American, based software team. And we're doing and we're working with Finite State, which has had this whole opportunity origin originated to go and say, well, no. We're doing a full security test audit and analysis of of the source code and all of the code that goes on to these modules, prior to them going out into the wild and and then being what we as as Americans consume. So I

Jeffrey Stern [00:23:11]:
think you and I both have spent a lot of time with with founders and, you know, thinking about startups and and the life cycle trajectory of them. And Eagle, in the context of that that startup life cycle, I think, is is somewhat unique in in the trajectory that it has and and what those stages might look like. You know, the the idea of an MVP.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:23:33]:
How do

Jeffrey Stern [00:23:33]:
you how have you thought about what the the chapters of the Eagle life cycle are? Knowing, you know, there's this, this arrangement with with Quicktell to to kinda get started, but a broader vision to do this more holistically for a broad set of critical technologies.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:23:47]:
Yeah. It's funny. So I mean, I joke. When we I spent the last five and a half years as a venture investor prior to starting Eagle. And one of the things we always say is when you're starting a business, like, you need to push into the market Yeah. In order to ultimately create pull. From really day one, we've had pull into this market. And I think that just speaks to the fact that there are broader macro tailwinds for what we're doing.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:24:11]:
The interesting thing too is that most businesses that are affected by these macro tailwinds, they're not small businesses. They're, like, they're global enterprises that navigate sort of a Chinese regular they navigate a Chinese regulatory environment. They navigate an American regulatory environment. They navigate a European regulatory environment. They navigate just an entire an an a a global regulatory environment. And what that's meant is they need to find ways to have single product designs, but for a global, a global customer set. And that's actually really hard when there's different when there's evolving regulatory environments. And so one of the things that we wanna do with Eagle is say, hey.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:24:51]:
No. We you can still have a single global product plat a single a single product design, but do so in a in a, in a regulatory compliant way, globally. We're starting with the cellular module because it's really unique where, if you if you think about kind of the where we're gonna have the most competitive, manufacturing, it is likely in these highly automated spaces just because the labor arbitrage still does exist. Mhmm. And so the more you can automate as the the manufacturing, the more competitive it's gonna be domestically. And this is fortunately a very automated, a very automated manufacturing thing. Now there's still a number of folks that are on the line, but just relative to kind of final assembly where there's plastics and inject and injection molding, that is not what this is. Over time, we wanna go use kind of this case study on saying, okay.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:25:46]:
We identified a really critical piece of technology that is not manufactured here, and we found a way to ensure the manufacturing. Now we wanna go and do this across subsequent verticals. And so we started really at at the module itself. I think the next thing that we wanna go do is do the full board. And then after doing the full, the full PCBA board, we wanna go do then kind of final assembly.

Jeffrey Stern [00:26:07]:
This is all comprising the real whole

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:26:09]:
value chain. I think grow yeah. Exactly. Growing the the growing the sort of opportunity that is in front of us and the amount that we can offer our customers over a time is priority number one. Now there's a crawl, and then there's a walk, and then there's a run. We are still in the spectrum of that, very much in the crawl phase.

Jeffrey Stern [00:26:25]:
You you mentioned, you know, people working on the line. Who who you know, knowing that the in the context of when you were exploring, you know, coax and and its, you know, peers who might have the even the capability of doing this kind of work, Do we have the workforce, and people who have the the acumen and and the know how to to work on these lines if we haven't had a lot of them historically?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:26:50]:
Yeah. It's a good question. It's actually one of the things that attracted us, one, to Ohio and then two, to COAX, specifically. If you just zoom out for a second, I think the reason that we have found a number of these huge infrastructure infrastructure projects coming to Ohio is because Ohio has been very intentional about how it's how it's created a labor workforce that can, that can handle this type of manufacturing. Ohio State has has put a lot into, into training folks to do this type of work, which is why Intel and Anduril ended up there. Up in Northeast Ohio, you've got Lorraine, Lorraine Technical Community College that has also similarly got a big MEMS program. And as a result, I think there is kind of these these more, these these programs that will allow for this this workforce with, this sort of very specialized skill set to continue to exist and continue to pump out more folks every year that are able to do this. At COAX in particular, it's still a pretty specialized, skill set.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:27:49]:
And, like, there's a lot of engineering know how. SMT, which is was a word, the technology that we are that we'll we will use to manufacture these these modules is all surface mount technology manufacturing equipment. Like, that is a specialized type of manufacturing equipment. And to find the folks that have experience on that is not common. And so by by partnering with COAX, on day one, we're able to have a workforce that knows how to do this.

