Tommy
@thomasehendrix
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General Partner @decisivepointvc | Prev: @Blackstone & Green Beret @USSOCOM | #investedinthemission | Views are my own.
New York, USA
Joined September 2017
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Pinned Tweet
I am incredibly proud of the work out team put in to beautifully capture the mission and vision of
@decisivepointvc
. Full length video live today!
Worth 4 minutes of your time to get you fired up this morning.
Kicking off 2024 with our new Decisive Point anthem.
Started in 2018, Decisive Point is an investment firm focused on critical technologies for defense, energy, and infrastructure. Our platform has helped deliver over $450M in direct contract awards to startups across our
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Of course that is your contention. You're a Web3/crypto VC. You just got finished readin' Kill Chain and DefenseTech Twitter posts — about American Dynamism probably. You're a defense expert setting up shop in El Segundo 'til next month when you get into generative AI, and then
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Stanford received *checks notes* $1.6B in Federal Contracts and Research Grants in 2023, including $67.74M from the DoD.
In the same year they paid $1.9M in fines for not disclosing Chinese involvement in DoD funded research projects.
What a time to be alive.
Embarrassing for
@StanfordGSB
not to recognize the defense tech club. Business schools are full of people grandstanding about “demanding more from capitalism.” Then you look them up on LinkedIn and they work for McKinsey. Thank you for all that you do!! 🙄
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American Dynamism has elevated in the public domain some immutable truths:
- Celsius is dumb
- Caffeine is a performance enhancer
- Lifting weights is cool and tough
- Scientific achievement and heavy industry build the future
- The world is safer when America leads
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In case you missed it,
@RadiantNuclear
and
@IdahoStrategic
just inked an agreement to deploy a container sized nuclear reactor and it is gonna be cool and tough.
America rocks. 🇺🇸
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What if we launched a separate website with a dedicated Defense Tech/Deep Tech job board. What if we had about 200 companies listed on it representing +4,000 open roles? What if it was live next week?
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If you are college wrestling fan, you should want to see an at-large bid for the
@NCAAWrestling
National Championships for
@ArmyWP_Wres
team captain Nate Lukez.
These guys only get 4 years (not seven) - as intended. Then he is off to cross-commission as an officer in the USMC.
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Lord, give me the confidence of a defense prime PM pitching the DoD a $100M cost plus contract over 5 years for something that should cost $10M and be delivered in 18 months. 🙏
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You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.
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VCs lecturing me about ice baths and nootropics not knowing I’ve seen men become gods after ripping a few of these.
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Reindustrialize
@newindustrials
takes over Detroit this week and I am excited to share the stage with
@DougBernauer
(
@RadiantNuclear
),
@JCBtaiche10
(
@FuseEnergyTech
),
@isaiah_p_taylor
(
@valaratomics
), and
@mhitzig
(
@Venrock
) for a discussion on the future of (nuclear)
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I have a big idea for a company I want to incubate and need a big idea founder. Like borderline crazy founder with a love of autonomy and deep respect for direct fire ground combat.
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When you meet a founder who has exhausted scientific risk and is disrupting an industrial market with reimagined manufacturing processes in a sector that has regulatory barriers to entry.
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I believe that there are two common fallacies in defense innovation for tactical systems... and why they are very difficult to get right for many companies:
1. "The Fantasy of Combat"
2. "Affordable Mass vs. Exquisite Systems"
🧵👇
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“Gemini, make me an image of a startup founder building the next great America defense technology company.”
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Tons of seed capital out there for DefenseTech. Little available for companies going from Series A to B. Growth capital in the space seems to closely follow hype.
We need more smart money at later stages. I think this is where larger VCs can have staying power in the space.
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I’d like to report a murder.🚨
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Fun fact: Many of these tough guys cry when you catch them. 🥲
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At times like this I’d like to remind you that there are 135 Billionaires in New York City and not one of those cowards have become a masked crime fighting vigilante.
If you can’t tell who the good guys are between the group holding American flags and the one setting them on fire and screaming “death to America” then I can’t help you..
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We finally completed the move to our new home
@decisivepointvc
. Full house this week. 15 and counting.
