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Palmer Luckey got fired from Meta for backing the wrong candidate—now he's the hero saving American defense, and that shift tells you everything about how fast the ground moved beneath Silicon Valley'...
Palmer Luckey's journey from being fired at Meta to becoming a defense hero exemplifies Silicon Valley's dramatic shift back to supporting American defense. After 15 years of hostility culminating in Google's Maven revolt, the tech industry is reconnecting with its Cold War roots—driven by COVID supply chain failures, Ukraine's rapid battlefield iteration, and China's manufacturing dominance. The American Dynamism fund backs this transformation, investing in space, defense, energy, and manufacturing companies that leverage software and autonomy rather than Soviet-style five-year plans, betting America wins by being more like itself: dynamic, innovative, and decentralized.
Marc and Ben trace Silicon Valley's evolution from natural defense ally (1950s-1990s) to peak hostility in the late 2010s. The Google Maven project became a watershed moment when employees revolted against a Pentagon AI contract, forcing leadership to cancel despite only 3 employees attending an explanatory seminar on border security. This reflected post-Vietnam, post-Iraq sentiment and political polarization that severed tech from national mission.
Katherine Boyle identifies how 'The Social Network' defined 2010s tech culture—Harvard dorm room software builders disconnected from physical world manufacturing. This contrasted sharply with Bob Noyce's generation who grew up in rural communities, knew servicemembers personally, and built hardware. The divide extended geographically: DC sees uniforms daily on metro stops at Pentagon; Silicon Valley can go decades without seeing military personnel.
David Ulevitch recruited Katherine Boyle from General Catalyst after she and DU competed to lead Anduril's Series B in 2019. Katherine had done extensive diligence; DU asked for her notes after splitting the deal. Their partnership formed around Flock Safety investment (2021) during Black Lives Matter movement when public safety tech was unpopular. Garrett Langley's late-night call about David's pre-emptive term sheet became the matchmaking moment.
DU explains how modern American Dynamism companies avoid traditional hardware capital intensity. Early versions use commodity components (Flock's cell phone cameras, Anduril's off-the-shelf optics) paired with advanced computer vision and autonomy software. Government/enterprise sales cycles enable better inventory management than consumer electronics' Christmas-dependent hits business. Equipment financing available for large-scale projects changes unit economics fundamentally.
DU outlines energy as foundational to American Dynamism: historical studies show energy input directly correlates with economic growth. Current demand from AI compute, EVs, and grid electrification (including DoD initiatives) creates massive opportunities in generation, transmission, and storage. Portfolio includes Radiant Nuclear (modular reactors) and Exawatt (solar). Three portfolio companies now on China's 'unreliable entities list,' banned from Chinese batteries—proving domestic supply chain criticality.
Katherine describes shift from Space 1.0's SpaceX-style vertical integration to Space 2.0's specialized components. Apex Space reached orbit in 13 months (fastest clean-sheet-to-orbit ever) by focusing only on satellite buses, working with legacy and new primes for payloads. Northwood Space tackles ground station shortage as SpaceX has put 85% of all mass into orbit. Deconstructing the stack enables faster iteration than 'build everything yourself' approach.
Katherine and DU describe unprecedented alignment between Pentagon, Congress, and startups on procurement reform. The 'golden triangle' emerged: desperate customer moving fast, downstream capital available, and founders graduating from Anduril/SpaceX with manufacturing expertise. Ukraine proved wars iterate in days not decades, exposing five-year planning cycles as Soviet-era relics. Congress actively working on NDAA changes to enable competition beyond past performance requirements.
Katherine explains Ukraine revealed wars of mass require cheap, attritable systems—not exquisite platforms costing millions vulnerable to $1K drones. China supplied both sides, building industrial capacity while US didn't. This exposed critical gap: America exported manufacturing and can't produce attritable systems at scale. Just-in-time manufacturing for warfare became strategic imperative, driving focus on domestic production and critical minerals.
Marc argues against nostalgia for old manufacturing jobs—can't step in same river twice. Future manufacturing uses robotics, automation, and builds sophisticated products (e-bikes not bicycles, EVs not cars). This creates 'blue collar plus' jobs in advanced plants like Tesla's, not assembly line repetition. Regulatory reform plus energy/resource access enables re-industrialization for 21st century products including robots (AI in mechanical form). China positioned to dominate by default without US action.
Marc revisits Cold War I debate: democracy/free markets vs. dictatorship/state capitalism. American economics textbooks into 1980s claimed communism superior due to centralized efficiency. Soviet five-year plans seemed organized vs. messy capitalism. But dynamism, creativity, and innovation won decisively. Same debate returning today (NYC proposing government grocery stores). China has production advantages, but America should lean harder into entrepreneurship, not try to be more like China.
Katherine contrasts Defense 1.0 (Anduril, Shield AI competing as primes) with Defense 2.0 (2021-22 companies partnering with legacy contractors). New founders often have clearances before starting, served in military, or worked in government—deeply understanding customer needs. Geographic distribution across America (Saronic in Austin, Flock in Atlanta) reflects different founder profile than typical software engineers. Legacy primes now recognize need to integrate Silicon Valley engineering.
DU and Katherine outline next frontiers: shifting left to critical minerals, mining, and supply chain resilience. Trillions spent in legacy industries (mining, construction, manufacturing) with minimal software penetration. Robotics as 'AI personified in physical form' approaching faster than expected—Waymo proving autonomy works today. Early innings of American comeback introducing technology into key domains, with more founders entering across all categories driven by unprecedented demand.
Why Silicon Valley Turned Against Defense (And How We’re Fixing It)
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