Jeffrey Stern [00:28:13]:
Knowing the what, you know, you had described as the pull into the market and how large of an opportunity this is, all of the geopolitical tailwinds, kind of the the macrostructural trends that have created the the space for this opportunity. Why haven't there been more, you know, goes at bat from, you know, other companies? When you think about competition, how do you think about competition?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:28:37]:
It's a it's a good question. One, I I one of the questions that we would always ask in in in venture investment was why now? Yeah. And I think the reality is it's only been like, I have found that every day, there has been more momentum for what we're doing and for onshore manufacturing than there was the previous day. And I think that's the result of now. There's just starting to be a much broader focus on this from a policy perspective. And so, like, you saw, the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Reduction Act. There was a lot of money set aside to go and incentivize this type of of project. That is ultimately what led to the intel plan.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:29:16]:
And then in addition, there's now more regulatory, regulatory motivation as well. And so I think that, like, there has always been a desire to do this, but there haven't really put, been the pieces that have been put in place that have allowed for it to happen from a practical perspective. And and I think one other thing that I would add is there's this chart in our fundraising deck that we love to show. And if you look at, a plant that exists over in China or other parts of of Asia, kinda more broadly about a decade ago, if it cost a buck to produce a product, it now costs 30¢ as a result of all the automation that has occurred. And we're able to take that manufacturing advancement and bring it here, where all of a sudden you've actually got cost competitive manufacturing as well.

Jeffrey Stern [00:30:01]:
So you've mentioned a few times now how your experience as an investor has maybe influenced, you know, your your approach and thinking as a as a founder. You know, as it should. It's it's the experience that you've had. What what have, more personally, just what what have you learned now as a founder that maybe you wish you had known as an investor? And what have been the most useful, you know, observations or learnings that you've earned as an investor through working with so many different founders that you've been able to apply as a founder?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:30:29]:
One, I think the biggest thing is, like, you can always overthink everything and deliberate forever. Sometimes you just gotta make a decision, stick to it, and then under and then reevaluate after you know what the outcome is gonna be. And the second thing is, man, I'm embarrassed now about how much founders' time. I found much time I took up from founders when I was an investor, where at the end of the day, like, no one is gonna solve that problem unless you, as the founder, do it. And every time you spend talking to folks that are not gonna help you solve whatever the problem is of the day, then you're just that amount of time further away from finding the actual solution. And then lastly, there's, like, a real psychological thing of of being a founder where you've you feel a huge amount of ownership and responsibility for it. And at the end of the day, like, investors, they take on real risk as well, but no one is more tied to the outcome than you as the founder.

Jeffrey Stern [00:31:24]:
So I'd I wanna spend a little time talking about funding. Yeah. I think you and and your cofounder, Mark, have probably spent more time than just about anyone thinking both as a investor here in Ohio and also as a founder here in Ohio, what the landscape looks like and and the perspective from from both sides of it. What is your perspective on capital in Ohio and and, and the role that it should play, particularly in the context of, you know, this this vast opportunity for reshoring and and reindustrialization? For any venture, capital is critical. And

