🧵 1/10 Here we go! I interviewed @ulalaunch CEO @torybruno at HQ on launch day 🚀 I had NO IDEA that this legacy player had survived at least 3 separate "death sentences" to make it out the other side. The lessons are incredible. Thread 👇

Important

This week's Crossing the Valley: Nathan Diller, Head of Aerospace & Defense for @Divergent3D We discuss: 00:00:00 Introduction to Divergent and DAPS system 00:02:00 Nate's background and career journey 00:03:00 The Divergent vision for digital manufacturing 00:05:00 Why

MANUFACTURING TWITTER: Small US manufacturing co's (20-50ppl) that do ANY defense work and want to grow, LISTEN UP I'm building a pilot program to get you CMMC lvl 2 Compliant at NO UPFRONT COST and pack you w/ as much work as you can handle Retweet to save 🇺🇸 DMs are open

We need 7,000 drones in the hands of 3,500 combat squads in the next 3 months. Over the weekend, the The Wall Street Journal wrote: “An ambitious Pentagon plan to field thousands of cutting-edge drones to prepare for a potential conflict with China has fallen short and the

Today on Crossing the Valley: my conversation with @ARPAE funded Niron Magnetics CEO Jonathan Rowntree: (03:14) What makes Niron's iron nitride technology revolutionary (06:07) From university lab to commercial company (08:13) Building the early team and key hires (10:59)

Why do people take photos of themselves on trade show floors?

The @nytimes ran a report on an aborted mission into North Korea. The first question - ALWAYS - should be a) why this story and b) why now. The answers are almost always more important than the story itself

Name the worst customer service in the game & why. I'll start: @VerizonSupport Have never been able to log into their website, touchtone support never registers your choice, just an endless doom loop of not getting what you need (which is relief from their garbage service). 🧑‍🍳

I was at a defense event, not too long ago when an investor from a VC firm that I’ll leave unnamed approached a very in-demand founder. The founder was in conversation with some curious young folks. This self-important investor nearly tripped over himself telling the founder

Today, @BlueWaterShips announced their Series A funding from @GVteam (@davemuni) @rylanhamilton and @AustinEGray rejoined Crossing the Valley to share what they've learned and how they accelerated to this round just 3 months after coming out of stealth: (00:43) Series A

.@bhorowitz at SXSW (2014): "If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, get in your mind there’s no quitting." Expertise isn’t inherited. It’s earned by iteratively compounding knowledge until you see what nobody else can. That’s why you don't quit.

Following CDAO and now DIU, is @emilmichael now the most powerful defense under-secretary of all time? Just asking questions!

8/8 Bottom line: We're still in early innings of the drone-filled future. Counter-UAS will be as common as cybersecurity. Companies that can deliver proven solutions (not just demos) will own this market. Full episode:

7/8 Policy gap: Congress gave authorities but not budget. Agencies got budget but didn't exercise authorities. Result: Three years of bureaucratic paralysis while threats escalated. Change is finally coming with NDAA 26 and reconciliation bill funding.

6/8 "You have to fight a swarm with a swarm." 95% of current cUAS solutions are tower-based RF systems. That won't scale against distributed autonomous threats. The approach Jon wants to see: Portable, autonomous, kinetic systems that can move and adapt.

5/8 The Border Crisis Continues: Drones are the preferred method for smuggling, reconnaissance, and corporate espionage coming from Mexico. When it comes to drones, domestic restrictions mean "we're fighting with one hand tied behind our backs."

4/8 Here's the twist: the homeland security angle nobody talks about is Jon's biggest concern: Corporate espionage. It's happening DAILY. SpaceX facilities being surveilled by foreign nations. Trade secrets being stolen from manufacturing sites. Insight: "Soft kinetic"

3/8 Fortem has been operational in Ukraine for 3+ years, not just selling tech but learning from real warfare. Plot twist: They were providing electronic warfare intel to the US government before official agencies could detect it themselves.

2/8 Fortem saw the drone threat coming in 2016 when everyone else was focused on "nuisance" drones (kids flying DJIs near bases). Their vision: Small commercial drones WILL become weapons. Build low SWAP-C solutions NOW. Ukraine proved them right.

From Navy SEAL to counter-UAS CEO: Jon Gruen's journey building @FortemTechn reveals how defense tech companies ACTUALLY cross the valley of death. And the scariest UAS threats no one is talking about... A short🧵...