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My wife when she overhears me trying to convince a founder to add a mini-gun to his 3D printed loitering drone after I promised her I’d be a totally normal dude when I left the military.
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“Defense in depth” for autonomous torpedo company
@vatnsystems
might be the best DefenseTech company slogan yet.
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Experts don’t want you to know this, but you can just join the Army and fight against the enemies of the United States with your friends.
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The Army - Navy wrestling match is the DoD’s single greatest ROI investment in human capital for the Special Operations community. Guaranteed there is no higher density of future SOF Officers, both Army and Navy, anywhere in America at any given time.
@ArmyWP_Wres
@NavyWrestling
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DefenseTech VCs are about to start wearing a different kind of vest.
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I’ll never hate on a frat bro again. 🇺🇸
One of the best photos of 2024 so far:
Fraternity brothers are pelted by anti-Israel protesters at UNC Chapel Hill while protecting the United States flag as it is re-hoisted following its removal by protesters.
Well done, gentleman. 🫡🇺🇸
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I too have some terrorist flags. One hangs at the West Point Counterterrorism Center and one in my office. This “protester” is not going to like how I got them. 🇺🇸🤷♂️
Hamas has held 5 Americans hostage in Gaza for 293 days.
Bring them home.
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This is Alex Jones.
After being thrust into the limelight when photos of him and his fraternity brothers holding the flag at UNC went viral, Alex turned down opportunities to speak on national news channels and this week at the RNC. After all, he did not do it for the attention
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Feels like we are hitting the third wave of DefenseTech opportunities.
Allow me to explain 👇
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Something about American athletes defeating our adversaries in sport makes you feel good. 🇺🇸
Spencer Lee knocks out Zou from China on the road to clinch a spot in the Paris Olympics.
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FPV is only the start. The remotely controlled platoon is coming.
We’ll be real toy Soldiers soon enough.
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It’s hard to not be optimistic about America after meeting so many young DefenseTech founders. The next war will be theirs — let’s make sure they win.
It’s hard to believe that days like this were nearly 20 years ago.
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Experts don’t want you to know this, but you can sign an 11X Ranger enlistment contract and fight America’s enemies with your friends.
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VCs packing up and opening an office in El Segundo because *hardware startups exist* may have missed the point. Let the builders build. Focus on finding ways to provide them value so they can win faster. 🔨🇺🇸
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Combat is dark, dirty, and scary. Adding new operating systems, controllers, and SWAP (size, weight, and power) to the Soldier is a sure barrier to long term adoption. If it does not improve our ability to shoot (deliver combat effects), move (extend reach and speed), and
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1. “The Fantasy of Combat” — people are building aggressively to deliver the capabilities they think are needed with very little end user feedback.
Here is the quiet part out loud: Not every person who is in uniform or served in the military has experienced direct fire ground
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War is hell. Everyone on both sides wants to go home.
Russian soldier pleads with a Ukrainian drone.
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Cc: The VCs who told me in 2018 that defense was an un-investable sector they would never touch who now claim to be experts in DefenseTech because they know what an SBIR is.
Also, like a ton of terrorists.
“Just let it go” is often the worst advice you can get in business.
I want to work with people who care about what’s right and who care about what’s true.
Serious people don’t ever “let it go.” They hold grudges. They don’t forget. And they keep pushing for people to know the
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WARNO: We are going to host a
#defensetech
breakfast & career fair in February in NYC.
If your company would like showcase your company please reach out. Registration and details to follow shortly.
Yes, donuts 🍩.
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2. “ Affordable Mass vs. Exquisite Capability” — We need both, but rarely can both attributes be found in the same system.
Attritable systems must be low-cost. Like, actually low-cost. They are not drones, for example, they are remotely guided munitions. The are never coming
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Amazing turn out at this morning’s NYC National Security breakfast and career fair with +350 attendees. Thanks to
@MichelleVolz
and
@a16z
for partnering with
@decisivepointvc
to bring together a a great group of companies, job seekers, and government partners.
