Nathan Silvernail

Nathan Silvernail is the CEO and co-founder of Plantd, a materials company developing a new structural building material engineered to replace conventional wood. Plantd's product is designed to perform like wood while dramatically reducing the environmental footprint of home construction, offering a scalable alternative at a time when the building industry faces growing pressure to cut its carbon impact.

Before founding Plantd, Nathan spent seven years at SpaceX, where he developed a set of problem-solving frameworks that shaped how he approaches innovation and company building. On The Grove, Nathan joined host to discuss how those frameworks, forged inside one of the most demanding engineering environments in the world, carried over into the work of inventing an entirely new material from scratch. The conversation covered what it takes to validate a novel scientific invention, secure a patent, and build a business around something the market has never seen before. Nathan also spoke to the discipline required to challenge assumptions and reframe problems in ways that open up solutions others miss. The episode offers a practical and candid look at what it means to pursue genuinely transformative work in the built environment.