December 1, 2024 • 40 mins
A West Point grad investing in a Naval Academy grad?! Unearth the secrets of entrepreneurship and innovation within the Service Academy Network as we prepare for the much-anticipated Army-Navy game. Join us as we welcome Brad Harrison, an accomplished West Point graduate and managing partner of Scout Ventures, alongside Paul Lwin, a Naval Academy alumnus and CEO of Havoc AI. These remarkable guests share their journeys from military academies to the forefront of venture capital and defense technology, illustrating how their unique backgrounds and the robust support of the Service Academy Network have paved the way for groundbreaking collaborations in national defense innovation.
Discover the grit and resilience that define the transition from military service to the entrepreneurial realm, particularly within the defense industry. We share lessons learned from embracing failure and criticism, paralleling the challenges of startup life with military training. With insights from mentors like Brad, we delve into the crucial role of guidance and perseverance amidst adversity. This episode provides a firsthand look into the motivation and learning curve involved in my own journey from military service to the demanding world of defense tech innovation.
Celebrate the unparalleled opportunities available through a service academy education, from rigorous academic programs to leadership development. We reflect on the indelible impact of service academies like Annapolis & West Point on personal growth and the formation of lifelong networks. Through personal anecdotes, we highlight the transformational power of these institutions in developing leaders of character who continue to contribute to national defense and global stability through innovation and investment.
The Vermeer Group is a residential real company matching military families with trusted real estate teams across the country. If you have any real estate questions at all, please text Grant at (650) 282-1964 or email grant@thevermeergroup.com
To stay most up to date with Grant, Naval Academy updates, and real estate insights, follow him on LinkedIn
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.
Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all. He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.
He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a residential real estate company that matches service academy families with trusted real estate teams all across the country. Text (650) 282-1964 with any real estate questions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hey everyone and welcome back to the Academy
Insider Podcast.
In today's episode we're goingto be talking all about the
power of the Service AcademyNetwork.
I know we're always all NavalAcademy, Naval Academy, Naval
Academy here.
But in honor of kind of leadingup to Army Week and the
Army-Navy game, I wanted to geta mixture and bring in some West
Point guys as well to talkabout this beautiful rivalry.
But, honor of kind of leadingup to Army Week and the
Army-Navy game, I wanted to geta mixture and bring in some West
Point guys as well to talkabout this beautiful rivalry but
(00:49):
how it transitions into beingthis incredible brotherhood
outside of the service.
And so today I'm joined by BradHarrison, who is a graduate of
West Point and now the managingpartner of a venture capital
firm called Scout out in Austin,Texas, really on the
intersection of emergingtechnologies and national
security, and so this is goingto be a really cool opportunity.
He recently wrote a pretty bigcheck in support of leading the
(01:11):
seed round which is like anearly investment round of a
company called Havoc AI, andHavoc AI was founded and is run
by the CEO, who is a NavalAcademy graduate from the class
of 07, Paul Lewin.
So I have Brad, I have Paul,and we're going to be talking
all about Army-Navy, we're goingto be talking about the
relationship, about this, andwe're going to be talking about
how the service academies arealso an incredible avenue to
(01:34):
develop the foundation forsuccessful entrepreneurs in life
who are continuing to live alife of service and contribute
to national defense and nationalsecurity, but now through
innovation and investing ininnovation.
And so when we talk about thislife of service through the
service academies, it continueseven after your time in uniform,
and so this is a perfectopportunity for us to highlight
(01:55):
the power of the service academynetwork Again, a West Point
graduate investing in thecompany of a Naval Academy
graduate all in support ofnational defense.
So if you want a little insightinto Army Navy characteristics
and dynamics, a little bit ofinsight into, again, the power
of the Service Academy networkoutside of the military, then
you're really going to enjoythis episode.
So make sure to check it out,Let me know what you think,
(02:17):
Leave any questions you have inthe comments and I hope you
enjoy the listen.
To listen.
The Academy Insider Podcast issponsored by the Vermeer Group,
a residential real estatecompany that serves the United
States Naval Academy communityand other select clientele in
both California and Texas.
(02:37):
If I can ever answer a realestate related question for you
or connect you with a trustedAcademy affiliated agent in the
market which you're in, pleasereach out to me directly at
grantatthefirmiergroupcom.
You can also reach out to me onmy LinkedIn page, Grant Firmier
, and I'd be happy to respond toyou there.
Thank you so much, and nowlet's get back to the episode.
All right, everyone, andwelcome back to the Academy
(02:58):
Insider Podcast.
Paul and Brad, thanks so muchfor taking the time to join us
today.
For anyone who may not knowboth of y'all, we'll give the
honor to the guest here.
Brad, as the resident WestPoint graduate in the group, If
you don't mind just giving alittle rundown of where you're
from, what actually brought youto West Point, New York, to go
to the Military Academy, alittle bit about your background
(03:19):
in the Army and now currentlywhat you're doing at Scout Sure.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So I'm Brad Harrison.
I'm a.
I'm originally from New York sowhen I was a kid I made a bunch
of trips up to West Point.
And you know I I grew up whenthe movie taps came out with Tom
Cruise and Sean Penn andTimothy Hutton.
And you know my grandfather hadbeen in the Navy and so
military service had always beenimportant to me and I don't
(03:51):
know I had like this profoundmoment.
I think I was fighting with myparents when I was 16.
And you know I thought I wasgoing to go play football at
Princeton and I went and did avisit at West Point and then
applied early.
And I went and did a visit atWest Point and then applied
early, got in and did reallywell.
There was a distinguishedundergrad, spent five years
(04:13):
active duty, was an airborneranger in the infantry, got out
in 99 and used the vocationalrehab program to get tuition
assistance to go to grad schoolat MIT Sloan, I should note.
I still borrowed my maximumamount of school loans so I
could live really large, whichis not advisable, but I did it
(04:34):
anyway.
And then after MIT I moved toDC and worked for a gentleman
named Ted Leontes who was thevice chair of AOL, went to
startup and then startedinvesting in 2009 into the types
of entrepreneurs that wouldthen become the role model for
what is now Scout Ventures.
(04:55):
And Scout's been around 15years and we invest at the
intersection of nationalsecurity and critical technology
innovation.
So AI, autonomy, robotics,drones, cyber, quantum as a
sector, which is quantum compute, quantum encryption and quantum
materials, space as a sectorand power, and so you know
(05:18):
that's kind of me.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I love it, I appreciate it and we're excited
to have you on here to talkagain.
All these different aspects andin relation now we have Paul.
Paul, do you mind giving aquick rundown and brief
introduction to yourself as well, especially in relation to how
all three of us are on thispodcast now together, today?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, definitely, thanks for having me on.
So I'm Paul Lewin.
I grew up in Los Angeles.
Kind of why I went to the NavalAcademy is I'm originally a
refugee from a country calledMyanmar and I came here when I
was 10.
And the first time I sawsomeone in uniform, a US uniform
was at the embassy and, as youcan imagine, that kind of
resonated with me.
So I you know, growing up in LAwanted to give back and saw the
(06:01):
Naval Academy Seemed awesome.
Obviously, saw Top Gun.
I wanted to give back and sawthe Naval Academy seemed awesome
.
Obviously I saw Top Gun.
I wanted to be an astronaut, soI applied, got in.
Luckily, I went to the Academy,graduated in 07.
Afterwards I went and flewProwlers in Iraq and Afghanistan
and I got really interested indefense tech around that time.
I think you know, do you knowwhat a Prowler is?
It's a 40-year-old airplanethat I was flying in 2010,
(06:24):
jamming digital signals.
So it's mind-blowing.
Right to do that.
And you realize, hey, thewarfighters need better tools.
Right, we have the money, wehave the technology sector.
And so got interested aroundthe time that DIU was starting
to come out in 2015.
So went to test pilot schooland then got involved in flight
tests for F-18 next-gen weaponsystems and realized that I
(06:46):
could help from the outside, youknow, with the insight I got in
these program offices.
So, just like Brett, I left theNavy.
I used the GI Bill to go get anMBA at Yale and then got into a
lot of test site companies JobyAviation, helping them sell EV
toolss to the Air Force, andthen Regent, who's building this
(07:06):
thing essentially a flying boat, and it was around last year.