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:32:00]:
I think drive capital really changed the landscape when it started in 2012, Where if you just at the end of the day, like funding, opportunity, all of those things, they are it is they are easier to come by when proximity is is there. And Drive Capital was the first fund that really brought kinda that Silicon Valley mindset of investing to places outside of Silicon Valley. And that changed, I think, the opportunity here and the way that people were thinking about building companies in in Ohio, and frankly, in the broader region. And as a result, you've really seen this this kind of this, I would say, momentum build from that. I would say the snowball effect where once things get rolling, they they continued to go in that direction. And now it's not atypical to see a Silicon Valley venture firm come and invest in an Ohio based business or a New York or Boston based venture firm come and invest in an Ohio based business. That is really at the growth stage though. It is still absolutely true that at the earliest stages, capital and and sort of rounds that come together are the result of proximity, where I was I was reading this thing last night where most kinda when you least need money is when you're most likely to get funding.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:33:20]:
And that is just and it's oftentimes when businesses, like, most need money that they're the least likely to get funding. And as a result, I think, like, you're more likely to just serendipitously have a funding opportunity occur when there is then when there's more capital located in in the areas that you're that you're, building the business in. And so I think it's absolutely true now that, like, funding has allowed for businesses to be built here. And if you add that on to kind of the broader trend of onshoring, and and really manufacturing, I think one of the theses that Drive had and that I still believe is that founder market fit is incredibly important. And a lot of the opportunities and problems that need to be solved, like, there just aren't there aren't people investing in those. And that's just and that is because there isn't really the founder mentality. Like, most most businesses that are being built in Silicon Valley today, they're all AI and software oriented. Yep.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:34:14]:
A lot of the businesses that are built here are, like, moving atoms. And that is just because that is what people know here. That is, like, what the legacy, industrial base has been built around. And so you see a lot of those opportunities in the companies that that, go and solve those problems be built in this part of the world. And so it's absolutely critical if there's also capital here to back those founders up.

Jeffrey Stern [00:34:34]:
Yeah. We we do have this rich industrious history of building things and and knowing how to build things. In the spirit of, you know, you're in Eagle's grander ambition to reshore critical technology manufacturing, what do you think is required of the whole ecosystem to to realize that vision, and what is Eagle's role to play in it? Like, what how do you think about what success looks like?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:35:04]:
It's a great question. Firstly, I think capital is critical. Like, this is it is not for the faint of heart, and it is not for the faint of heart from a funder's perspective either. I mean, just the equipment the the manufacturing equipment that we have invested in on day one to go and start this business is almost four and a half million dollars worth of equipment. Like, you need the ability to access real capital and sort of have have investors that are willing to stomach the risk that comes with that, in order to get this business off the ground. From there, I think you need to continue to see, like, an ecosystem be built up around this. I think we were very fortunate to find coax. I think that the reality is is that we need a lot more coaxes to exist in this part of the world if we're gonna see what we're doing to be just a drop in the ocean in terms of a much bigger trend.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:35:55]:
And then lastly, I think you just need to see, like my goal here is that we're not the only person doing this. My goal is that we have a lot of copycats down the line. And that would be wonderful because the reality is is that I'm a believer that a rising tide floats all boats. And if we have more folks to trade with and to partner with on on kind of subsequent projects and and subsequent ambitions, then I think we're more likely to see success.

Jeffrey Stern [00:36:20]:
What are you most excited

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:36:22]:
and optimistic about? So all of this has been in the hypothetical so far. I mean, we were walking the line yesterday, and all of the equipment has now shown up. We're still we gotta kick off manufacturing, and we expect that we're gonna kick off manufacturing in q three of this year, hopefully sooner. But this is very different than the world of software where you kinda ship it, and and if it breaks, you fix it. In our case, like, this 4 and a half million dollars equipment, we gotta set it up right on day one, and then we gotta go and and properly manufacture from there. And I am most excited to see modules coming off the line and ultimately shipping to our customers. Yeah. I

