Larsen Jenson is a 2x Olympic medalist, former U.S. Navy Seal and founder of Harpoon Ventures and Vector Defense.

They dive into:
- Founding one of the first defense tech VCs before anyone in Silicon Valley cared.
- Geopolitical urgency and rapid tech progress.
- VC trends: why physical products are making a comeback.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro: The "Tequila Story" and the shift in defense investing.
01:23 – Guest Introduction: Larsen Jensen and the Harpoon Ventures mission.
03:04 – Defining Dual-Use: How enterprise software powers the government.
05:13 – The Catalyst: Moving from counter-terror to Great Power Competition.
07:46 – The Hard Truth: Why the best product doesn't always win in the DOD.
11:03 – "The Future is Here": Autonomous systems, Ukraine, and structural reform.
13:20 – Defense Tech 2.0: Why top talent is finally opting into national security.
15:23 – Hardware is Hard (But Sticky): The resurgence of physical tech investing.
18:18 – The LLM Movement: Why AI is disrupting white-collar jobs first.
20:19 – Efficiency: How AI is rewriting government contracts and saving time.

#DefenseTech #VentureCapital #DualUse #NationalSecurity #HarpoonVentures #AI #DeepTech #GovTech #SiliconValley #AcquisitionReform

About Drone Wars

Firestorm Studios brings you The Drone Wars Podcast, a show that explores all facets of autonomous systems - ground, air, and sea - and their transformative impact on various aspects of human life, from agriculture to warfare. We feature interviews with CEOs, founders, and C-suite executives from the world's leading autonomy and robotics companies.