I went to a conference withUndersecretary Hsu where she
brought in all the maritimeplayers and she had asked them
hey, if I, you know, if I giveyou money, can you build
thousands of these?
And there wasn't anyone thatcould give a definitive answer.
So I started thinking.
(07:26):
I was, like you know, I've beenbuilding things in my garage,
specifically robotic boats.
I knew the technology thatexisted, I knew that I had to go
build the team to do it, and soI did it.
I quit my job in January oflast year and started Havoc AI.
We're building a maritimeautonomous platform with the
goal of building thousands ofautonomous surface vessels for
(07:47):
the DoD and commercial customersover the next two years and
building the entire ecosystemthat is required for humans to
interact with thousands of theseautonomous systems.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, 100%.
And I think this is so awesometo get all of us together,
because one piece y'all bothleft out is that Havoc AI
actually just closed a verysuccessful seed round which was
led by Scout Ventures, and soyou know we have the United
States Military Academy plusUnited States Naval Academy
crossover here, the ServiceAcademy Network supporting each
(08:18):
other and two very successfulentrepreneurs in their own right
, one kind of again foundingthis defense tech company and
another with a very successfulventure capital firm, and again
both working together towardsthe common goal of improving
national security and nationaldefense as well.
And so you know what I want toturn it over to you first and,
brad, if you don't mind, kind oftaking the reins, is the first
(08:40):
question here is, in this verysuccessful career path that
you've had in entrepreneurship,what about your education at
West Point really set thefoundation for who you are today
and has kind of allowed you togo along this path as a
successful entrepreneur?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, I think part of it is the fact that you have
accountability andresponsibility ingrained into
everything that you do, and sopart of being an entrepreneur is
that it's a really, reallylonely job.
And if you're not organized andyou're not accountable, then
(09:21):
it's really really hard to builda scalable business.
The second thing isperseverance, which you know.
It doesn't matter whether youwent to West Point or the Naval
Academy.
You likely started with about500 more people than you
graduated with, and thatperseverance is another part of
(09:46):
the entrepreneurial journey.
That, I think, is, you know,having the staying power to
survive the ups and downs.
And then the third one isleadership.
You know, over the years, whatI've realized is I'm probably
much more of a leadership coach,that is, an investor as opposed
(10:09):
to an investor, right, becausewe focus on those same three
traits leadership, perseveranceand kind of accountability and
responsibility are the samethings we look at in these
entrepreneurs that come from theservice academies where, by
(10:31):
knowing that they have and again, you know, there's some rotten
apples in all of them present,company excluded, but you know,
for the most part, those basicfoundational skills around
accountability, aroundperseverance and around
leadership are ingrained in whatwe did at the academy,
(10:56):
reinforced by our militaryservice, enhanced by graduate
school, if that was part of thejourney and that provides a
framework for us at Scout toreally you know be super
impactful, Without a doubt andPaul, for you and your
(11:16):
experience as well, kind of onthis journey, especially on the
newer end of all this andbuilding your company.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
what about your experience from the Naval
Academy kind of set thefoundation.
Do you have any specificexperiences or memories that you
have that like really set thefoundation for who you are in
this journey of building acompany?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, you know, echo, uh, what brett said, right, I
think a lot of times, uh, as aonly state sort of founder, it
is lonely, you know it is all onyou to do everything, and so,
uh, this is gonna very soundvery lame, but I don't know if
brett had to memorize thesethings.
But you know, like message togarcia, right was one of the
first things we had to memorizeat the academy.
I think, uh, that's obviouslystated with me throughout naval
(11:57):
aviation and right now it's, youknow, I think, like it applies
to me a lot right, like the factthat, like I just have to go do
it right and the teammates thatI hire, that's a core skill I
look for.
Right, it's like, hey, can Itell you to do something and can
you go do it right?
Can you not ask me a thousandquestions Just because, you know
(12:21):
, on a typical day, you know,we're putting out a hundred
fires and we're trying to, youknow, build things that are
innovative, that no one's everdone before.
So those kinds of skills, youknow.
So we end up hiring a lot ofService Academy graduates
because of that, right, that's askill that I think is ingrained
(12:42):
in us from day one.
And the other thing is man inthe Arena, right?
Another poem we had to memorize.
Everyone's a critic, right,everyone's a critic.
And you know, brett is right.
I think, from the investor side, he has been a great mentor.
Right, he hasn't been.
He's given a lot of good advice.
But there's a lot of peopleinvolved in what I do day to day
that just provides criticismand you kind of take a step back
and be like okay, you know, Ihave to keep moving the ball
forward.
(13:02):
And that goes to what Bretttalked about, like persevering,
right, like just walking throughthe things.
And I try to instill that ontothe team right now.
Right, it's like, hey, it'sokay to fail.
Right, people are going to tellyou you're doing it wrong, that
you're going to fail, that thisis the wrong approach, but no
one really knows the answer.
Right, if this was easy, ifstartups were easy, most of them
wouldn't fail.
(13:22):
And what we're trying to figureout is how to deliver to the
customer in this case thewarfighter exactly what they
need.
Right, and to do that, we haveto be willing to fail, willing
to take criticism and then keepimproving.
So I think our service academyeducations, that's what it is
right, that's what a plea beareris, and so I equate being an
(13:43):
All-Estate founder to being aplea bearer.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I love that.
For me, that's huge.
I'm right there with you.
So I was in 26th company at theacademy and we were the Rough
Riders, which was all a shoutout to Teddy Roosevelt, who is
the author of man in the Arena,right.
And so you know, even to today,I got man in the Arena written
on my whiteboard at my home,like that is.
That's my motivating factor,right, you talk about in this,
(14:05):
in this world, in theentrepreneurial grind, like
everyone has an opinion but noteveryone's actually doing the
thing, right, and so you know,it's very easy to talk from the
outside, but it's another thingto be in the battle, in the
grind, constantly working to tomake these things happen.
And so I'm going to turn itright back to you actually,
which is when you got out of theservice you're, you're done
flying planes.
(14:25):
Did you know that you wanted tostay in the defense industry?
Industry, I know you went to toyale and got your mba, but
while you were going, did youhave this vision of coming back
and staying in support of thedefense industry, or what was
that transition like that ledyou back into supporting
national defense, this time justvia innovation, and then, for
Brad, investing in innovation?
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, in 2018, when I got out, I wanted to go and
start a defense tech company,just because, coming straight
from flight tests and programoffices talking about all of the
innovation and the tools ofworld fire to see, I was
arrogant enough to be like Icould do it.
I'll get out, I'll just gostart a defense tech company.
And that's when my mentors werelike whoa, like you know, slow
(15:07):
down, like you have no idea whatyou're talking about.
You might have been awesome inthe military, but you have no
idea what the commercial sectoris, right, how startups work,
how VCs look at you, how docoffee VCs?
And so that's why you know, Iwent to grad school and then I
run a bunch of defense techcompanies just to you know one,
help them get there, get theawesome things they build into
the DOD, but also, kind of like,figure out what later stage
(15:30):
companies, how they'reinteracting with the DOD and
what were very early stagecompanies are interacting with
the DoD.
And you know, last year Ijumped into Havoc AI because
there was a very relevant need,right.
I think you know this is in thepublic sphere, right.
I think 2027 is coming up,right, and especially for the
Navy, it's very relevant.
The competitors, unfortunately,aren't needing that need, like
(15:52):
that clear customer need, at theprice point they need.
So I felt compelled to go anddo it.
And same thing with the othertwo partners.
You know, joe and Andrew, botha Navy and Air Force vet.
I think we do, we're verymission focused and that's what
we're here to do.
Right, we all do our use, butwe're defense class because we
think, you know, we can providethe tools to, you know, help
(16:13):
prevent this conflict fromcoming up, or we can give our
site the tools that they need.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think, as we jump intothis and talk a little bit more
about national defense, nationalsecurity, but also just the
Service Academy Networksupporting each other, I think
the first piece before we evenget there is the fact that the
rivalry exists while you're atWest Point or you're in
Annapolis.
And so, brad, I actually got aquestion for you, man, which is
all about life at West Point.
(16:39):
Did you all have like a Navyweek, like I know, when we're
about to play Army in thefootball game, we have an Army
week?
