The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families. Through the perspective of a community of former graduates and Naval Academy insiders, this podcast will help you learn about life at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. Through our shared experiences, Academy Insider guides families through the anxiety and frustration caused by lack of understanding, misinformation, and confusion. This platform is designed to better relationships between midshipmen and their loved ones. This podcast is not affiliated with the United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy or Department of Defense. The thoughts and opinions are exclusively those of your host and his guests.
The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
#079 Military Service to Defense Innovation: Insights into the Power of the Service Academy Network
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 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 and the USNA Property Network 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 boutique residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community PCSing to California & Texas.
We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.
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Hey everyone and welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast. In today's episode we're going to be talking all about the power of the Service Academy Network. I know we're always all Naval Academy, Naval Academy, Naval Academy here. But in honor of kind of leading up to Army Week and the Army-Navy game, I wanted to get a mixture and bring in some West Point guys as well to talk about this beautiful rivalry. But, honor of kind of leading up to Army Week and the Army-Navy game, I wanted to get a mixture and bring in some West Point guys as well to talk about this beautiful rivalry but how it transitions into being this incredible brotherhood outside of the service. And so today I'm joined by Brad Harrison, who is a graduate of West Point and now the managing partner of a venture capital firm called Scout out in Austin, Texas, really on the intersection of emerging technologies and national security, and so this is going to be a really cool opportunity. He recently wrote a pretty big check in support of leading the seed round which is like an early investment round of a company called Havoc AI, and Havoc AI was founded and is run by the CEO, who is a Naval Academy 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 going to be talking about the relationship, about this, and we're going to be talking about how the service academies are also an incredible avenue to develop the foundation for successful entrepreneurs in life who are continuing to live a life of service and contribute to national defense and national security, but now through innovation and investing in innovation. And so when we talk about this life of service through the service academies, it continues even after your time in uniform, and so this is a perfect opportunity for us to highlight the power of the service academy network Again, a West Point graduate investing in the company of a Naval Academy graduate all in support of national defense. So if you want a little insight into Army Navy characteristics and dynamics, a little bit of insight into, again, the power of the Service Academy network outside of the military, then you're really going to enjoy this episode. So make sure to check it out, Let me know what you think, Leave any questions you have in the comments and I hope you enjoy the listen. To listen.
Speaker 1:The Academy Insider Podcast is sponsored by the Vermeer Group, a residential real estate company that serves the United States Naval Academy community and other select clientele in both California and Texas. If I can ever answer a real estate related question for you or connect you with a trusted Academy affiliated agent in the market which you're in, please reach out to me directly at grantatthefirmiergroupcom. You can also reach out to me on my LinkedIn page, Grant Firmier, and I'd be happy to respond to you there. Thank you so much, and now let's get back to the episode. All right, everyone, and welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast. Paul and Brad, thanks so much for taking the time to join us today. For anyone who may not know both of y'all, we'll give the honor to the guest here. Brad, as the resident West Point graduate in the group, If you don't mind just giving a little rundown of where you're from, what actually brought you to West Point, New York, to go to the Military Academy, a little bit about your background in the Army and now currently what you're doing at Scout Sure.
Speaker 2:So I'm Brad Harrison. I'm a. I'm originally from New York so when I was a kid I made a bunch of trips up to West Point. And you know I I grew up when the movie taps came out with Tom Cruise and Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton. And you know my grandfather had been in the Navy and so military service had always been important to me and I don't know I had like this profound moment. I think I was fighting with my parents when I was 16. And you know I thought I was going to go play football at Princeton and I went and did a visit at West Point and then applied early.
Speaker 2:And I went and did a visit at West Point and then applied early, got in and did really well. There was a distinguished undergrad, spent five years active duty, was an airborne ranger in the infantry, got out in 99 and used the vocational rehab program to get tuition assistance to go to grad school at MIT Sloan, I should note. I still borrowed my maximum amount of school loans so I could live really large, which is not advisable, but I did it anyway. And then after MIT I moved to DC and worked for a gentleman named Ted Leontes who was the vice chair of AOL, went to startup and then started investing in 2009 into the types of entrepreneurs that would then become the role model for what is now Scout Ventures. And Scout's been around 15 years and we invest at the intersection of national security 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 sector and power, and so you know that's kind of me.
