Ethan Thornton’s vision for Mach Industries wooed blue-chip investors Sequoia and Bedrock, but he has struggled to execute, hamstrung by technical challenges, safety hazards and a cavalier approach to leadership.19 years old, Ethan Thornton had a grand vision for a new company: He’d do away with the U.S. military’s centuries-long reliance on gunpowder munitions by developing an array of hydrogen-powered weaponry.
unexpectedly ignited, blowing up the machinery and sending a spray of shrapnel across the room. Thornton was miraculously unharmed, but a colleague helping with the test was rushed to the hospital with hundreds of pieces of metal in his body. On another occasion during a team meeting, Thorton compared Mach’s hierarchy to that of a cult: leader, clergy, priests, community leaders, true believers. A photo of a whiteboard showed the phrase “What Is A Cult?” written on it, above a description of its various features, like “Communal Living: All interactions together. Birth, life, death. Eat, breathe, sleep” and “Hive mind: true love for fellow members.” Employees were perplexed by the analogy.