The Tech Bros Powering Silicon Valley’s Military Fever Dream With Energy Drinks, God And Nicotine

by David Jeans sarah emerson

for Forbes

forbes.com/sites/davidjea…

Honored that WONDER BOY is named by New York Times Books as a must-read paperback this week.

'This biography traces the life of Tony Hsieh… ‘with the gathering tension of a slow-motion disaster.'

cc Angel Au-Yeung

nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Thanks so much New York Times Books for naming WONDER BOY as one of 6 new paperbacks to read.

'This biography traces the life of Tony Hsieh… ‘with the gathering tension of a slow-motion disaster,’ according to our reviewer.'

nytimes.com/interactive/20… cc David Jeans

“My philosophy has always been to let 1,000 flowers bloom... we want this opportunity for everybody.'

Just updated our @forbes story on the success of the 'IIT Mafia' with comment from Rubrik CEO Bipul Sinha, tuning in from NYSE 🏛 on the day of its IPO.
forbes.com/sites/alexkonr…

Rubrik's IPO today is a rare recent public win for Silicon Valley.

But it's just the latest for the 'IIT Mafia,' a small group of Indian immigrant engineers who've since started software standouts like Nutanix, Rubrik and Glean.

My story in @forbes: forbes.com/sites/alexkonr…

The U.S. Air Force has selected Anduril to design, manufacture, and test production-representative Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).

In this era of great power competition, there is no time to waste on business as usual. We look forward to delivering CCAs on schedule, within…

breaking: Anduril and General Atomics selected for the next phase of the Air Force's effort to build drones that will accompany fighter pilots into combat, called collaborative combat aircraft

With the TikTok bill passing, there's a lot of interest in how TikTok lost Washington.

In many ways, it can be traced to June 17, 2022 when reporter Emily Baker-White broke the story wide open. She obtained leaked audio exposing that 'Everything is seen in China.'

Whatever…

Feels like a good time to re-up this: I'm writing a book about TikTok! Got tips, thoughts, ideas? Please send them my way.

It might not be obvious that your accountant is shady, but there will be signs.

Whopper conman story from John Hyatt today: forbes.com/sites/johnhyat…

Years ago, FB, IG, YT, and TW, announced they would label posts by state media, so people would know if they were reading government propaganda. TikTok then followed.

Today, YouTube is the only one doing it in the Middle East, where there is a war.

forbes.com/sites/emilybak…

NEW - AI is now writing up police reports, via multi-billion dollar cop contractor and Taser maker Axon.

What could go wrong?

w/ Richard Nieva

forbes.com/sites/thomasbr…

👀👀

'The vibe is that America is back, dudes rock, nicotine is good actually, we’re going to the moon again (and Mars), we’re tired of only software companies coming out of America.'

David Jeans and sarah emerson visited the defense tech 'Gundo Bros' 👀

forbes.com/sites/davidjea…

Mullets, Nyn, god, drones and Andreessen Horowitz are fueling a defense tech revival called the 'Gundo.'

Down in El Segundo, a movement of young (mostly male) founders are trying to make it cool to build hardware for the battlefield.

w/ David Jeans
forbes.com/sites/davidjea…

NEW: They pump iron, chew nicotine and build weapons. Beloved by a16z investors and inspired by Palmer Luckey, they call themselves the Gundo bros, 'unapologetic' Americans building defense tech companies in LA.

w/ sarah emerson

forbes.com/sites/davidjea…