startup-founders-flooded-inauguration-parties-hopeful-for-dealmaking

Startup founders flooded inauguration parties hopeful for dealmaking

On Monday, while tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg sat onstage for President Donald Trump’s inauguration, dozens of founders were at parties all across Washington, D.C., trying to get an audience with the new president’s inner circle.  To hear them tell it, it wasn’t all that hard. Valar Atomics founder Isaiah Taylor spent

Startup founders flooded inauguration parties hopeful for dealmaking

On Monday, while tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg sat onstage for President Donald Trump’s inauguration, dozens of founders were at parties all across Washington, D.C., trying to get an audience with the new president’s inner circle.  To hear them tell it, it wasn’t all that hard. Valar Atomics founder Isaiah Taylor spent

from-recruiting-for-palantir-to-landing-a-plane-on-highway-85:-meet-defense-tech’s-wildest-power-broker

From recruiting for Palantir to landing a plane on Highway 85: meet defense tech’s wildest power broker

In 2023, defense tech recruiter Peterson Conway VIII pulled up to the offices of nuclear fusion startup Fuse in a black Suburban, donning his signature cowboy hat. He picked up a recent Fuse hire and proceeded to regale her with stories of his old recruiting days. One story involved prostitutes attending a recruiting event (“not