Speaker 1:I love it, I appreciate it and we're excited to have you on here to talk again. All these different aspects and in relation now we have Paul. Paul, do you mind giving a quick rundown and brief introduction to yourself as well, especially in relation to how all three of us are on this podcast now together, today?
Speaker 3: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 Naval Academy is I'm originally a refugee from a country called Myanmar and I came here when I was 10. And the first time I saw someone in uniform, a US uniform was at the embassy and, as you can imagine, that kind of resonated with me. So I you know, growing up in LA wanted to give back and saw the Naval Academy Seemed awesome. Obviously, saw Top Gun. I wanted to give back and saw the Naval Academy seemed awesome. Obviously I saw Top Gun. I wanted to be an astronaut, so I applied, got in. Luckily, I went to the Academy, graduated in 07.
Speaker 3:Afterwards I went and flew Prowlers in Iraq and Afghanistan and I got really interested in defense tech around that time. I think you know, do you know what a Prowler is? It's a 40-year-old airplane that I was flying in 2010, jamming digital signals. So it's mind-blowing. Right to do that. And you realize, hey, the warfighters need better tools. Right, we have the money, we have the technology sector. And so got interested around the time that DIU was starting to come out in 2015. So went to test pilot school and then got involved in flight tests for F-18 next-gen weapon systems and realized that I could help from the outside, you know, with the insight I got in these program offices.
Speaker 3:So, just like Brett, I left the Navy.
Speaker 3:I used the GI Bill to go get an MBA at Yale and then got into a lot of test site companies Joby Aviation, helping them sell EV toolss to the Air Force, and then Regent, who's building this thing essentially a flying boat, and it was around last year. I went to a conference with Undersecretary Hsu where she brought in all the maritime players and she had asked them hey, if I, you know, if I give you money, can you build thousands of these? And there wasn't anyone that could give a definitive answer. So I started thinking. I was, like you know, I've been building things in my garage, specifically robotic boats. I knew the technology that existed, I knew that I had to go build the team to do it, and so I did it. I quit my job in January of last year and started Havoc AI. We're building a maritime autonomous platform with the goal of building thousands of autonomous surface vessels for the DoD and commercial customers over the next two years and building the entire ecosystem that is required for humans to interact with thousands of these autonomous systems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. And I think this is so awesome to get all of us together, because one piece y'all both left out is that Havoc AI actually just closed a very successful seed round which was led by Scout Ventures, and so you know we have the United States Military Academy plus United States Naval Academy crossover here, the Service Academy Network supporting each other and two very successful entrepreneurs in their own right, one kind of again founding this defense tech company and another with a very successful venture capital firm, and again both working together towards the common goal of improving national security and national defense as well. And so you know what I want to turn it over to you first and, brad, if you don't mind, kind of taking the reins, is the first question here is, in this very successful career path that you've had in entrepreneurship, what about your education at West Point really set the foundation for who you are today and has kind of allowed you to go along this path as a successful entrepreneur?
Speaker 2:Well, I think part of it is the fact that you have accountability and responsibility ingrained into everything that you do, and so part of being an entrepreneur is that it's a really, really lonely job. And if you're not organized and you're not accountable, then it's really really hard to build a scalable business. The second thing is perseverance, which you know. It doesn't matter whether you went to West Point or the Naval Academy. You likely started with about 500 more people than you graduated with, and that perseverance is another part of the entrepreneurial journey. That, I think, is, you know, having the staying power to survive the ups and downs.
Speaker 2:And then the third one is leadership. You know, over the years, what I've realized is I'm probably much more of a leadership coach, that is, an investor as opposed to an investor, right, because we focus on those same three traits leadership, perseverance and kind of accountability and responsibility are the same things we look at in these entrepreneurs that come from the service academies where, by 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 basic foundational skills around accountability, around perseverance and around leadership are ingrained in what we did at the academy, reinforced by our military service, enhanced by graduate school, if that was part of the journey and that provides a framework for us at Scout to really you know be super impactful, Without a doubt and Paul, for you and your experience as well, kind of on this journey, especially on the newer end of all this and building your company.
