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"It's not morally neutral for the talented to work on unimportant things." Trae Stephens'?Choose Good Quests?essay inspired me—and so many others I know—to seek problems truly worth dedicating a life's work to, rather than chasing hype. Such an honor to meet and spend time with the Godfather of Defense Trae Stephens at the Founders Fund office. From Palantir Technologies to Founders Fund to Anduril Industries and now @solreader, Trae has reshaped technology on a national and global scale. 1. Palantir Technologies. What started as a small startup he joined many years ago, is now one of the largest technology providers serving national security and critical industries. 2. Founders Fund. Trae joined silicon valley luminary Peter Thiel and is now part of the leadership of the legendary firm that has backed SpaceX, Meta, Anduril Industries, Airbnb and many more companies. 3. Anduril Industries. The new defense prime that Trae started with Brian Schimpf, Palmer Luckey, Matt Grimm and Joseph Chen to address the modern evolving challenge of defense and national security. Trae has been a part of every defense success over the past 3 decades, and we were lucky to learn what it takes to build a company of consequence. Our off-the-record Icons conversation touched on defense, technology, faith, moral imperatives, cultural shifts, national security, and family—topics that make you rethink purpose and impact.

It's not everyday that you get to grab dinner with the one and only Mamoon Hamid, Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins. We were lucky enough to have him join us for an Icons dinner. Mamoon is simply the best of the best. He is one of the legendary investors of our time and is credited with bringing the firm "back" to the top. He has been an early investor in and served on the boards of some of the most innovative software companies of recent times including Slack, Figma, Box, Rippling, Glean and more. The dinner was off-the-record but there were so many insights across opportunities and applications in AI, what it takes to be a high performer, the mental models of legendary investors, what makes the great founders special and him being a husband and parent. Mamoon is a 10/10 person, a role model and one of the humblest people I've ever met. I appreciate you spending time with us. More on Mamoon -> https://lnkd.in/gwjgR66F

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We're entering a new era of defense technology, and there's no one leading the charge like Anduril Industries. I had the pleasure of hosting the CEO and Co-founder of Anduril Industries, Brian Schimpf for an Icons dinner at their HQ. ???? America has led the world in great power competition over the past few decades, but that gap is quickly closing. To remain competitive, the U.S. has to innovate, and technology is the frontier, with cost-effective production being a close second. The defense capabilities of yesteryear are not the ones that will continue to protect our democracy for years to come. I learned this very quickly while TA'ing for Joe Felter, Steve Blank, and Michael A. Brown. Brian Schimpf gave us a masterclass on all things technology, defense, being mission-driven, life and how to build (or not build) the next defining defense company. The conversation was off the record for obvious reasons so we can't share insights. But boy, is Stark Industries coming to life ?? Pictured with us is "Fury" which just won the CCA for the Air Force over defense primes like Boeing, Lockheed and Northrop Grumman. https://lnkd.in/gCFRWneg https://lnkd.in/gYAUjm3f

So awesome hosting Mercedes Bent, Partner Lightspeed for an Icons dinner. To say we're impressed is an understatement. It's not everyday that you meet a truly great investor who's an independent thinker, is authentic and just an intellectual powerhouse. I'm a big time fan! Mercedes is a good as they come and her impact across the tech ecosystem is wide-spread. Outside of leading a lot Lightspeed (scout fund to investments in LATAM to consumer and more), Mercedes Bent still finds time to be an onramp for so many founders and young investors in Silicon Valley. The conversation covered: 1) A deep dive into the idea of Founder-Investor fit, which is often under discussed, but just as important. 2) How AI disrupts VC. Her TL;DR, it's happening! 3) A masterclass in the structure of VCs and their incentives + where the VC financial instrument is going. 3) The future of consumer in AI and cross-applications in vertical AI 4) The importance of role models and how her parents forged a path that led her to be where she is today. Thanks again Mercedes Bent!

It’s not everyday that you meet legendary founders like Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of NVIDIA. This was an Icons dinner I couldn’t miss! So much wisdom packed into 3 hours of food and wine. So many lessons but here’s one that connected with me deeply. Before he created a trillion dollar business leading all of compute and AI, Jensen cleaned toilets at Denny's. He credits most of his life lessons to this job that many of us look down upon. It’s what keeps him grounded and humble even today as he leads the foundational company of our time. This resonated deeply with me because my first job at 16 was cleaning toilets at Publix Super Markets in TN. I scrubbed those toilets with so much pride and like my life depended on it! I’m grateful to Publix till this day. There’s something cleaning public toilets does to you — it grounds and humbles you, and maybe sets you up to create a company of consequence. Thanks Brandon Nydick!!