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National Security and Defense Market Map | Michael Bloch

Dec 6, 2020

Two years ago, DoorDash was a distant third behind Seamless & UberEats in the food delivery race. This week, $DASH will IPO at a $30B+ valuation as America's biggest food delivery provider. I was one of DoorDash's first 50 employees. Here's an inside look at how we did it 👇👇👇

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11/ if you'd like to dig deeper into the defense & national security startup ecosystem, here's my full post: michaelxbloch.com/national-secur And if you’re a founder in this space, feel free to reach out

michaelxbloch.com

Hundreds of startups are building in the defense sector, but defense tech is just one part of a broader “National Security Ecosystem” of companies working to improve our economic, societal, military,...

10/ and shout out to the people who led the way in this category:

+ many more

9/ The national security space covers a lot of ground. I left out some categories and likely missed companies. If you have feedback, let me know

8/ Lastly, companies like

, and

are working to protect first responders & keep our communities safe.

7/ We must develop & train our workforce to reduce labor shortages & skill gaps in industries critical to national security.

are training Americans & connecting them to top companies.

6/ Attacks against our core infrastructure & industrial base could cause significant damage to the US economy. People like

and others like

, &

ensure our infra & supply chains are resilient.

5/ Running the govt is a complex, multi-agency effort. Startups like

@Epsilon3Inc

@Onebriefapp

, & Intraloop are building software to help the DoD & govt better coordinate, plan, & decide. This way, they can increase decision-making speed & create better outcomes at lower costs.

4/ Space is a critical domain for US national security. Sectors range from launch services & space transport to satellite connectivity & hypersonic propulsion

, and

3/ Geospatial Intelligence startups collect data to visualize what's happening on Earth for intelligence, surveillance, & reconnaissance purposes. Companies like

, &

help with this and more.

2/ AI & Machine Learning is used in everything from missile defense to predictive aircraft maintenance. Startups like

, &

are leading the way to add more AI capabilities throughout the national security sector.

1/ Autonomy refers to the use of machines that can operate without humans. Companies like

, &

build drones, directed energy devices to take them down, and other autonomous systems for air, land, & sea

The 🇺🇸 government will spend $858,000,000,000 on defense in 2023. 4% of that will go to startups. Hundreds of founders are now building for the defense sector. From AI & autonomy to space & public safety, here's what this ecosystem looks like today👇 michaelxbloch.com/national-secur

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Santiago R Santos | #9159

@santiagoroel

Jan 10

We need better security standards & solutions in crypto and it’s incredibly exciting to see top minds like

@martyhu

join crypto to focus on this opportunity. Learn more about what he and the team

@AnomalySec

are building 👇 twitter.com/martyhu/status

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The best way to avoid conflict is to be so strong no one wants to mess with you. Investing in our national interest and areas like AI/ML, defense/public safety, supply chain & network resilience, and autonomous systems is how we'll ensure superior strength in the years ahead.

Overall, today's kill chain is inflexible, manual, slow, and brittle. It leaves our military poorly equipped for the future of warfare. It's critical for our government, military, and private sector to collaborate and adapt so we can compete more effectively in this race.

6. America should shift its focus from offensive strategies and take a defensive approach. As we face threats from nations with similar capabilities, we must prioritize denying access & influence in the areas that matter most, rather than offensively engaging on every front.

5. "Non-kinetic” tactics like electronic warfare, communication network disruptions, supply chain interference, misinformation/political subversion, and information denial systems are growing in usage. We need secure tools that can recover quickly & operate when under attack.

4. The US military needs to integrate with new tech like GPUs, 5G, sensors, AI, advanced manufacturing, biotech, quantum computing, hypersonic weapons, and autonomous systems. We need to get these tools into military operators' hands so they can be tested & iterated on.

3. Post WWII, America was deeply concerned about falling behind in the development of new military tech. Eisenhower encouraged military "founders" to take big bets & risks to develop ambitious new tech that might help us win. We lost our way in the 60s as bureaucracy set in.

2. The ability to win in combat comes down to what's called "the kill chain". It's a 3-step process that consists of 1) understanding what’s happening, 2) deciding what to do about it, and 3) acting to achieve that objective. Modern tech is not sufficiently integrated into ours.

1. America’s military strategy is not to fight open wars - it’s to be so strong & capable that no rival wants to fight in the first place. If US military superiority continues to erode, it actually increases the likelihood there will be conflict in the years ahead.