Speaker 1:what about your experience from the Naval Academy kind of set the foundation. Do you have any specific experiences or memories that you have that like really set the foundation for who you are in this journey of building a company?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, echo, uh, what brett said, right, I think a lot of times, uh, as a only state sort of founder, it is lonely, you know it is all on you to do everything, and so, uh, this is gonna very sound very lame, but I don't know if brett had to memorize these things. But you know, like message to garcia, right was one of the first things we had to memorize at the academy. I think, uh, that's obviously stated with me throughout naval aviation and right now it's, you know, I think, like it applies to me a lot right, like the fact that, like I just have to go do it right and the teammates that I hire, that's a core skill I look for. Right, it's like, hey, can I tell you to do something and can you go do it right? Can you not ask me a thousand questions Just because, you know, on a typical day, you know, we're putting out a hundred fires and we're trying to, you know, build things that are innovative, that no one's ever done before. So those kinds of skills, you know. So we end up hiring a lot of Service Academy graduates because of that, right, that's a skill that I think is ingrained in us from day one. And the other thing is man in the Arena, right? Another poem we had to memorize.
Speaker 3: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.
Speaker 3:But there's a lot of people involved in what I do day to day that just provides criticism and you kind of take a step back and be like okay, you know, I have to keep moving the ball forward. And that goes to what Brett talked about, like persevering, right, like just walking through the things. And I try to instill that onto the team right now. Right, it's like, hey, it's okay to fail. Right, people are going to tell you you're doing it wrong, that you're going to fail, that this is the wrong approach, but no one really knows the answer. Right, if this was easy, if startups were easy, most of them wouldn't fail. And what we're trying to figure out is how to deliver to the customer in this case the warfighter exactly what they need. Right, and to do that, we have to be willing to fail, willing to take criticism and then keep improving. So I think our service academy educations, that's what it is right, that's what a plea bearer is, and so I equate being an All-Estate founder to being a plea bearer.
Speaker 1:I love that. For me, that's huge. I'm right there with you. So I was in 26th company at the academy and we were the Rough Riders, which was all a shout out 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.
Speaker 1:That's my motivating factor, right, you talk about in this, in this world, in the entrepreneurial grind, like everyone has an opinion but not everyone's actually doing the thing, right, and so you know, it's very easy to talk from the outside, but it's another thing to be in the battle, in the grind, constantly working to to make these things happen. And so I'm going to turn it right back to you actually, which is when you got out of the service you're, you're done flying planes. Did you know that you wanted to stay in the defense industry? Industry, I know you went to to yale and got your mba, but while you were going, did you have this vision of coming back and staying in support of the defense industry, or what was that transition like that led you back into supporting national defense, this time just via innovation, and then, for Brad, investing in innovation?
Speaker 3: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 program offices talking about all of the innovation and the tools of world fire to see, I was arrogant enough to be like I could do it. I'll get out, I'll just go start a defense tech company. And that's when my mentors were like whoa, like you know, slow down, like you have no idea what you're talking about. You might have been awesome in the military, but you have no idea what the commercial sector is, right, how startups work, how VCs look at you, how do coffee VCs? And so that's why you know, I went to grad school and then I run a bunch of defense tech companies just to you know one, help them get there, get the awesome things they build into the DOD, but also, kind of like, figure out what later stage companies, how they're interacting with the DOD and what were very early stage companies are interacting with the DoD. And you know, last year I jumped into Havoc AI because there was a very relevant need, right. I think you know this is in the public 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 that clear customer need, at the price point they need. So I felt compelled to go and do it. And same thing with the other two partners. You know, joe and Andrew, both a Navy and Air Force vet. I think we do, we're very mission focused and that's what we're here to do. Right, we all do our use, but we're defense class because we think, you know, we can provide the tools to, you know, help prevent this conflict from coming up, or we can give our site the tools that they need.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And I think, as we jump into this and talk a little bit more about national defense, national security, but also just the Service Academy Network supporting each other, I think the first piece before we even get there is the fact that the rivalry exists while you're at West Point or you're in Annapolis. And so, brad, I actually got a question for you, man, which is all about life at West Point. Did you all have like a Navy week, like I know, when we're about to play Army in the football game, we have an Army week? Do you have like a week leading up to the football game that was just full of shenanigans and a bunch of crazy stuff going on at West Point.