Next up: Austin…
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Let’s go. Back at it with the American Dynamism gang. 🇺🇸🤙
@decisivepointvc
@a16z
@MichelleVolz
@davidu
We are excited to cohost another National Security Breakfast in Midtown, NY with
@MichelleVolz
and
@a16z
during
#NYCTechWeek
.
Don't miss out, register today here:
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When I started
@decisivepointvc
in 2018 people told me that it was a terrible idea and no one would ever invest in defense.
Some of them are DefenseTech investors/experts now.
TYFYS 🫡
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Surely affordable mass is a bit of a stopgap measure. We want to promised future but not at the cost of losing today’s fight. We need to do both and do both well. So build cheaply and at a high volume — and keep it simple.
Don’t forget that some tired and scared kid is going to
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Moral courage > Virtue signaling
If you’re currently standing up to hate and intimidation of people based solely on their faith & defending American values, keep going. It’s working.
There are plenty of companies & CEOs eager to hire you.
Apply here:
Moral courage > College degree
If you’re currently protesting against the genocide of the Palestinian people & for your university’s divestment from Israel, keep going. It’s working.
There are plenty of companies & CEOs eager to hire you, regardless of university discipline.
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“We’ll look back in a generation and say, ‘my God, we did it’.”
@wolfejosh
No substitute for victory. 🇺🇸
Mass matters. Software can’t eat ships or bullets
“Fires are the king of battle”
My riff on the battle space vs China in Taiwan
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It should outrage all Americans that the promised nuclear future of 60 years ago was stolen from us by stacks of unnecessary over-regulation and partisan politics. This post says it all. 👇
That’s it?
This is what 45 years of spent nuclear fuel looks like safely stored
@DominionEnergy
’s North Anna nuclear power plant.
Each cask helped avoid more than 3 million metric tons of CO2 emission!
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This is probably the most relevant and important addition to the
@anduriltech
offering yet.
Whoever can create the common operational picture for the Soldiers at the edge will own the universe of capabilities they need to find and prosecute targets, coordinate non-kinetic
Introducing Menace-X
Menace-X empowers ground commanders at the tactical edge with command and control (C2) capability overmatch from within contested, austere, and denied environments. Menace-X delivers a lighter, faster, and simpler mobile command, control, communications, and
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“The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training -- sacrifice.”
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Unpopular Opinion: All kids should have to wrestle or box in high school PE classes.
Both sports are humbling. Both teach you that you are capable of more than you knew. Both make you think twice before running your mouth.
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I didn’t know that I follow so many experts in counter-sniper operations and rifle ballistics.
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@CPyles8
What % of pins were reversed because a former National Champion’s foot lightly brushed a coach on an adjacent mat?
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Build. America is counting on you. 🇺🇸
I know it’s trendy to dunk on defense founders who are new to the industry but I respect their patriotism and using their skills to support warfighters. They’ll figure it out. Keep building.
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More.
Per VOA, the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant is now producing more than 36,000 155mm shells per month.
Before 2022, the plant produced roughly 7,000 shells per month; the Army aimed to hit 35,000 shells per month by 2027. SCAAP beat that goal by over two years.
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The biggest mistake we’e made as a society is telling our youth that they have nothing to be ashamed of.
When you do something wrong you should feel shame.
When you are a coward you should feel shame.
Shame on
@Columbia
. Shame on these students.
Bring back consequence.
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Mother of God.
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We do need exquisite systems — they are the deterrent that will deliver the necessary overmatch to deter the next war. Don’t hate on the primes — they have capabilities and the capital to build these systems. But there is room for more performers —
@anduriltech
,
@PalantirTech
and
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Other Veterans I’ve never met before the second Defense VC goes mainstream:
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If you want to get into DefenseTech, joining the Army Reserves sounds like a no brainer.
- attend basic training and learn what it’s like to be in the military
- gain a military specialty
- maintain relevance in your target industry
- get paid
- Serve America 🇺🇸
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Twitter on fire about VCs investing in China now turned defense experts.
Me: Just minding my own business.
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Zuck is on the nuclear train.
Wildest part of Zuck's interview with
@dwarkesh_sp
when asked how much energy necessary to train frontier models
Zuck: we need nuclear power plants
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👀 in the wild.
