You may not care about geopolitics, but geopolitics cares about you.
This hit me hard during my conversation with Larsen Jensen – former Navy SEAL, 2X Olympic medalist, and now Founding GP at Harpoon Ventures.
🎧 Listen to this podcast episode on YouTube or Spotify
Here's what's happening RIGHT NOW that most investors are missing. Larsen talks about:
💡 The Great Awakening: Silicon Valley is returning to its roots. We started with ARPANET, the space race, and Cold War tech. Then we moved on to SaaS and social media. Now we're back to building the hard stuff.
🎯 The Perfect Storm: Three forces are converging:
Founders leaving top tech companies to build hard tech
Government budgets finally prioritizing resilience
Private capital is also filling the void
⚡ Ukraine Changed Everything: This isn't just another conflict - it's "Drone War One." The rules of warfare have been rewritten faster than doctrine can adapt.
🔮 The Generational Opportunity: He believes this AI-driven era will be 10-100x more impactful than the dot-com boom. We're not just building software anymore - we're building the "freedom stack."
The companies winning aren't just creating shareholder value - they're ensuring security and superiority for generations.
🎯 What we unpacked:
🔹 Why Harpoon exists:
Larsen built Harpoon as a venture fund focused exclusively on technologies that uphold Western resilience — from AI and cyber to space, energy, and autonomous defense. It’s venture capital with a national security thesis.
🔹 The “Freedom Stack” Thesis:
AI. Rare earths. Cybersecurity. Energy. Space. Autonomy.
This isn’t sci-fi. It’s a new category of venture opportunities that will define global power over the next 25 years. Harpoon calls it the “Freedom Stack” — and they’re investing early.
🔹 From Zero to $1B in Government Contracts:
Harpoon doesn’t just provide capital. They go into the trenches with their startups, helping them win massive government contracts. Their portfolio has secured $1B+ in revenue — before IPO or exit.
🔹 The “Black Flag” Program:
YC for defense tech? Pretty much.
Black Flag is Harpoon’s custom-built accelerator for startups solving “impossible” problems in defense, national security, and critical infrastructure. It’s already showing serious traction.
🔹 The New Venture Equation:
You might not care about geopolitics. But geopolitics cares about you.
Founders are waking up to this. Capital is following. Governments are modernizing. And VCs? The smart ones are moving fast.
The question isn't whether you should care about defense tech, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure.
The question is: Which side of history do you want to be on?
What do you think? Are we witnessing the most important investment cycle of our lifetime?
Chapters in this podcast
(00:00) Episode intro and purpose: Rethinking Venture Capital report and geopolitics in VC
(01:23) Larsen Jensen’s background and the founding mission of Harpoon Ventures
(04:06) Emotional and strategic journey of building Harpoon Ventures
(08:40) Differentiation of Harpoon from other VC firms (first-check focus, commercialization help)
(10:30) Introduction and purpose of the Black Flag accelerator program
(14:22) Portfolio highlights: N8N, Genesis Therapeutics, Solugen, Astranis
(18:20) Macro view: Impact of macroeconomics and geopolitics on the venture ecosystem
(22:55) Role of governments vs. private capital in tech development
(30:40) Defense Tech as a critical and emerging sector in VC
(35:32) Cybersecurity evolution and new threat landscape in the AI era
(39:21) Harpoon's focus on Bio and Health technology
(40:53) What’s next for Harpoon: doubling down on diligence and seizing opportunity
Main Themes Covered in the Episode
Geopolitics Now Central to Venture Strategy
“You may not care about geopolitics, but geopolitics cares about you.”→ Global topics and macro are now inseparable from technology investing.
“We operated blissfully ignorant... for 20-30 years.”→ Venture ignored certain investment dimensions, like security.
“Any tech inflection of consequence is inherently dual use.” → The tech usage overlap is foundational again.
Harpoon’s Mission is Strategically Oriented
“We’re trying to invest in technologies... for the resurgence of Western civilization.”→ Harpoon sees venture as a strategic tool for geopolitical and national prosperity.
“The enabling technologies for prosperity of the future... AI, cybersecurity... autonomous systems.”→ They focus on high-impact, critical sectors.
“We had to bend the industry to our will... to shape opportunities.”→ Building Harpoon required creating a new market mindset.
Differentiation Through Active Involvement
“We prioritize being the first check investor.” → Harpoon invests at the earlier formation stages.
“Help companies commercialize through large scale programs of record.” → They bridge startups with federal contract pathways.
“Value beyond capital... being that teammate versus being a coach.” → Hands-on, execution-oriented engagement model.
Black Flag Program for Critical Tech Startups
“Tailor-made for founders building in these technology areas.” → Accelerator designed for early-stage defense and deep-tech.
“Founders, capital, and customers—Harpoon acts as the translator.” → The program aligns and connects these critical ecosystem elements.
“It’s to increase the odds of success.” → Focused on practical support, especially navigating opaque government channels.
Government and Private Capital Roles are Evolving
“It used to rest exclusively on government funding.” → Historically, the state backed deep-tech R&D.
“Now, a $2B seed round can come from private capital.” → Private VC now fills the gap with risk capital.
“Timing of capital entry is shifting.” → Private sector leads early, government often follows.
Education is Key for LPs Entering Strategic Tech
“We’re seeing more demand... but it comes with education.” → New LP interest in defense and AI, but knowledge gaps remain.
“We’ve had total washouts... due to lack of cap table alignment.” → Strategic investing needs deep understanding of procurement cycles.
“Understand not only what can go right... but what can go wrong.” → Risk mitigation is as vital as vision alignment.
Defense Tech is Being Transformed
“Rules of war have fundamentally been rewritten by drones.” → Ukraine war proves the rise of unmanned, AI-assisted systems.
“This will be like the machine gun moment.” → Tactical doctrine is undergoing historic change.
“Venture capital must support this for national and allied safety.” → Beyond profit: it’s about defense capability and ethics.
Cybersecurity Is Urgently Evolving
“Deepfakes, prompt injection, autonomous code attacks.” → Emerging threats are both AI-powered and scalable.
“Wiz outcome is a lagging indicator of market urgency.” → Huge exits prove latent opportunity and demand.
“Guardrails for AI use in enterprise and government are lacking.” → Huge demand for secure, compliant AI systems.
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