Speaker 2:I mean, obviously, Air Force Week, Army Week, you know we get all the helicopters and the A-10s and all the exciting things to fly over, you know, to make us feel good about ourselves. Yeah, absolutely, we got all our spirit missions. Yeah, you know, maybe one year we may have stolen the goat. I'm not saying I'm not saying I was involved. It may have allegedly been members of the rugby team, but you know, listen, I think I think that rivalry is good.
Speaker 2:You know, I, I would say, post the Academy, what we tend to notice the most is that, you know, at West Point and within the Army, the focus is really on leading soldiers. The Navy tends to be way heavier related to big pieces of equipment and systems. Right, so you meet nuclear engineers, you meet pilots, you meet submariners, you meet surface. You know you meet people by their functions and their equipment, and so there's differences in the nuances of those leadership skills that they develop in those positions. Right, If you're, you know, an army officer in an infantry unit, you know you're going to go from 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 fly the whole time right and be the best at managing your equipment, and so that comes through a little bit in the leadership of these companies and and how we need to mentor the entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2:You know, I would say you know from the very beginning, when Paul and I were working together, you know we had a common view of kind of what we needed to do with some issues around personnel and what we needed to do around funding and what we needed to do around the cap table, and so I think in that case it was really easy for us to get off on the right foot because I was able to help Paul with some of the more challenging decisions he had at the beginning. Some of those are related to people and some of those are related to like okay, do I want to take money from these people? Do I, you know, I mean after he had already decided that he wanted to take money from scale.
Speaker 1:Indeed. And then yeah, for Paul, what about you? Do you have any? Just to go back, do you have any funny Army Week stories that you specifically remember from your time as a midshipman?
Speaker 3:I mean what Brett said, right, all the spirit missions, the games themselves. You know, I think, pleasure it was like a blizzard, right, and we still held the game. I think to this day. I still remember how freezing cold it was, but how excited we were. Right it's, we're playing this Army-Navy game. I, you know, I lived in the, so I was class of 2007. So, you know, with Paul Johnson, we started that, you know, 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, as I'm sure it was for you too, brent. But I think what Brent is talking about, that's really important. Yeah, we're rivaled from different schools, but that different perspective that Scout and Brent is able to provide us like solve some of those very challenging issues. If I think why we wanted to go with Scout and specifically Brent as a mentor and I'll just be quite honest, he saved the company we started.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and again I'll just turn it over now. This is a highlight again. Something I talk about on this platform all the time is the power of the Naval Academy Network. But I think, as we continue to grow and expand, it's really highlighting the fact that it's not just the Naval Academy Network. But I think, you know, as we continue to grow and expand, it's really highlighting the fact 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. And so, if you don't mind, just talking a little bit about what the Service Academy Network has meant for you through your progression through business and how you've worked across, you know the Service Academy Network, how it's benefited you in life outside of the service.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I'd like to note that Army-Navy has been one of the biggest events in terms of expanding my relationship with the Naval Academy 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, you know post game, you know, normally that is where I've built most of my relationships with.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of people within the Naval Academy, and some of those people, like Ken Braithwaite, who was former secretary of the Navy and ambassador to Norway, is now a venture partner at Skel Right, and that's come directly out of this camaraderie of a network of people that get together, win or lose. After the Army-Navy game, I think one of the things that's really important to note is that when we look across DOD major corporations, the government the permeation of service academy grads and key decision-making roles is pretty significant, and so if you're willing to spend the time to navigate that network, to use your existing relationships to get warm intros, then you'll find that there's really not anywhere you can't navigate to, and so that's really, then, the power of the service academy network Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And, Paul, have you seen it in effect in your life already in kind of this short phase outside of you know, after grad school and in the entrepreneurial world?
Speaker 3:100% right and you know he's right there to your right. You know, I think, that Army-Navy relationship I mean the first time I met Brett, you know, as he alluded to we're solving very complex, challenging problems and we're doing something that is, you know, aspirational and mind-blowing, right, and I think I don't want to speak for Brett but hopefully, like hopefully, the fact that I am a naval academy has gone through similar experiences, I think, hopefully, that allowed him to trust me a little bit to say, hey, I can solve these challenges and I can build this mind-blowing thing that I'm telling you I'm going to build in a year. I think we could do this because of the network that Brett described. Right On the business side, you know, there are service academy people at all levels of you know, most major companies, from the investor side to commercial side, obviously inside of the DoD it's the same.