Do you have like a week leadingup to the football game that
was just full of shenanigans anda bunch of crazy stuff going on
at West Point.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I mean, obviously, Air Force Week, Army Week, you
know we get all the helicoptersand the A-10s and all the
exciting things to fly over, youknow, to make us feel good
about ourselves.
Yeah, absolutely, we got allour spirit missions.
Yeah, you know, maybe one yearwe may have stolen the goat.
(17:15):
I'm not saying I'm not saying Iwas involved.
It may have allegedly beenmembers of the rugby team, but
you know, listen, I think Ithink that rivalry is good.
You know, I, I would say, postthe Academy, what we tend to
(17:36):
notice the most is that, youknow, at West Point and within
the Army, the focus is really onleading soldiers.
The Navy tends to be wayheavier related to big pieces of
equipment and systems.
Right, so you meet nuclearengineers, you meet pilots, you
(18:00):
meet submariners, you meetsurface.
You know you meet people bytheir functions and their
equipment, and so there'sdifferences in the nuances of
those leadership skills thatthey develop in those positions.
Right, If you're, you know, anarmy officer in an infantry unit
(18:23):
, you know you're going to gofrom leading 34 to 129, you know
it's very clear.
You know, if you're a pilot,you know, maybe command a
squadron or maybe you just flythe whole time right and be the
best at managing your equipment,and so that comes through a
little bit in the leadership ofthese companies and and how we
(18:48):
need to mentor the entrepreneurs.
You know, I would say you knowfrom the very beginning, when
Paul and I were working together, you know we had a common view
of kind of what we needed to dowith some issues around
personnel and what we needed todo around funding and what we
needed to do around the captable, and so I think in that
(19:09):
case it was really easy for usto get off on the right foot
because I was able to help Paulwith some of the more
challenging decisions he had atthe beginning.
Some of those are related topeople and some of those are
related to like okay, do I wantto take money from these people?
Do I, you know, I mean after hehad already decided that he
(19:30):
wanted to take money from scale.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Indeed.
And then yeah, for Paul, whatabout you?
Do you have any?
Just to go back, do you haveany funny Army Week stories that
you specifically remember fromyour time as a midshipman?
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I mean what Brett said, right, all the spirit
missions, the games themselves.
You know, I think, pleasure itwas like a blizzard, right, and
we still held the game.
I think to this day.
I still remember how freezingcold it was, but how excited we
were.
Right it's, we're playing thisArmy-Navy game.
I, you know, I lived in the, soI was class of 2007.
So, you know, with Paul Johnson, we started that, you know,
(20:05):
14-year streak.
So, like it was the golden age,it was cool to see right
Football, navy football was such, you know, a part of the
academy experience for me, asI'm sure it was for you too,
brent.
But I think what Brent istalking about, that's really
important.
Yeah, we're rivaled fromdifferent schools, but that
different perspective that Scoutand Brent is able to provide us
(20:28):
like solve some of those verychallenging issues.
If I think why we wanted to gowith Scout and specifically
Brent as a mentor and I'll justbe quite honest, he saved the
company we started.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, absolutely, and again I'll just turn it over
now.
This is a highlight again.
Something I talk about on thisplatform all the time is the
power of the Naval AcademyNetwork.
But I think, as we continue togrow and expand, it's really
highlighting the fact that it'snot just the Naval Academy
Network.
But I think, you know, as wecontinue to grow and expand,
it's really highlighting thefact that it's not just the
Naval Academy Network.
I think, brad, you mentioned,like whether it's West Point or
whether it's the Naval Academy,the education, the experience is
very similar.
(21:03):
And so, if you don't mind, justtalking a little bit about what
the Service Academy Network hasmeant for you through your
progression through business andhow you've worked across, you
know the Service Academy Network, how it's benefited you in life
outside of the service.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, I mean I'd like to note that Army-Navy has been
one of the biggest events interms of expanding my
relationship with the NavalAcademy right, whether that's in
a box at a dinner Right,whether that's in a box at a
dinner at a Fogo to chow, youknow post game, you know,
normally that is where I'vebuilt most of my relationships
(21:46):
with.
You know a lot of people withinthe Naval Academy, and some of
those people, like KenBraithwaite, who was former
secretary of the Navy andambassador to Norway, is now a
venture partner at Skel Right,and that's come directly out of
this camaraderie of a network ofpeople that get together, win
(22:08):
or lose.
After the Army-Navy game, Ithink one of the things that's
really important to note is thatwhen we look across DOD major
corporations, the government thepermeation of service academy
grads and key decision-makingroles is pretty significant, and
(22:32):
so if you're willing to spendthe time to navigate that
network, to use your existingrelationships to get warm intros
, then you'll find that there'sreally not anywhere you can't
navigate to, and so that'sreally, then, the power of the
service academy networkAbsolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
And, Paul, have you seen it in effect in your life
already in kind of this shortphase outside of you know, after
grad school and in theentrepreneurial world?
Speaker 3 (23:03):
100% right and you know he's right there to your
right.
You know, I think, thatArmy-Navy relationship I mean
the first time I met Brett, youknow, as he alluded to we're
solving very complex,challenging problems and we're
doing something that is, youknow, aspirational and
mind-blowing, right, and I thinkI don't want to speak for Brett
but hopefully, like hopefully,the fact that I am a naval
(23:24):
academy has gone through similarexperiences, I think, hopefully
, that allowed him to trust me alittle bit to say, hey, I can
solve these challenges and I canbuild this mind-blowing thing
that I'm telling you I'm goingto build in a year.
I think we could do thisbecause of the network that
Brett described.
Right On the business side, youknow, there are service academy
(23:45):
people at all levels of youknow, most major companies, from
the investor side to commercialside, obviously inside of the
DoD it's the same.
So I think when we talk, we'reable to talk, you know, with
some trust, right, I think, withshared backgrounds, with shared
values and the fact that we'reall, no matter what're doing,
you know whether we could be abanker or you know, whatever
(24:07):
we're doing, we still have thissociety to solve and give back,
and that shared value, I think,makes it easy to kind of like
talk about very complex thingstechnology and relationships and
contractual things, right, andI think that that's been very
cool right.
So I think, like I, you know,it's my it's cool, right, I
think that's been very coolright.
So I think, like you know, it'scool right.
I think that one day weprobably hate each other, but
(24:27):
you know, the rest of the yearit's truly, I think the service
is going to be.
You know, I don't want toforget about the Air Force folks
, since we just had an Air Forceweek where we crushed them, but
it's the same thing, right, Ithink.
The three service academies, Ithink we all help each other out
and it's been very cool andhumbling to take advantage of
(24:48):
that network.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, and for you, brad, as the managing partner of
a very successful venturecapital firm, when you're
looking at founders, when peoplecome to you with their pitch
decks or get that warm intro,what does it say about them?
When they have that NavalAcademy, that West Point, that
Air Force Academy, you knowdegree as a part of their
background and resume, what kindof what does that look to you
(25:09):
like and kind of how does it setthe foundation for that first
initial introduction?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Well, you know, if they went to the Naval Academy,
it means they made onesubstandard decision early in
their career.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I think there's two things right.
Number one regardless of whichacademy you went to, we normally
go first to the militaryservice post-academy and try to
figure out, okay, what wasunique about your military
service.
Okay, you know what was uniqueabout your military service.
(25:44):
Or, you know, did you lead?
Were you?
You know?
In Paul's case, you know whatstood out was he was a test
pilot and had done technologicalintegration and then had gone
to grad school and had worked ata company that had been working
on stuff and was very, like,mission driven, and so that
resonates with us because wewant to see that passion that
had been working on stuff andwas very mission-driven, and so
(26:05):
that resonates with us becausewe want to see that passion, and
so that was part of it.
I think in general, youprobably give academy grads a
little bit more credit aroundintegrity, relationship, service
(26:29):
, because there's a sharedexperience.
Even if you went to an easieracademy, like the Naval Academy,
you still had some sort of achallenging experience while you
were there in between you guys,going into Annapolis and
getting drunk, which we don'thave.
That at West Point, yeah, itsounds like you're jealous a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Annapolis is great man.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Exactly, yeah, I mean , highland Falls sucks.
Not even the McDonald's is good.
I was up there for my I don'twant to date myself, but I was
up there for my 30th reunion andI saw that they added a
Chipotle.