Firehawk’s new printer is ready to be installed in a conex box for the rapid production of solid rocket propellant at our remote test site.
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Bullish signal:
@CapeWireless
just raised $61M to increase privacy in cellular communications and has only 116 followers on X.
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Low-cost is relative. A $150k rocket propelled munition is low cost because the exquisite alternative is an order of magnitude more expensive. A $100k loitering drone is not low-cost because their are homegrown solutions that are an order of magnitude less expensive.
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We established (beta) as an industry resource. With a bit of separation from our main brand
@decisivepointvc
, the page will soon be home to free resources for founders and talent.
If you would like your company added to the jobs board send me a DM.
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The future of unconventional warfare.
Ukrainian A-22 Foxbat flown remotely and packed with explosives strikes 1,200km from the front lines.
Unrelated: If you want to start a company that retrofits Cessnas to fly remotely while carrying heavy cargo one way DMs are open.
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15 months from now people will be chasing investments in nuclear the same way they are for defense today.
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Wanted: “PhDs who can win a bar fight.”
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“Faster, Faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.”
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If your small FPV drone you envion is AI enabled, obstacle avoiding, etc., you’ve likely missed the moment. It’s likely not ready for prime time. Don’t get me wrong — we want it, and almost certainly the comments section will be filled with techno-optimists that say we can so we
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Interesting to see
@ycombinator
call for DefenseTech companies.
YC's latest Request for Startups | Y Combinator
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Required viewing for those who believe in the future of humanity.
The future of Nuclear looks nothing like the past: big, expensive, and stationary — instead it may be: small, mass-produced, and mobile.
@RadiantNuclear
for Episode 48 of S³
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I accidentally said “customer” instead of “warfighter” and a 19 year-old defense expert renditioned me to a black site and waterboarded me with Rip-Its.
I accidentally said “debt” instead of “leverage” and my managing director took me into the conference room and slapped me with his Gucci loafer
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The nuclear renaissance is on. ☢️🇺🇸
.
@RadiantNuclear
is developing this portable microreactor as a potential replacement for diesel generators.
They're working w/
@argonne
&
@INL
to develop computational analysis tools to advance their design through
@GAINNuclear
.
➡️
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**Dual-use** experts have entered the chat.
Somehow they all missed the GWOT too. 🤷♂️
VCs showing up to El Segundo pretending like they’ve been investing in defense and hardware startups for years
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Because I’ve spoken to a lot of transitioning Vets recently about starting
@decisivepointvc
, also sharing here: The most accurate and helpful advice I received when transitioning out of the military was the harshest.
It went something like this from a former SEAL (pre-9/11)
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🎉New achievement unlocked: Over the weekend an older gentleman asked me if I ever worked in coal mining. I said I had not and asked why he had asked. He replied:
“You seem like a guy who would have done really well in the mines.” ⛏️
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Probably just a coincidence.
A Chinese military training site in China's Inner Mongolia region is an exact replica of the road network near Taiwan's Presidential Palace.
Make no mistake: China fully plans to invade Taiwan in a geopolitical play that will unbalance the region.
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Many 3D printers from China require you to upload your designs to their web platform to print. Wonder what they are doing with all those designs?
Probably respecting your privacy.
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Assessment of current DefenseTech Cycle.
Phase 1 (2016-2019): Platforms & Networks
Phase 2 (2020-2023): Hardware & Sub-Systems
Phase 3 (2024-TBD): Manufacturing & Materials
Ideas for what comes next: Consolidation. Perhaps a return to software. Lasers & directed energy 🙏.
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The industrial base capable of producing fuses, timers, and the high-explosives used in the kinetic payloads of these weapons is minuscule and highly fractured. It’s not just propellant that is in high demand — we need weapons that deliver desired battlefield effects, and that
We’re out of Patriots as well as artillery shells. This was predictable.
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Thought this was common knowledge, but here goes.
How to get off a plane:
1. Stay in your seat.
2. Wait for the people in the row in front of you.
3. Advanced Technique: Help others who require assistance retrieve their bags (formerly known as common courtesy).
Follow for
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