Cosplaying military combatants is a terrible affliction for SV. Unclear why we think it’s necessary. Started with giant US flags, then honorary titles, now we want medals too.

Welcome, Larsen, glad to have you here 😉

I really admire all the football heroes who played in the Super Bowl, like Jody Allen, Robert Kraft, and the incredible folks at Wilson Sporting Goods.

canadian civilian with a giant american flag pfp watching this go down

a16z is sooooo cancelled for this one

Genuinely curious where you’d place the service of Lieutenant General Bill Knudsen or Henry Kaiser? Does the impact of their industrialist efforts (and military rank) make them more or less patriots?

They should hate Silicon Valley, the valley isn't an Ally of America or of Warfighters... Silicon Valley the greatest domestic national security threat. Silicon Valley lives to serve the ego's of Silicon Valley. The Steve Jobs era is long gone.

Silicon Valley is clueless to how much they’re hated by military/defense. It’s why the whole tech overlord thing is laughable. They have no idea what they’re doing.

Me telling customers about my FDE in front of customer IT

Louder they are, harder they fall

+1

Its a silly conversation, we are all in this together

Well said. Hero’s don’t take those ultimate risks for personal benefit. That’s why we should rightly honor them (and only them) with the term hero.

Fact: Palantir had nothing to do with the hunt for bin Ladin.

This feels like manufactured outrage. Nobody serious is confusing building or funding weapons with carrying them into combat. And I don't know many of the people you'd call “war heroes” who resent the engineers, founders and investors responsible for giving them better tools. Most warfighters want every unfair technological advantage America can give them. Recognizing the people who help create those advantages doesn't diminish anyone's service or sacrifice. If your objection comes down to whether they're allowed to use the word “hero,” that's arguing semantics while everyone else is just trying to win wars.

Stolen Aura

You didn’t actually think the Groupon PM could build a supersonic jet right? It’s all marketing ponzi hoping for an acquisition

Love to see the aura and vibes

It’s funny. If you know Larsen, he’s a happy warrior. For him to ring this bell, the problem must be OUT OF CONTROL.

"It's the aura"

You are talking about Blake Scholl, a guy who’s company has not produced a single product in 12 years. This is not a person to be taken seriously

Exactly why this Irishman partnered with a former homeland security director and Army counterintelligence veteran. I know enough to know what I don’t know. If you’re building for warfighters, they should be in the room before the investors are.

It's insane that how entitled these guys are. They never suffered like actual warriors in combat deployment scenarios

They love the military so much, I see zero offices, manufacturing, or other buildings for these companies near any extremely important training post. Its all just posturing and rage bait regardless.

Agree. Glamorization of entrepreneurship without the consideration of real impact of war.

Absolutely insane phenomenon.

He deserves a purple heart for being wounded* (*Clowned on on Twitter)

Listen to son of the crap coming out of Wall Streeters sometime. They all think they’re the second coming of Audie Murphy.

there is a key difference between service members and defense tech workers. one of them is risking their life, one of them is not.

Can't help but emphasize the class dynamic here. You've got millionaire VC's working for billionaire VC's essentially stealing valor from actual warriors pulling in less than $200k/year

Dude shut the fuck up.

If @bscholl gets a supersonic All US built commercial passenger jet flying in the next 5 years…

Rented valor for returns, no skin in the game. Reminder these are nerds and the worse examples of men who risk things.