I think that's the only thingthey've added to Highland Falls
the last 20 years.
So you know, listen, I thinkwhat does matter is this kind of
(27:17):
shared sense of service, acommitment to our nation, a
commitment to you know,integrity and again, sure,
there's always some bad apples,but I think for the most part,
it's a really good litmus testthat gets you a lot further than
(27:37):
just a random person that comesin with a pitch.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
And so, as we get ready to winddown a little bit here, if you
don't mind, paul, I'll startwith you.
We're just going to go through,kind of.
I ask every guest who comes onhere just to give a little bit
of their recruiting pitch as towhy they should think Again, a
lot of our audience isprospective high school students
.
Right, there are a lot ofpeople out there who are
interested in a service academy.
(28:01):
So, based on your experienceand where it's taken you in life
as well, what would be yourrecruiting pitch about why a
young man or woman shouldconsider a service academy
education?
Speaker 3 (28:13):
I think you know, obviously, like it's a very
well-rounded education, right,but it is for one reason it's
the people you meet, right, andjust the three of us on here.
I think that shows you thequality of the people meet,
right, and just the three of uson here.
I think that shows you thequality of the people, the
different backgrounds you knowand people I think like they're
still my best friends, right, myacademy, my company mates.
You know we talk regularly andI think that's what made me grow
(28:35):
up, right, growing up in LA,you know, in my circle of family
and friends there.
To go into Annapolis and meetingpeople from, you know, all over
the world, was mind-blowing,right, just today, through Brett
, I met a West Point grad, youknow, who is from Singapore.
Right, was a foreign exchangehere is still, you know, cares
so much about the US andobviously the Singaporean
(28:58):
relationship.
So I think those experiences,you know you're not going to
have anywhere else, right,because most colleges are going
to be regional, but at theService Academy you have that
and you get to do, you know,some very cool things, right,
all three of us on here.
You know I wouldn't trade itfor anything.
Yeah, is it difficult, you know, but it's meant to be right.
I think it's meant to bechallenging so that you know it
(29:19):
makes you a better person andprepared for some of the things
all three of us face.
You know solving after wegraduated from our respective
Solve it Academy.
So you know, for me, you know,there were limited opportunities
.
Like I said, I grew up as arefugee.
I grew up, you know, not aswealthy in LA.
And just what the Naval Academydid for me, you know, I can't
(29:39):
even describe it.
I met my wife because of theNaval Academy.
Unfortunately she's a NotreDame grad, so I have to live
with that.
But we met at Spring Breakoutwhen I was still at the Academy.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
So most of my life is based around the Naval Academy.
Even 20 years removed, what?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
about you, brad?
What do you got for us?
You know, listen, I don't thinkthere is a finer set of
institutions in the world todevelop well-rounded leaders of
character.
And you know that's acombination of one of the top
STEM educations in the country,hands down, you know, doesn't
(30:19):
matter, we're in the top 25, top50 best educations every single
year, right?
So pure education, I think, istop notch, especially in some of
the emerging tech areas where,you know, I I I'm not as up to
date on what the Naval Academyis doing.
(30:40):
I know, like theentrepreneurship summit, you're
about five years behind us, soI'm glad you guys have been
paying attention.
So I don't know where you arein terms of the stuff that we're
doing, but we're building arobotics center, an autonomy.
We're building all of that intothe academy.
We're spending more time onnuclear because there's a
(31:02):
shortage of nukes.
So I think, core education andinfrastructure second to none.
I think and again, you know,speaking mostly with my
familiarity with West Point thephysical challenges and
requirements combined with theleadership challenges and
(31:28):
requirements is what producesleaders of character.
And you know, the leader ofcharacter is one that can go
back to the same things,persevere in hard times, provide
leadership to their team inchallenging times, leverage
(31:48):
their network and resources tofind problems to challenging
times, and these are the thingsthat make great entrepreneurs
and great leaders.
And so you know, I would say,though, for all the aspiring
entrepreneurs out there, I don'twant a service academy grad
that hasn't served.
(32:08):
I think the service is acritical part of the character
development and the educationpost.
Any of the academies go get,get your service, and you know
the soup.
You know kind of gave me a hardtime.
He said I want you to steal mycadets, and I was like, sir, I
(32:32):
don't want your cadets.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I really don't Like.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I don't want them until after.
You know they've beenlieutenants and captains in the
Army, but I want them to havethat experience.
And if they're not going tohave that experience then you
know it's not really thatinteresting to me.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yeah, and just to double down, the Naval Academy
is doing really cool stuff.
So again, abet accredited cyberoperations major, which has
continued to develop tons ofvisiting professors from the NSA
given stuff.
They just finished theconstruction of the brand new
Hopper Hall, which is ourcybersecurity like cyber science
department building, whichactually is a SCIF in the top
floor.
So some of the you know400-level classes in the cyber
(33:11):
operations major are taught atthe top secret level with you
know specific tools at the NSA.
So a lot of really coolopportunities for midshipmen at
the Naval Academy as well tocontinue making progress in the
emerging tech sector.
So awesome stuff.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
And, if I could point out, we've been doing nuclear
since 1950.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I mean, I also think that you know we are at a time,
given the geopolitical landscapein the world, that I'm hoping
people are finding a sense ofneed to serve, because we do
need it.
It is critical to maintainingour lifestyle.
(33:59):
Unless you all want to bespeaking Chinese and I say that
in jest, but you know, not injest, right?
I mean, you know there isdefinitely tension in the South
China Sea.
You know that the Chinese haverammed the Filipino Navy five
(34:19):
times now this year and thatcreates an interesting dynamic
because the US has a securityalliance with the Philippines
and so, technically, if thatescalated, the US would be
responsible to defend thePhilippines, who has been a
longstanding ally and militarybase provider.
(34:40):
So I think that you know I'mhoping people find a call to
service and I encourage them tolook at the service academies
for providing one of the mostholistic educations.
And, in fact, if you do want tobe an entrepreneur, you know,
(35:01):
go serve for 10 years, get asubject matter expertise and
then go build a great company.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Absolutely Well, team .
Thank you so much.
I'm going to turn it back overto Paul and then Brad back to
you.
If you guys have any lastingthoughts or words that you want
to leave with the audience, orjust you know direct people to
learn more about Havoc, ai andScout and what y'all are doing.
Just want to give you theopportunity again to kind of
leave the audience with any lastthoughts that you have.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
No, you know, I want to echo what Brad said.
Right, I think it is verycritical right now.
We live in very challengingtimes and you know the software
academies are going to have ahuge impact on, you know, the
next few years and what happens,you know, and people from the
software academies right, Ithink, both Brett and I, that's
what we're passionate about.
We want to help solve thesenational security challenges.
(35:48):
That's our mission at Havoc AI.
You know, it's why we hire alot of service academy grads and
veterans, because everyone kindof, I think, for the first time
sees, you know what's happeningon the seas and want to help
solve it.
So, you know, I appreciate Bradhaving trust in me and the team
at Havoc AI, allowing us to dowhat we do, which, hopefully, is
(36:13):
to prevent this conflict fromhappening.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah, Paul, that was well said.
You know, listen, I think Iwould leave it with this.
There's a lot of choices youcan make.
You can do all sorts ofdifferent things and there's
lots of amazing universities.
There's only five serviceacademies and they all have
unique and different thingsabout them.
(36:36):
They have networks that havebeen around.
For you know, we're at.
You know, 1802 is when we werefounded, right?
You guys were somewhere in the1840s, 45.
Yeah, Again, you know aboutfive decades behind us again,
(36:56):
but nonetheless, you know, again, these institutions have been
around.
They have evolved with theneeds of our country.
They have been the front linefor leadership development.
They have produced presidents,senators, congressmen,
entrepreneurs, and I am very,very proud of my military
(37:21):
service.
I am very, very proud of thefact that I went to West Point
and I would say go Army, beatNavy.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Love it Go, Navy beat Army.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
We're not going to let you get the final word in
there, though.
So we appreciate it.
Brad, thanks so much for comingand sharing this.
Again, what you're doing withScout is awesome.
For anyone who doesn't know, Iactually got to do my
Skillbridge internship withScout Ventures out in Austin,
built a relationship with Bradand saw all the amazing stuff
that they're doing.
