OPC

For the first Defense Innovation Funding Opportunities in November, check out the opportunities closing this week from United States Air Force and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)! #funding #innovation #defenseinnovation

Drone startup Firestorm Labs has devised a way to sharply reduce the amount of time it takes to build a small drone using a global network of 3D printers to surge capacity. "Firestorm Labs can 3D print the airframe of a Group 2 unmanned aerial vehicle ... in around nine hours and finish integrating all its components in a total of 36 hours." Brett Barbee, Firestorm Vice President of Business Development, attributes the advanced production rate to "the 3D printing process, the simplicity of design and the use of commercial-off-the-shelf components." Barbee adds that the finished product would cost around one-fifth of the cost of Group 2 fixed-wing drones. #defenseinnovation #defensetech #defenseindustry https://lnkd.in/e8rVkH9j 

🚨 A Wake-Up Call for American Drone Makers 🚨 You know who you are. Overconfidence, hubris, and a lack of collaboration with end-users on the battlefield are holding back the effectiveness of American drones in Ukraine. Instead of adapting to the realities of war, some manufacturers have assumed their technology would be inherently superior—and it’s costing results where it matters most. Here are the hard truths: 1️⃣ Electronic Warfare Vulnerability: Russian forces are exploiting weaknesses through jamming and spoofing, causing loss of control and navigation failures. Super expensive fixes to these issues will not suffice. 2️⃣ Operational Glitches: Technical malfunctions and unreliability have led to mission losses and trust issues with operators. 3️⃣ High Costs and Limited Availability: Expensive systems with slow production times have forced Ukrainian forces to look elsewhere. 4️⃣ Battlefield Adaptation: Many U.S. drones struggle in the harsh and dynamic conditions of Ukraine’s front lines to include weather and EW. 5️⃣ Competition from Alternatives: Affordable, reliable, and readily available systems from competitors, including Chinese drones, are rapidly filling the gap. At the core of these issues is a failure to listen, adapt, and collaborate with those in the fight. Technology alone doesn’t win wars—partnerships do. For American drones to regain their edge, it’s time to put ego aside, accept the feedback, and deliver solutions that meet the demands of this evolving conflict. Let’s ensure we’re building tools that empower and protect—not frustrate—the brave operators on the ground. The time to act is now. 💡 #Innovation #Drones #DefenseTech #Ukraine #Leadership

Anduril has been awarded a $100 million Program of Record by Space Systems Command to deliver Lattice as the resilient mesh networking backbone for the modernization of the Space Surveillance Network (SSN). This isn’t just another contract award — it’s the culmination of years of hard work, innovation, and partnership. We started with a United States Space Force Pitch Day in 2021, and in just four years, we’ve gone from a concept to a full-fledged Program of Record. Few programs move this fast, but rapid delivery is what we do best. Anduril is proud to play a key role in the modernization of space domain awareness, ensuring the U.S. Space Force has the tools it needs to maintain security and resilience in orbit and beyond. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/evn8X3rm

H Company might've just created the best AI agent yet. After raising $200M, they just introduced an agent that can execute any task from a prompt. Their "Runner H" can basically turn instructions into action with human-like precision. Features: ▸ Navigates web interfaces with pixel-level precision. ▸ Interprets pixels and text to understand screens and elements. ▸ Automates workflows for web testing, onboarding, and e-commerce. ▸ Adapts automatically to UI changes. ▸ Achieves a 67% success rate on WebVoyager, outperforming competitors. Architecture: ▸ Powered by a 2B-paramezer LLM for function calling and coding. ▸ Includes a 3B-parameter VLM for understanding graphical and text elements. You can signup for the private beta here: https://lnkd.in/gdrK6u6A

Defense tech funding just reached a new high. Defense tech startups have raised almost $3 billion so far in 2024, according to Crunchbase. This surpassed the previous record from 2022 of $2.6 billion. Impressive feat, especially considering the number of deals has shrunk: in 2022, there were 113 defense tech rounds, outpacing 2024’s 85 rounds. https://lnkd.in/dgFtu__e

