Issue #2 • January 29, 2026
In Silicon Valley, we talk a lot about "building." But if you look at the skylines of San Francisco or New York, the pace of transformation has been modest compared to China's dramatic reshaping. Meanwhile, in China, they have completed massive urban development projects in 5-10 years, built infrastructure at speeds unimaginable in the West, and Integrated multiple cities into megacity regions. Why can one country build a high-speed rail network in the time it takes another to approve a bus stop?
This week, we are reading Breakneck by Dan Wang.
This isn't just another geopolitical book about "Great Power Competition." It’s a study on organizational psychology at the scale of nations. Wang argues that the world is currently divided into two operating systems: the Engineering State (China) and the Lawyerly Society (America).
For founders and operators, this book is a masterclass in the trade-offs between speed, scale, and sustainability.
💡 The Core Idea: Engineers vs. Lawyers
Wang’s central thesis is simple but devastating: China is run by engineers, and America is run by lawyers.
The Engineering State: Prioritizes outcomes. If you need a bridge, you build the bridge. If a village is in the way, the village moves. The goal is physical transformation and "process knowledge."
The Lawyerly Society: Prioritizes process. If you need a bridge, you first spend five years litigating over the environmental impact, zoning laws, and community grievances. The goal is procedural justice and risk mitigation.
The book doesn't say one is strictly better. The "Engineering State" delivers high-speed rail but also the brutal, rigid rigidity of Zero-COVID. The "Lawyerly Society" protects individual rights, but often results in paralysis, where nothing physical ever gets built.
🚀 What We Liked
Wang lived in China from 2017 to 2023, so this isn't armchair analysis. Here are the three insights that hit home for us:
1. "Process Knowledge" is the Real Moat
We often think China’s advantage is cheap labor or stolen IP. Wang corrects this. He argues China’s true edge is "Process Knowledge"—the tacit wisdom you only get by doing the manufacturing yourself. You can’t steal this; you have to earn it. When the U.S. outsourced manufacturing, we didn't just export jobs; we exported the ability to innovate on hardware.
"You can't invent the future if you don't know how to build the present."
2. The "Technological Sublime"
Wang describes the feeling of standing in Chinese cities—surrounded by new bridges, massive dams, and endless power lines—as the "technological sublime." It creates a sense of national optimism that the West has lost. For founders, this is a reminder: Morale follows momentum. People need to see progress to believe in the mission.
3. Efficiency Has a Human Cost
This is the warning label. The Engineering State treats people like building materials—assets to be deployed for the greater good. Wang unflinchingly details how this mindset led to the disasters of the One Child Policy and the Shanghai lockdowns. It’s a stark reminder that "optimizing" a system without a "soul" (as referenced in our last read!) leads to catastrophe.
⚡ Why It Matters Now
This book lands at a critical pivot point for Silicon Valley.
For the last 15 years, the smart money was exclusively on SaaS. "Software is eating the world." But today, the pendulum is swinging violently back to atoms. From defense tech and robotics to energy grids, the most ambitious founders are realizing that the next era of growth requires bending the physical world, not just moving pixels.
We have spent a generation optimizing for financial engineering and risk avoidance. Breakneck matters because it forces us to confront a hard truth: we have largely forgotten how to build things fast. To win the next decade, we need to relearn the muscle memory of industrial execution.
👥 Who Should Read It
Hardware Founders: If you are building atoms, not bits, this book is mandatory reading on supply chains and industrial capacity.
Crypto & Network State Enthusiasts: A fascinating look at how different "operating systems" for governance actually play out in the real world.
Anyone Feeling "Stuck": If you feel like your company (or country) has lost the ability to execute, this book is a jolt of energy.
🛒 Where to get it?
You can get your copy of “Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future” here:
🏗️ About the Author
Dan Wang is widely considered the best observer of modern China's tech ecosystem.
A Canadian born in China, he spent years writing the famous "Annual Letters" for Gavekal Dragonomics, which became legendary in tech circles.
He is now a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. Unlike many pundits, he understands the technical weeds—he can explain the supply chain of a solar panel just as well as he can explain Marxist-Leninist theory.
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Disclosure: Seedradar Ventures and/or its general partner may hold investments in some of the companies mentioned in this newsletter. This content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.