So, again, this is somethingthat was really fun for me to
(37:55):
get to bring to life, because itreally is just the full
cumulation of the ServiceAcademy Network and coming back
and supporting grads, you know,doing good things to continue to
make a positive impact in theworld and support national
defense and live that life ofservice, even if it's outside of
the uniform.
So really appreciate you bothbeing on here today.
Thank you so much, and you knowwe got to beat it to it, so
(38:17):
beat army beat.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Army is a beat.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
All right to the Academy Insider audience.
Thank you so much, hope youhave a great day and let me know
if you have any questions.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode of the Academy
Insider podcast.
I really hope you liked it,enjoyed it and learned something
during this time.
If you did, please feel free tolike and subscribe or leave a
comment about the episode.
We really appreciate to hearyour feedback about everything
(38:42):
and continue to make AcademyInsider an amazing service that
guides, serves and supportsmidshipmen, future midshipmen
and their families.
Thank you.
Hey everyone and welcome back to the Academy
Insider Podcast.
In today's episode we're goingto be talking all about the
power of the Service AcademyNetwork.
I know we're always all NavalAcademy, Naval Academy, Naval
Academy here.
But in honor of kind of leadingup to Army Week and the
Army-Navy game, I wanted to geta mixture and bring in some West
Point guys as well to talkabout this beautiful rivalry.
But, honor of kind of leadingup to Army Week and the
Army-Navy game, I wanted to geta mixture and bring in some West
Point guys as well to talkabout this beautiful rivalry but
(00:49):
how it transitions into beingthis incredible brotherhood
outside of the service.
And so today I'm joined by BradHarrison, who is a graduate of
West Point and now the managingpartner of a venture capital
firm called Scout out in Austin,Texas, really on the
intersection of emergingtechnologies and national
security, and so this is goingto be a really cool opportunity.
He recently wrote a pretty bigcheck in support of leading the
(01:11):
seed round which is like anearly investment round of a
company called Havoc AI, andHavoc AI was founded and is run
by the CEO, who is a NavalAcademy graduate from the class
of 07, Paul Lewin.
So I have Brad, I have Paul,and we're going to be talking
all about Army-Navy, we're goingto be talking about the
relationship, about this, andwe're going to be talking about
how the service academies arealso an incredible avenue to
(01:34):
develop the foundation forsuccessful entrepreneurs in life
who are continuing to live alife of service and contribute
to national defense and nationalsecurity, but now through
innovation and investing ininnovation.
And so when we talk about thislife of service through the
service academies, it continueseven after your time in uniform,
and so this is a perfectopportunity for us to highlight
(01:55):
the power of the service academynetwork Again, a West Point
graduate investing in thecompany of a Naval Academy
graduate all in support ofnational defense.
So if you want a little insightinto Army Navy characteristics
and dynamics, a little bit ofinsight into, again, the power
of the Service Academy networkoutside of the military, then
you're really going to enjoythis episode.
So make sure to check it out,Let me know what you think,
(02:17):
Leave any questions you have inthe comments and I hope you
enjoy the listen.
To listen.
The Academy Insider Podcast issponsored by the Vermeer Group,
a residential real estatecompany that serves the United
States Naval Academy communityand other select clientele in
both California and Texas.
(02:37):
If I can ever answer a realestate related question for you
or connect you with a trustedAcademy affiliated agent in the
market which you're in, pleasereach out to me directly at
grantatthefirmiergroupcom.
You can also reach out to me onmy LinkedIn page, Grant Firmier
, and I'd be happy to respond toyou there.
Thank you so much, and nowlet's get back to the episode.
All right, everyone, andwelcome back to the Academy
(02:58):
Insider Podcast.
Paul and Brad, thanks so muchfor taking the time to join us
today.
For anyone who may not knowboth of y'all, we'll give the
honor to the guest here.
Brad, as the resident WestPoint graduate in the group, If
you don't mind just giving alittle rundown of where you're
from, what actually brought youto West Point, New York, to go
to the Military Academy, alittle bit about your background
(03:19):
in the Army and now currentlywhat you're doing at Scout Sure.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So I'm Brad Harrison.
I'm a.
I'm originally from New York sowhen I was a kid I made a bunch
of trips up to West Point.
And you know I I grew up whenthe movie taps came out with Tom
Cruise and Sean Penn andTimothy Hutton.
And you know my grandfather hadbeen in the Navy and so
military service had always beenimportant to me and I don't
(03:51):
know I had like this profoundmoment.
I think I was fighting with myparents when I was 16.
And you know I thought I wasgoing to go play football at
Princeton and I went and did avisit at West Point and then
applied early.
And I went and did a visit atWest Point and then applied
early, got in and did reallywell.
There was a distinguishedundergrad, spent five years
(04:13):
active duty, was an airborneranger in the infantry, got out
in 99 and used the vocationalrehab program to get tuition
assistance to go to grad schoolat MIT Sloan, I should note.
I still borrowed my maximumamount of school loans so I
could live really large, whichis not advisable, but I did it
(04:34):
anyway.
And then after MIT I moved toDC and worked for a gentleman
named Ted Leontes who was thevice chair of AOL, went to
startup and then startedinvesting in 2009 into the types
of entrepreneurs that wouldthen become the role model for
what is now Scout Ventures.
(04:55):
And Scout's been around 15years and we invest at the
intersection of nationalsecurity and critical technology
innovation.
So AI, autonomy, robotics,drones, cyber, quantum as a
sector, which is quantum compute, quantum encryption and quantum
materials, space as a sectorand power, and so you know
(05:18):
that's kind of me.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I love it, I appreciate it and we're excited
to have you on here to talkagain.
All these different aspects andin relation now we have Paul.
Paul, do you mind giving aquick rundown and brief
introduction to yourself as well, especially in relation to how
all three of us are on thispodcast now together, today?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, definitely, thanks for having me on.
So I'm Paul Lewin.
I grew up in Los Angeles.
Kind of why I went to the NavalAcademy is I'm originally a
refugee from a country calledMyanmar and I came here when I
was 10.
And the first time I sawsomeone in uniform, a US uniform
was at the embassy and, as youcan imagine, that kind of
resonated with me.
So I you know, growing up in LAwanted to give back and saw the
(06:01):
Naval Academy Seemed awesome.
Obviously, saw Top Gun.
I wanted to give back and sawthe Naval Academy seemed awesome
.
Obviously I saw Top Gun.
I wanted to be an astronaut, soI applied, got in.
Luckily, I went to the Academy,graduated in 07.
Afterwards I went and flewProwlers in Iraq and Afghanistan
and I got really interested indefense tech around that time.
I think you know, do you knowwhat a Prowler is?
It's a 40-year-old airplanethat I was flying in 2010,
(06:24):
jamming digital signals.
So it's mind-blowing.
Right to do that.
And you realize, hey, thewarfighters need better tools.
Right, we have the money, wehave the technology sector.
And so got interested aroundthe time that DIU was starting
to come out in 2015.
So went to test pilot schooland then got involved in flight
tests for F-18 next-gen weaponsystems and realized that I
(06:46):
could help from the outside, youknow, with the insight I got in
these program offices.
So, just like Brett, I left theNavy.
I used the GI Bill to go get anMBA at Yale and then got into a
lot of test site companies JobyAviation, helping them sell EV
toolss to the Air Force, andthen Regent, who's building this
(07:06):
thing essentially a flying boat, and it was around last year.
I went to a conference withUndersecretary Hsu where she
brought in all the maritimeplayers and she had asked them
hey, if I, you know, if I giveyou money, can you build
thousands of these?
And there wasn't anyone thatcould give a definitive answer.
So I started thinking.
(07:26):
I was, like you know, I've beenbuilding things in my garage,
specifically robotic boats.
I knew the technology thatexisted, I knew that I had to go
build the team to do it, and soI did it.
I quit my job in January oflast year and started Havoc AI.
We're building a maritimeautonomous platform with the
goal of building thousands ofautonomous surface vessels for
(07:47):
the DoD and commercial customersover the next two years and
building the entire ecosystemthat is required for humans to
interact with thousands of theseautonomous systems.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, 100%.