At 20, you're dangerous because you don't know what's impossible. Every founder is building "AI for X" - you're asking why does Visa still hold your money for 3 days? Why doesn’t IG feel like a social app for friends anymore? Your naivety is your secret weapon. Plus, you’re probably pretty broke so you have tons of ambition to make it. Then reality teaches you expensive lessons. You launch a "worse" product but get distribution right. Your "MVP" gets traction but can't scale. Users love the product but won't pay. The feature everyone said they needed? No one uses it. Your “dumb” buddy from high school sold his company for $15M because he knew the director of product of Google. Your biggest competitor isn't other startups - it's inertia. Users hate their current solution but hate changing more. Customers enthusiastically saying "yes" in meetings never write checks. Your perfectly scalable tech stack doesn't matter when you can't find users. Your product never really answered the “why now” question. By age 30, the game reveals itself. You see patterns others miss: - Paper valuation of your startup is kinda BS - The best companies start by solving a small, boring problem perfectly - Consumer social is the hardest game in town (but fun) - “X” is a bubble - Failing marketplaces become SaaS companies - Growing SaaS companies build marketplaces - Every big company is a distribution company wearing product company clothes - Your "clean" architecture matters less than your first 100 customers - Most startup ideas are timing mistakes, not product mistakes But you do start getting more jaded. At thirty-five, you can't unsee these lessons: - Profitability gives you ultimate leverage to do what you want in life - Bad UI with distribution beats great UI without it - Consumer indifference kills more startups than competition - The best products look like toys to incumbents - If you plan on selling your company one day, probably good to know the people in charge of making those decisions - What you can't measure is usually what matters - Market timing beats execution every time - Edge cases reveal your true moat - The best products solve problems so fundamental, they look obvious in retrospect The words cash-flow sounds better and better to you. If you're lucky, you learn the 35-year-old lessons at 21. I share these lessons at gregisenberg.com in real time (free to subscribe) And if you’re into startup ideas, I’ve got a database of 30+ profitable startup ideas for you to download for free at https://lnkd.in/eKicBBqe

BREAKING: ChatGPT can now use your Apps on Mac! The first step toward ChatGPT having full control of a computer as an agent: —It can write code in Xcode/VSCode —It can make a git commit in Terminal/iterm2 —If you give it permission of course —Available right now to Plus and Team users —Coming soon to Enterprise and Edu —It’s an early beta > The OpenAI team has been building towards this for almost a year. > The next step beyond this would be to allow ChatGPT to control see and control your desktop as an agent. > Bloomberg just reported that this agent, called the “Operator” will be released in January (covered in depth in The Rundown AI newsletter this morning) > So App Usage could essentially be the OpenAI team doing bug fixes with humans in the loop feedback prior to Agent release > Google DeepMind, Anthrophic, and several other startups (some which are in stealth) also reportedly have agent-type systems coming within weeks > Guess no one is taking Christmas off Will be interesting to see how/if coding AI startups (the top VC play of the last year) pivot when ChatGPT starts to use VSCode and Xcode directly. One small step for product before one giant leap for agents. Video credits to OpenAI with commentary by the amazing Romain Huet P.S. we wrote more about "Operator" — OpenAI's reported Computer-use type agent in the newsletter this morning: https://lnkd.in/gYiV4NkT

Must listen: Our Co-founder and COO, Matt Grimm, joined 20VC with Harry Stebbings for an unfiltered conversation on disrupting legacy defense, great power threats and the urgent need for a TikTok ban. Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gawYs8h2 YT: https://lnkd.in/gzbqf4cC

As U.S. manufacturing scales and grid challenges grow with AI, Oklo’s clean energy solutions could offer reliable, behind-the-meter power for critical sectors like data centers, factories, and manufacturing. Catch our CEO’s CNN interview here: