Vishal Persaud’s Post

NEW from yours truly: San Diego was once home to a US Naval Air Station that housed the fighter pilot training program featured in the movie, “Top Gun.” In its heyday, the station was nicknamed Fightertown USA. But the program has since moved to another station, and its legacy in San Diego is a faint, fond memory. In the past few years, a new Fightertown USA has ascended in its place. The city is now home to several startups building technology known as unmanned aerial vehicles — AI-powered autonomous defense aircraft capable of combat, surveillance, and delivery in conflict zones. Many thanks to Larsen Jensen of Harpoon Ventures , Brandon Tseng of Shield AI , Ian Muceus of Firestorm, Grant Jordan of SkySafe, and Aleksey Matyushev of Natilus for talking with me for this story. https://lnkd.in/gKKGHrpz

I'd highly recommend all of you journalists of color newsroom leaders apply to this academy! Tony and Kathy (and many of the other journalists brought in during the academy) were invaluable resources. It was truly an eye-opening and rewarding experience! Also, an added plus: You'll make new lifelong journalist friends.

"Silicon Valley is engaged in a raucous debate over the use of artificial intelligence in technical interviews. A survey of two dozen founders, executives, recruiters, and venture capitalists points to wildly different approaches from company to company and a growing divide between early adopters and keepers of the status quo. 'Despite the increased adoption of AI within companies," said Tammy Han, the head of talent at Emergence Capital, "the sentiment around using AI as a tool in technical interviews has not caught up yet.'" Melia Russell reports for Business Insider: https://lnkd.in/gGWfyU7C

Business Insider's Seed 40 list, now in its 4th year, highlights the top early-stage startup women investors. We're particularly excited about this list because we were able to expand it to 40 from 30 investors, shedding light on even more of the work women investors are doing in the startup and tech ecosystem. https://lnkd.in/gdFiYpnN

Business Insider's annual Seed 100 list is now in its fourth year. But this is the first year I've had the privilege of being its editorial lead! The list ranks the top seed investors with a knack for spotting raw startup talent and identifying the ideas that may become the knockout ideas five, 10, or even 15 years later. We used data provided by our partners Termina and Tribe Capital to determine this year's ranking of the best seed-stage investors across the tech ecosystem. Many thanks to Jake Ellowitz, Arjun Sethi, and the rest of the Termina team for our continued partnership in putting this list together. I also want to thank BI's venture capital and startups team — Leena Rao, Melia Russell, Ben Bergman, Samantha Stokes, and Rebecca Torrence — for their hard work in making this list a great success for the fourth year. A huge shout out to the graphics and design team for making our fresh and exciting visuals for this project: Jenny Chang-Rodriguez and Annie F. And Alistair Barr and Matt Turner for their support throughout the project. https://lnkd.in/guP7i4Ep

Defense technology and its coterie of investors were once a cottage industry within the enterprise software-driven venture capital world. But in recent years, that's rapidly changing. Investors and startups are no longer wary of the uncertainties of building technology with governments as the main target customers. Concerns about bureaucratic red tape, longer investment return timelines, and moral opposition to the overlap between tech and war have somewhat dissipated. What has emerged is a techno-optimist patriotism among startup founders and investors alike, fueled by growing tensions and military technological gaps between the US and geopolitical archrivals Russia and China. The ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza have also spotlighted warfare and technologies from startups like Palantir and Anduril being used on the battlefield. We put together the top defense tech VCs to know, now that interest in the industry is starting to boom. Many thanks to the VCs on this list who shared their perspectives, including Daniel Gwak at Point72 Private Investments; Larsen Jensen at Harpoon Ventures; Pete Mathias at Alumni Ventures; Jake Chapman at Marque Ventures; and Josh Wolfe at Lux Capital. #venturecapital #defensetech https://lnkd.in/g8Hv2x8X