And I think this is so awesometo get all of us together,
because one piece y'all bothleft out is that Havoc AI
actually just closed a verysuccessful seed round which was
led by Scout Ventures, and soyou know we have the United
States Military Academy plusUnited States Naval Academy
crossover here, the ServiceAcademy Network supporting each
(08:18):
other and two very successfulentrepreneurs in their own right
, one kind of again foundingthis defense tech company and
another with a very successfulventure capital firm, and again
both working together towardsthe common goal of improving
national security and nationaldefense as well.
And so you know what I want toturn it over to you first and,
brad, if you don't mind, kind oftaking the reins, is the first
(08:40):
question here is, in this verysuccessful career path that
you've had in entrepreneurship,what about your education at
West Point really set thefoundation for who you are today
and has kind of allowed you togo along this path as a
successful entrepreneur?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, I think part of it is the fact that you have
accountability andresponsibility ingrained into
everything that you do, and sopart of being an entrepreneur is
that it's a really, reallylonely job.
And if you're not organized andyou're not accountable, then
(09:21):
it's really really hard to builda scalable business.
The second thing isperseverance, which you know.
It doesn't matter whether youwent to West Point or the Naval
Academy.
You likely started with about500 more people than you
graduated with, and thatperseverance is another part of
(09:46):
the entrepreneurial journey.
That, I think, is, you know,having the staying power to
survive the ups and downs.
And then the third one isleadership.
You know, over the years, whatI've realized is I'm probably
much more of a leadership coach,that is, an investor as opposed
(10:09):
to an investor, right, becausewe focus on those same three
traits leadership, perseveranceand kind of accountability and
responsibility are the samethings we look at in these
entrepreneurs that come from theservice academies where, by
(10:31):
knowing that they have and again, you know, there's some rotten
apples in all of them present,company excluded, but you know,
for the most part, those basicfoundational skills around
accountability, aroundperseverance and around
leadership are ingrained in whatwe did at the academy,
(10:56):
reinforced by our militaryservice, enhanced by graduate
school, if that was part of thejourney and that provides a
framework for us at Scout toreally you know be super
impactful, Without a doubt andPaul, for you and your
(11:16):
experience as well, kind of onthis journey, especially on the
newer end of all this andbuilding your company.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
what about your experience from the Naval
Academy kind of set thefoundation.
Do you have any specificexperiences or memories that you
have that like really set thefoundation for who you are in
this journey of building acompany?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, you know, echo, uh, what brett said, right, I
think a lot of times, uh, as aonly state sort of founder, it
is lonely, you know it is all onyou to do everything, and so,
uh, this is gonna very soundvery lame, but I don't know if
brett had to memorize thesethings.
But you know, like message togarcia, right was one of the
first things we had to memorizeat the academy.
I think, uh, that's obviouslystated with me throughout naval
(11:57):
aviation and right now it's, youknow, I think, like it applies
to me a lot right, like the factthat, like I just have to go do
it right and the teammates thatI hire, that's a core skill I
look for.
Right, it's like, hey, can Itell you to do something and can
you go do it right?
Can you not ask me a thousandquestions Just because, you know
(12:21):
, on a typical day, you know,we're putting out a hundred
fires and we're trying to, youknow, build things that are
innovative, that no one's everdone before.
So those kinds of skills, youknow.
So we end up hiring a lot ofService Academy graduates
because of that, right, that's askill that I think is ingrained
(12:42):
in us from day one.
And the other thing is man inthe Arena, right?
Another poem we had to memorize.
Everyone's a critic, right,everyone's a critic.
And you know, brett is right.
I think, from the investor side, he has been a great mentor.
Right, he hasn't been.
He's given a lot of good advice.
But there's a lot of peopleinvolved in what I do day to day
that just provides criticismand you kind of take a step back
and be like okay, you know, Ihave to keep moving the ball
forward.
(13:02):
And that goes to what Bretttalked about, like persevering,
right, like just walking throughthe things.
And I try to instill that ontothe team right now.
Right, it's like, hey, it'sokay to fail.
Right, people are going to tellyou you're doing it wrong, that
you're going to fail, that thisis the wrong approach, but no
one really knows the answer.
Right, if this was easy, ifstartups were easy, most of them
wouldn't fail.
(13:22):
And what we're trying to figureout is how to deliver to the
customer in this case thewarfighter exactly what they
need.
Right, and to do that, we haveto be willing to fail, willing
to take criticism and then keepimproving.
So I think our service academyeducations, that's what it is
right, that's what a plea beareris, and so I equate being an
(13:43):
All-Estate founder to being aplea bearer.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I love that.
For me, that's huge.
I'm right there with you.
So I was in 26th company at theacademy and we were the Rough
Riders, which was all a shoutout to Teddy Roosevelt, who is
the author of man in the Arena,right.
And so you know, even to today,I got man in the Arena written
on my whiteboard at my home,like that is.
That's my motivating factor,right, you talk about in this,
(14:05):
in this world, in theentrepreneurial grind, like
everyone has an opinion but noteveryone's actually doing the
thing, right, and so you know,it's very easy to talk from the
outside, but it's another thingto be in the battle, in the
grind, constantly working to tomake these things happen.
And so I'm going to turn itright back to you actually,
which is when you got out of theservice you're, you're done
flying planes.
(14:25):
Did you know that you wanted tostay in the defense industry?
Industry, I know you went to toyale and got your mba, but
while you were going, did youhave this vision of coming back
and staying in support of thedefense industry, or what was
that transition like that ledyou back into supporting
national defense, this time justvia innovation, and then, for
Brad, investing in innovation?
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, in 2018, when I got out, I wanted to go and
start a defense tech company,just because, coming straight
from flight tests and programoffices talking about all of the
innovation and the tools ofworld fire to see, I was
arrogant enough to be like Icould do it.
I'll get out, I'll just gostart a defense tech company.
And that's when my mentors werelike whoa, like you know, slow
(15:07):
down, like you have no idea whatyou're talking about.
You might have been awesome inthe military, but you have no
idea what the commercial sectoris, right, how startups work,
how VCs look at you, how docoffee VCs?
And so that's why you know, Iwent to grad school and then I
run a bunch of defense techcompanies just to you know one,
help them get there, get theawesome things they build into
the DOD, but also, kind of like,figure out what later stage
(15:30):
companies, how they'reinteracting with the DOD and
what were very early stagecompanies are interacting with
the DoD.
And you know, last year Ijumped into Havoc AI because
there was a very relevant need,right.
I think you know this is in thepublic sphere, right.
I think 2027 is coming up,right, and especially for the
Navy, it's very relevant.
The competitors, unfortunately,aren't needing that need, like
(15:52):
that clear customer need, at theprice point they need.
So I felt compelled to go anddo it.
And same thing with the othertwo partners.
You know, joe and Andrew, botha Navy and Air Force vet.
I think we do, we're verymission focused and that's what
we're here to do.
Right, we all do our use, butwe're defense class because we
think, you know, we can providethe tools to, you know, help
(16:13):
prevent this conflict fromcoming up, or we can give our
site the tools that they need.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think, as we jump intothis and talk a little bit more
about national defense, nationalsecurity, but also just the
Service Academy Networksupporting each other, I think
the first piece before we evenget there is the fact that the
rivalry exists while you're atWest Point or you're in
Annapolis.
And so, brad, I actually got aquestion for you, man, which is
all about life at West Point.
(16:39):
Did you all have like a Navyweek, like I know, when we're
about to play Army in thefootball game, we have an Army
week?
Do you have like a week leadingup to the football game that
was just full of shenanigans anda bunch of crazy stuff going on
at West Point.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I mean, obviously, Air Force Week, Army Week, you
know we get all the helicoptersand the A-10s and all the
exciting things to fly over, youknow, to make us feel good
about ourselves.
Yeah, absolutely, we got allour spirit missions.
Yeah, you know, maybe one yearwe may have stolen the goat.
(17:15):
I'm not saying I'm not saying Iwas involved.
It may have allegedly beenmembers of the rugby team, but
you know, listen, I think Ithink that rivalry is good.
You know, I, I would say, postthe Academy, what we tend to
(17:36):
notice the most is that, youknow, at West Point and within
the Army, the focus is really onleading soldiers.
The Navy tends to be wayheavier related to big pieces of
equipment and systems.
Right, so you meet nuclearengineers, you meet pilots, you
(18:00):
meet submariners, you meetsurface.