Jeffrey Stern [00:36:58]:
mean, you mentioned operating in the the world of atoms. What what do you think have been the lessons that you've picked up on building in in hardware and, you know, with software, but but really, you know, kinda grounded in in the the world of atoms?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:37:15]:
I think there's a lot less margin forever. So in software, like, a lot of we used to say just, like, keep pivoting. Keep pivoting. Yeah. You can't really do that in this. And it's funny. Like, the pivots that we have had since we've started, they're absolutely pivots. Like, the the vision and the model of what we are doing and is kind of where where I understand even our value prop for a lot of customers has changed since day one of of founding the business.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:37:42]:
But at the crux of it, like, we are still manufacturing cellular modules. That is and what that means is, like, we have to set this line up on, properly. And this is 4 and a half million dollars equipment. Like, you can't go set up a subsequent line if you get the first line wrong. You won't have the you won't have the capital. You won't have the know how. You won't really like, there's just no reason to say that you have the right to do that. Yep.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:38:06]:
As I think about this, like, that is there's just a lot less margin forever. Now all that said and the the second thing is too on just the the economic side of it. Like, software, there's zero marginal cost to selling. And what we're doing, like, that is not true. There there are materials that go into this that cost real dollars. And so from a it's like a unit economics perspective, we have to be really confident that what we are doing is correct. Yep. Otherwise, it's really easy to sell a buck for 90¢.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:38:34]:
And that is the last thing that we wanna do.

Jeffrey Stern [00:38:37]:
Well, in the spirit of of pivots, I think one of the patterns that that I've picked up on is just that it's very rare that the business that a company was founded on is the business that the company succeeds with. And you've mentioned now, you know, the evolution of of Eagle. How would you describe what the value proposition is?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:38:57]:
Yeah. It's funny. My, my answer to this has changed over time, and that is without the actual fundamental business model changing too much. I thought for for a brief period I I thought when we initially founded that this was gonna be part of, like, people just wanna buy from American suppliers. They wanna buy American manufactured devices. And they also would be looking for, ways to to protect against the potential the possibility of tariffs. I think all of those things are still true. Mhmm.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:39:29]:
And that those are that those are very real motivations for customers purchasing. What I've realized the primary motivation is though for customer for customers purchasing is trust and security. They want, American software on their devices, and they want, they want an American development team being the ones that are going and and testing the software and then ultimately uploading it to to the modules. And that has changed the way I've thought about this business and how it's scaling over time, when you really realize that you're in the trust and the security business.

Jeffrey Stern [00:39:59]:
What do you feel is unsaid? Obviously, we've covered a lot of ground here, but in reflecting on your journey personally on the business of Eagle, is there a particularly important or salient aspect that you think is interesting to

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:40:12]:
to talk about? Yeah. I think it's a funny thing. I think that what gets lost in all of the political rhetoric these days is nuance. And that that's a dirty word when it comes to talking about big, complicated macro ideas. But nuance is inherent in anything that is big and macro and complicated. And one of the things that I have found that, where we have lacked nuance is, like, in a lot of ways, we need to find partners that are going to be good, positive collaborators with us, that are not American. In our case, like, a lot of the partners that we've found have been Chinese companies or or, or folks that are part of a Chinese company. And you just can't have a supply chain where you say, hey.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:40:57]:
Today, you can only buy American because we are so intertwined as two nations. And as a result, like, it's not as easy as an executive order saying tomorrow we can't buy, Chinese components. We can't buy Chinese anything from China. And so as a result, like, I think that when we think about our supply chain, we really need to recognize that, like, we as two countries are very intertwined Yep. And have policy that recognizes that.