The book's main argument is that the US military's technological advantage has eroded. We must leverage new tech like AI, sensors, & autonomous systems to improve our ability to understand, decide, and act in combat. The book covers six main ideas:

I recently finished reading "The Kill Chain" by Christian Brose (Anduril's CSO + fmr advisor to Senator McCain). I highly recommend it for anyone that's interested in the future of warfare and technology's role in defending America. My notes on it below: michaelxbloch.com/kill-chain-not

Will Papper ✺

@WillPapper

Dec 1, 2022

ChatGPT makes The Librarian from Snow Crash into reality. When you can fork conversations it will be 🤯 My previous startup in 2017 tried to solve this, but we were five years too early! Absolutely incredible to see ChatGPT in action

Nov 18, 2022

Chinese apps allowed in the US ✅ TikTok US apps allowed in China ❌ Google ❌ Facebook ❌ Twitter ❌ Instagram ❌ Snapchat ❌ Quora ❌ YouTube ❌ Spotify ❌ Wikipedia

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NPR

@NPR

Nov 18, 2022

The FBI is concerned that the Chinese government could use TikTok to influence American users or control their devices. An agreement on security is being negotiated between the company and the U.S. government. n.pr/3hRgIU2

Oct 23, 2022

Obsessed people usually beat talented ones. Hard work & focus > innate smarts. Obsession + talent can’t be beat. This is true for founders, employees, investors, and others. When you find this rare combination, back it.

Oct 23, 2022

In consumer fintech, every innovation eventually becomes the industry status quo. Defensible innovation is near impossible (eg Robinhood free trading, Chime get paid early) twitter.com/mikulaja/statu

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Dynamic

@dynamic_xyz

Oct 17, 2022

Raise your hand if you have multiple wallets ✋ .. Ok, that's EVERYONE. So, announcing: Multi Wallet 🪄, our biggest feature release of the fall 🔥 dynamic.xyz/blog/multi-wal Let your users combine MetaMask,

@phantom

and others into a single account on your site. Why it matters:

0:16

8.2K views

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Paul Yacoubian

@PaulYacoubian

Oct 11, 2022

Just hit $10m ARR at copy.ai🚀

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Web3 seed valuations are starting to near those of web2 startups. This makes sense since prices for companies with similar business models should converge over time. Is there any reason why long-term a web3 b2b SaaS co should be valued higher than a web2 one? I don't think so

Proud to support

and the whole

team as they build the best decentralized RPC for censorship-resistant access to web3

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Lava Network

@lavanetxyz

Sep 22, 2022

1/ Lava is building a decentralized infrastructure layer for blockchain RPC. We believe in scalable, private and uncensored access to Web3. Already serving the @cosmos and @celoOrg ecosystems, and onboarding new chains everyday, here’s how Lava is shifting the paradigm

Show this thread

Sep 19, 2022

In crypto, there's a big difference between value generation and value capture. Value generation = solving a meaningful problem Value capture = making money sustainably from that solution Many projects do the former. Few do the latter.

Sep 7, 2022

Crypto is a chaotic, transparent environment with significant value at risk.

@chaos_labs

is the best solution to ensure DeFi protocols are secure & safe. Excited for all the other great things coming from this team soon…

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omer

@omeragoldberg

Sep 7, 2022

@chaos_labs is excited to announce the v0 launch of the @AaveAave v3 Risk Application! aave.chaoslabs.xyz/ccar We support v3 deployments on: @arbitrum @avalancheavax @0xPolygon @optimismFND @harmonyprotocol @FantomFDN So what does it do? chaoslabs.xyz/posts/chaos-la 1/7

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Aug 18, 2022

This also has a large impact on employees. It makes 0 sense to join a late stage co where the equity may go down 30%+ in the next round even if they execute well. Next 12 months will be a great time for talent to go early stage where upside is still high.

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Gokul Rajaram

@gokulr

Aug 17, 2022

2. If you're a well-capitalized growth stage co that raised in the last 2 yrs, it makes 0 sense to raise now at these valuations. Similarly, if you are a growth firm, it makes 0 sense to invest now until you know how valuations normalize. Both sides are waiting each other out.

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Aug 4, 2022

Another strong quarter for DoorDash in the face of intense macro uncertainty. The team is more transparent & detailed than most companies. It speaks volumes of their confidence, humility, focus, & nuanced understanding of business drivers. $DASH is an epic business in the making twitter.com/_ram_/status/1

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Aug 3, 2022

13/ You only get one chance to sell your company. Other ex-founders - anything you'd do differently?

12/ When to tell investors? Loop in your most trusted advisors early. Share with the broader group after you've made the decision to sell. - Can I try fundraising too? No. Don’t have these conversations if you're not serious. Word spreads and potential investors will find out.

11/ Other common questions: - When to start the process? Ideally when you still have 6-9 months of cash. Any less and you lose leverage. - Do you need to have relationships with buyers in advance? Ideally yes, but not required. We got offers from companies we cold emailed.

10/ Know what you're optimizing for. Are you trying to maximize your acquisition price? Find a good home for your team? Continue work on your original idea from a larger platform? Decide what your priority is and make decisions accordingly.