You know you meet people bytheir functions and their
equipment, and so there'sdifferences in the nuances of
those leadership skills thatthey develop in those positions.
Right, If you're, you know, anarmy officer in an infantry unit
(18:23):
, you know you're going to gofrom leading 34 to 129, you know
it's very clear.
You know, if you're a pilot,you know, maybe command a
squadron or maybe you just flythe whole time right and be the
best at managing your equipment,and so that comes through a
little bit in the leadership ofthese companies and and how we
(18:48):
need to mentor the entrepreneurs.
You know, I would say you knowfrom the very beginning, when
Paul and I were working together, you know we had a common view
of kind of what we needed to dowith some issues around
personnel and what we needed todo around funding and what we
needed to do around the captable, and so I think in that
(19:09):
case it was really easy for usto get off on the right foot
because I was able to help Paulwith some of the more
challenging decisions he had atthe beginning.
Some of those are related topeople and some of those are
related to like okay, do I wantto take money from these people?
Do I, you know, I mean after hehad already decided that he
(19:30):
wanted to take money from scale.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Indeed.
And then yeah, for Paul, whatabout you?
Do you have any?
Just to go back, do you haveany funny Army Week stories that
you specifically remember fromyour time as a midshipman?
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I mean what Brett said, right, all the spirit
missions, the games themselves.
You know, I think, pleasure itwas like a blizzard, right, and
we still held the game.
I think to this day.
I still remember how freezingcold it was, but how excited we
were.
Right it's, we're playing thisArmy-Navy game.
I, you know, I lived in the, soI was class of 2007.
So, you know, with Paul Johnson, we started that, you know,
(20:05):
14-year streak.
So, like it was the golden age,it was cool to see right
Football, navy football was such, you know, a part of the
academy experience for me, asI'm sure it was for you too,
brent.
But I think what Brent istalking about, that's really
important.
Yeah, we're rivaled fromdifferent schools, but that
different perspective that Scoutand Brent is able to provide us
(20:28):
like solve some of those verychallenging issues.
If I think why we wanted to gowith Scout and specifically
Brent as a mentor and I'll justbe quite honest, he saved the
company we started.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, absolutely, and again I'll just turn it over
now.
This is a highlight again.
Something I talk about on thisplatform all the time is the
power of the Naval AcademyNetwork.
But I think, as we continue togrow and expand, it's really
highlighting the fact that it'snot just the Naval Academy
Network.
But I think, you know, as wecontinue to grow and expand,
it's really highlighting thefact that it's not just the
Naval Academy Network.
I think, brad, you mentioned,like whether it's West Point or
whether it's the Naval Academy,the education, the experience is
very similar.
(21:03):
And so, if you don't mind, justtalking a little bit about what
the Service Academy Network hasmeant for you through your
progression through business andhow you've worked across, you
know the Service Academy Network, how it's benefited you in life
outside of the service.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah, I mean I'd like to note that Army-Navy has been
one of the biggest events interms of expanding my
relationship with the NavalAcademy right, whether that's in
a box at a dinner Right,whether that's in a box at a
dinner at a Fogo to chow, youknow post game, you know,
normally that is where I'vebuilt most of my relationships
(21:46):
with.
You know a lot of people withinthe Naval Academy, and some of
those people, like KenBraithwaite, who was former
secretary of the Navy andambassador to Norway, is now a
venture partner at Skel Right,and that's come directly out of
this camaraderie of a network ofpeople that get together, win
(22:08):
or lose.
After the Army-Navy game, Ithink one of the things that's
really important to note is thatwhen we look across DOD major
corporations, the government thepermeation of service academy
grads and key decision-makingroles is pretty significant, and
(22:32):
so if you're willing to spendthe time to navigate that
network, to use your existingrelationships to get warm intros
, then you'll find that there'sreally not anywhere you can't
navigate to, and so that'sreally, then, the power of the
service academy networkAbsolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
And, Paul, have you seen it in effect in your life
already in kind of this shortphase outside of you know, after
grad school and in theentrepreneurial world?
Speaker 3 (23:03):
100% right and you know he's right there to your
right.
You know, I think, thatArmy-Navy relationship I mean
the first time I met Brett, youknow, as he alluded to we're
solving very complex,challenging problems and we're
doing something that is, youknow, aspirational and
mind-blowing, right, and I thinkI don't want to speak for Brett
but hopefully, like hopefully,the fact that I am a naval
(23:24):
academy has gone through similarexperiences, I think, hopefully
, that allowed him to trust me alittle bit to say, hey, I can
solve these challenges and I canbuild this mind-blowing thing
that I'm telling you I'm goingto build in a year.
I think we could do thisbecause of the network that
Brett described.
Right On the business side, youknow, there are service academy
(23:45):
people at all levels of youknow, most major companies, from
the investor side to commercialside, obviously inside of the
DoD it's the same.
So I think when we talk, we'reable to talk, you know, with
some trust, right, I think, withshared backgrounds, with shared
values and the fact that we'reall, no matter what're doing,
you know whether we could be abanker or you know, whatever
(24:07):
we're doing, we still have thissociety to solve and give back,
and that shared value, I think,makes it easy to kind of like
talk about very complex thingstechnology and relationships and
contractual things, right, andI think that that's been very
cool right.
So I think, like I, you know,it's my it's cool, right, I
think that's been very coolright.
So I think, like you know, it'scool right.
I think that one day weprobably hate each other, but
(24:27):
you know, the rest of the yearit's truly, I think the service
is going to be.
You know, I don't want toforget about the Air Force folks
, since we just had an Air Forceweek where we crushed them, but
it's the same thing, right, Ithink.
The three service academies, Ithink we all help each other out
and it's been very cool andhumbling to take advantage of
(24:48):
that network.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah, and for you, brad, as the managing partner of
a very successful venturecapital firm, when you're
looking at founders, when peoplecome to you with their pitch
decks or get that warm intro,what does it say about them?
When they have that NavalAcademy, that West Point, that
Air Force Academy, you knowdegree as a part of their
background and resume, what kindof what does that look to you
(25:09):
like and kind of how does it setthe foundation for that first
initial introduction?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Well, you know, if they went to the Naval Academy,
it means they made onesubstandard decision early in
their career.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I think there's two things right.
Number one regardless of whichacademy you went to, we normally
go first to the militaryservice post-academy and try to
figure out, okay, what wasunique about your military
service.
Okay, you know what was uniqueabout your military service.
(25:44):
Or, you know, did you lead?
Were you?
You know?
In Paul's case, you know whatstood out was he was a test
pilot and had done technologicalintegration and then had gone
to grad school and had worked ata company that had been working
on stuff and was very, like,mission driven, and so that
resonates with us because wewant to see that passion that
had been working on stuff andwas very mission-driven, and so
(26:05):
that resonates with us becausewe want to see that passion, and
so that was part of it.
I think in general, youprobably give academy grads a
little bit more credit aroundintegrity, relationship, service
(26:29):
, because there's a sharedexperience.
Even if you went to an easieracademy, like the Naval Academy,
you still had some sort of achallenging experience while you
were there in between you guys,going into Annapolis and
getting drunk, which we don'thave.
That at West Point, yeah, itsounds like you're jealous a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Annapolis is great man.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Exactly, yeah, I mean , highland Falls sucks.
Not even the McDonald's is good.
I was up there for my I don'twant to date myself, but I was
up there for my 30th reunion andI saw that they added a
Chipotle.
I think that's the only thingthey've added to Highland Falls
the last 20 years.
So you know, listen, I thinkwhat does matter is this kind of
(27:17):
shared sense of service, acommitment to our nation, a
commitment to you know,integrity and again, sure,
there's always some bad apples,but I think for the most part,
it's a really good litmus testthat gets you a lot further than
(27:37):
just a random person that comesin with a pitch.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
And so, as we get ready to winddown a little bit here, if you
don't mind, paul, I'll startwith you.
We're just going to go through,kind of.
I ask every guest who comes onhere just to give a little bit
of their recruiting pitch as towhy they should think Again, a
lot of our audience isprospective high school students
.
Right, there are a lot ofpeople out there who are
interested in a service academy.
(28:01):
So, based on your experienceand where it's taken you in life
as well, what would be yourrecruiting pitch about why a
young man or woman shouldconsider a service academy
education?
