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𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗭𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝘇𝗼𝘀. But there’s another founder who’s playing a game at a whole different level. He builds 𝐀𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬—inspired by science fiction. This is how 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗩𝗥 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 At 19, Luckey built 𝐎𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐕𝐑 in his garage. People laughed at him. Until Facebook bought it for $𝟐.𝟑 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧. For most founders, that’s a dream exit. But Luckey saw a much bigger problem to solve. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 After Oculus, he realized something shocking: 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝟏𝟎𝐱 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 America’s military advantage was slipping. Luckey decided to 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝗔 𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 Instead of waiting for government contracts, he did something unheard of: 𝐇𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. Traditional defense companies burn 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 and 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 before even making a prototype. Luckey’s company, Anduril, does the opposite. It builds: 𝐀𝐈-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 All at 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭—and ready to use from day one. 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮’𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 Luckey uncovered a shocking fact: 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝟑𝟓𝟎𝐱 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒. And here’s their secret: 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬. Which means in war, they can 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬. This completely changes the balance of power. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗥𝘂𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 Luckey’s biggest breakthrough? 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐈. A system that 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫, 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. Before, military units worked in silos. Now, with Lattice AI: 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 For the first time, machines are making battlefield decisions in real-time. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟴-𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 Luckey also exposed a 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐈𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟖 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. China wouldn’t even need to win. They’d just 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭. Luckey’s solution? 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. Instead of slow, expensive production, Anduril builds 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬—fast, automated, and cost-effective. Now, instead of just worrying about Day 8, China has to think about: 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟖𝟎. 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟖𝟎𝟎. 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮’𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 Luckey’s most controversial take? 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞. Instead of deploying troops everywhere, the smarter move is to 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲. This way: 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 This isn’t just about weapons—it’s about 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭. And Palmer Luckey might just be the man who rewrites the rules. I hope you've found this helpful. Follow Vishu Bheda for more such amazing business and tech posts!