Jeffrey Stern [00:41:26]:
How do you foster a consideration or awareness or tolerance of nuance?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:41:33]:
I I think knowledge is critical, and having people become aware of that is critical. Like, most people recognize that they look at the bottom the inside of their their shirts or wherever it is, and it says made in x. And that is typically not America. And that is all that is true for every part of of sort of the manufacturing value chain, or that is at least that is true for most things that we manufacture. And I think that once people can actually recognize that, while also saying that, like, all of the motivations and aspirations of of onshore manufacturing are noble and things that we should be doing. But recognize that what comes with that is, a a necessity to collaborate. Because in a lot of ways, we don't have everything that is required to do that here, on day one. That's why you're seeing the TSMC Arizona plant get built.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:42:22]:
Like, we had to do that in con in conjunction with TSMC because they're the only folks in the world that have the knowledge that's required to do that.

Jeffrey Stern [00:42:30]:
What other earned wisdom do you feel you've picked up in this? I don't

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:42:34]:
know if I have much wisdom yet. No. I think that the my biggest piece of advice to myself, Yeah. Throughout this has been, like, to just keep going and to to turn the next page and see what you're gonna uncover. I mean, it's funny. Like, when when this whole thing got going, I I I put this at about 1% probability of actually occurring. In every subsequent meeting, I'd say, you know what? Maybe we went from one to 3% today, and then from three to 4% the next day. And and it kinda slowly inched up into being more and more possible.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:43:06]:
And now I'm pretty darn confident that we're gonna have modules that come off of these lines that that ultimately American businesses, purchase and sell to an American consumer. And that's, like, a really exciting thing to think about. But that what it along the way, there have been all sorts of ups and downs. There have been days where I thought, we're gonna take over the world and be a public business, and then there's days where I thought we were gonna go out of business the the following day. And I just need to keep reminding myself to take the deep breaths, appreciate this along the way, and know that as as you continue to turn the next page, like, there's gonna be opportunity.

Jeffrey Stern [00:43:43]:
Yeah. I mean, that that is the the entrepreneurial roller coaster. It's demoralizingly low lows and kinda euphoric highs along the way.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:43:51]:
Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:43:53]:
We'll round it out in, some closing questions to to bookend the conversation. Our our traditional closing question is for a hidden gem in Cleveland.

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:44:04]:
Interesting. I doubt it's hidden, but Mark and I had dinner on Wednesday night at the Marble Room, which is this, like, beautiful steakhouse in Downtown Cleveland. And I I love things that I think are world class. And you could put them anywhere in the world, and it'd be the best at what they do. And the atmosphere, the the interior of that place is world class. Yeah. And you could put that thing in anywhere in the world, and people would say, man, I wanna go get a steak there.

Jeffrey Stern [00:44:35]:
Yeah. It it is an inspired ambiance and atmosphere. Any parting words?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:44:41]:
No. Thanks for having me on the on the podcast. I really enjoyed this.

Jeffrey Stern [00:44:45]:
Oh, absolutely. My my pleasure. If if people had anything they wanted to follow-up with you about, learn more about Eagle, where would you direct them?

TJ Dembinksi, Eagle Electronics [00:44:53]:
Reach out directly. You can find me on LinkedIn, and, I'd love to meet more folks. Amazing. Thank you.

Jeffrey Stern [00:45:01]:
Thank you for tuning in to The Ohio Fund Report. If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd love for you to leave a review on your favorite platform and subscribe to stay updated on all future episodes. You can subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or directly on our website at theohiofund.com. The information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The views and opinions expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the Ohio Fund. A guest's participation in this podcast podcast does not imply an endorsement or an investment recommendation by the Ohio Fund. This podcast may include conversations with leadership of a company in which the Ohio Fund or its affiliated funds have an investment, and as such, financial interest in the success of this company, and there may be a conflict of interest in presenting information about the company and its performance.

Jeffrey Stern [00:46:06]:
Any forward looking statements or projections discussed during this episode are based on current expectations, assumptions, and estimates. Actual outcomes may differ materially due to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors. Listeners should consult their own legal, tax, and financial advisers before making any investment decisions. For more information about the Ohio Fund, including our form ADV, other regulatory filings, and additional conversations, please visit the ohiofund.com.