Speaker 3 (28:13):
I think you know, obviously, like it's a very
well-rounded education, right,but it is for one reason it's
the people you meet, right, andjust the three of us on here.
I think that shows you thequality of the people meet,
right, and just the three of uson here.
I think that shows you thequality of the people, the
different backgrounds you knowand people I think like they're
still my best friends, right, myacademy, my company mates.
You know we talk regularly andI think that's what made me grow
(28:35):
up, right, growing up in LA,you know, in my circle of family
and friends there.
To go into Annapolis and meetingpeople from, you know, all over
the world, was mind-blowing,right, just today, through Brett
, I met a West Point grad, youknow, who is from Singapore.
Right, was a foreign exchangehere is still, you know, cares
so much about the US andobviously the Singaporean
(28:58):
relationship.
So I think those experiences,you know you're not going to
have anywhere else, right,because most colleges are going
to be regional, but at theService Academy you have that
and you get to do, you know,some very cool things, right,
all three of us on here.
You know I wouldn't trade itfor anything.
Yeah, is it difficult, you know, but it's meant to be right.
I think it's meant to bechallenging so that you know it
(29:19):
makes you a better person andprepared for some of the things
all three of us face.
You know solving after wegraduated from our respective
Solve it Academy.
So you know, for me, you know,there were limited opportunities
.
Like I said, I grew up as arefugee.
I grew up, you know, not aswealthy in LA.
And just what the Naval Academydid for me, you know, I can't
(29:39):
even describe it.
I met my wife because of theNaval Academy.
Unfortunately she's a NotreDame grad, so I have to live
with that.
But we met at Spring Breakoutwhen I was still at the Academy.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
So most of my life is based around the Naval Academy.
Even 20 years removed, what?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
about you, brad?
What do you got for us?
You know, listen, I don't thinkthere is a finer set of
institutions in the world todevelop well-rounded leaders of
character.
And you know that's acombination of one of the top
STEM educations in the country,hands down, you know, doesn't
(30:19):
matter, we're in the top 25, top50 best educations every single
year, right?
So pure education, I think, istop notch, especially in some of
the emerging tech areas where,you know, I I I'm not as up to
date on what the Naval Academyis doing.
(30:40):
I know, like theentrepreneurship summit, you're
about five years behind us, soI'm glad you guys have been
paying attention.
So I don't know where you arein terms of the stuff that we're
doing, but we're building arobotics center, an autonomy.
We're building all of that intothe academy.
We're spending more time onnuclear because there's a
(31:02):
shortage of nukes.
So I think, core education andinfrastructure second to none.
I think and again, you know,speaking mostly with my
familiarity with West Point thephysical challenges and
requirements combined with theleadership challenges and
(31:28):
requirements is what producesleaders of character.
And you know, the leader ofcharacter is one that can go
back to the same things,persevere in hard times, provide
leadership to their team inchallenging times, leverage
(31:48):
their network and resources tofind problems to challenging
times, and these are the thingsthat make great entrepreneurs
and great leaders.
And so you know, I would say,though, for all the aspiring
entrepreneurs out there, I don'twant a service academy grad
that hasn't served.
(32:08):
I think the service is acritical part of the character
development and the educationpost.
Any of the academies go get,get your service, and you know
the soup.
You know kind of gave me a hardtime.
He said I want you to steal mycadets, and I was like, sir, I
(32:32):
don't want your cadets.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I really don't Like.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I don't want them until after.
You know they've beenlieutenants and captains in the
Army, but I want them to havethat experience.
And if they're not going tohave that experience then you
know it's not really thatinteresting to me.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Yeah, and just to double down, the Naval Academy
is doing really cool stuff.
So again, abet accredited cyberoperations major, which has
continued to develop tons ofvisiting professors from the NSA
given stuff.
They just finished theconstruction of the brand new
Hopper Hall, which is ourcybersecurity like cyber science
department building, whichactually is a SCIF in the top
floor.
So some of the you know400-level classes in the cyber
(33:11):
operations major are taught atthe top secret level with you
know specific tools at the NSA.
So a lot of really coolopportunities for midshipmen at
the Naval Academy as well tocontinue making progress in the
emerging tech sector.
So awesome stuff.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
And, if I could point out, we've been doing nuclear
since 1950.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I mean, I also think that you know we are at a time,
given the geopolitical landscapein the world, that I'm hoping
people are finding a sense ofneed to serve, because we do
need it.
It is critical to maintainingour lifestyle.
(33:59):
Unless you all want to bespeaking Chinese and I say that
in jest, but you know, not injest, right?
I mean, you know there isdefinitely tension in the South
China Sea.
You know that the Chinese haverammed the Filipino Navy five
(34:19):
times now this year and thatcreates an interesting dynamic
because the US has a securityalliance with the Philippines
and so, technically, if thatescalated, the US would be
responsible to defend thePhilippines, who has been a
longstanding ally and militarybase provider.
(34:40):
So I think that you know I'mhoping people find a call to
service and I encourage them tolook at the service academies
for providing one of the mostholistic educations.
And, in fact, if you do want tobe an entrepreneur, you know,
(35:01):
go serve for 10 years, get asubject matter expertise and
then go build a great company.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Absolutely Well, team .
Thank you so much.
I'm going to turn it back overto Paul and then Brad back to
you.
If you guys have any lastingthoughts or words that you want
to leave with the audience, orjust you know direct people to
learn more about Havoc, ai andScout and what y'all are doing.
Just want to give you theopportunity again to kind of
leave the audience with any lastthoughts that you have.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
No, you know, I want to echo what Brad said.
Right, I think it is verycritical right now.
We live in very challengingtimes and you know the software
academies are going to have ahuge impact on, you know, the
next few years and what happens,you know, and people from the
software academies right, Ithink, both Brett and I, that's
what we're passionate about.
We want to help solve thesenational security challenges.
(35:48):
That's our mission at Havoc AI.
You know, it's why we hire alot of service academy grads and
veterans, because everyone kindof, I think, for the first time
sees, you know what's happeningon the seas and want to help
solve it.
So, you know, I appreciate Bradhaving trust in me and the team
at Havoc AI, allowing us to dowhat we do, which, hopefully, is
(36:13):
to prevent this conflict fromhappening.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah, Paul, that was well said.
You know, listen, I think Iwould leave it with this.
There's a lot of choices youcan make.
You can do all sorts ofdifferent things and there's
lots of amazing universities.
There's only five serviceacademies and they all have
unique and different thingsabout them.
(36:36):
They have networks that havebeen around.
For you know, we're at.
You know, 1802 is when we werefounded, right?
You guys were somewhere in the1840s, 45.
Yeah, Again, you know aboutfive decades behind us again,
(36:56):
but nonetheless, you know, again, these institutions have been
around.
They have evolved with theneeds of our country.
They have been the front linefor leadership development.
They have produced presidents,senators, congressmen,
entrepreneurs, and I am very,very proud of my military
(37:21):
service.
I am very, very proud of thefact that I went to West Point
and I would say go Army, beatNavy.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Love it Go, Navy beat Army.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
We're not going to let you get the final word in
there, though.
So we appreciate it.
Brad, thanks so much for comingand sharing this.
Again, what you're doing withScout is awesome.
For anyone who doesn't know, Iactually got to do my
Skillbridge internship withScout Ventures out in Austin,
built a relationship with Bradand saw all the amazing stuff
that they're doing.
So, again, this is somethingthat was really fun for me to
(37:55):
get to bring to life, because itreally is just the full
cumulation of the ServiceAcademy Network and coming back
and supporting grads, you know,doing good things to continue to
make a positive impact in theworld and support national
defense and live that life ofservice, even if it's outside of
the uniform.
So really appreciate you bothbeing on here today.
Thank you so much, and you knowwe got to beat it to it, so
(38:17):
beat army beat.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Army is a beat.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
All right to the Academy Insider audience.
Thank you so much, hope youhave a great day and let me know
if you have any questions.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode of the Academy
Insider podcast.
I really hope you liked it,enjoyed it and learned something
during this time.
If you did, please feel free tolike and subscribe or leave a
comment about the episode.
We really appreciate to hearyour feedback about everything
(38:42):
and continue to make AcademyInsider an amazing service that
guides, serves and supportsmidshipmen, future midshipmen
and their families.
Thank you.
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