Speaker 3:So I think when we talk, we're able to talk, you know, with some trust, right, I think, with shared backgrounds, with shared values and the fact that we're all, no matter what're doing, you know whether we could be a banker or you know, whatever we're doing, we still have this society to solve and give back, and that shared value, I think, makes it easy to kind of like talk about very complex things technology and relationships and contractual things, right, and I think that that's been very cool right.
Speaker 3:So I think, like I, you know, it's my it's cool, right, I think that's been very cool right. So I think, like you know, it's cool right. I think that one day we probably hate each other, but you know, the rest of the year it's truly, I think the service is going to be. You know, I don't want to forget about the Air Force folks, since we just had an Air Force week where we crushed them, but it's the same thing, right, I think. The three service academies, I think we all help each other out and it's been very cool and humbling to take advantage of that network.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and for you, brad, as the managing partner of a very successful venture capital firm, when you're looking at founders, when people come to you with their pitch decks or get that warm intro, what does it say about them? When they have that Naval Academy, that West Point, that Air Force Academy, you know degree as a part of their background and resume, what kind of what does that look to you like and kind of how does it set the foundation for that first initial introduction?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, if they went to the Naval Academy, it means they made one substandard decision early in their career.
Speaker 3:I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:I think there's two things right. Number one regardless of which academy you went to, we normally go first to the military service post-academy and try to figure out, okay, what was unique about your military service. Okay, you know what was unique about your military service. Or, you know, did you lead? Were you? You know?
Speaker 2:In Paul's case, you know what stood out was he was a test pilot and had done technological integration and then had gone to grad school and had worked at a company that had been working on stuff and was very, like, mission driven, and so that resonates with us because we want to see that passion that had been working on stuff and was very mission-driven, and so that resonates with us because we want to see that passion, and so that was part of it. I think in general, you probably give academy grads a little bit more credit around integrity, relationship, service, because there's a shared experience. Even if you went to an easier academy, like the Naval Academy, you still had some sort of a challenging experience while you were there in between you guys, going into Annapolis and getting drunk, which we don't have. That at West Point, yeah, it sounds like you're jealous a little bit.
Speaker 1:Annapolis is great man.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, I mean, highland Falls sucks. Not even the McDonald's is good. I was up there for my I don't want to date myself, but I was up there for my 30th reunion and I saw that they added a Chipotle. I think that's the only thing they've added to Highland Falls the last 20 years. So you know, listen, I think what does matter is this kind of shared sense of service, a commitment 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 test that gets you a lot further than just a random person that comes in with a pitch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, absolutely. And so, as we get ready to wind down a little bit here, if you don't mind, paul, I'll start with you. We're just going to go through, kind of. I ask every guest who comes on here just to give a little bit of their recruiting pitch as to why they should think Again, a lot of our audience is prospective high school students. Right, there are a lot of people out there who are interested in a service academy. So, based on your experience and where it's taken you in life as well, what would be your recruiting pitch about why a young man or woman should consider a service academy education?
Speaker 3: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, and just the three of us on here. I think that shows you the quality of the people meet, right, and just the three of us on here. I think that shows you the quality of the people, the different backgrounds you know and people I think like they're still my best friends, right, my academy, my company mates. You know we talk regularly and I think that's what made me grow up, right, growing up in LA, you know, in my circle of family and friends there.
Speaker 3:To go into Annapolis and meeting people from, you know, all over the world, was mind-blowing, right, just today, through Brett, I met a West Point grad, you know, who is from Singapore. Right, was a foreign exchange here is still, you know, cares so much about the US and obviously the Singaporean 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 the Service 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 it for anything. Yeah, is it difficult, you know, but it's meant to be right. I think it's meant to be challenging so that you know it makes you a better person and prepared for some of the things all three of us face.
Speaker 3:You know solving after we graduated from our respective Solve it Academy. So you know, for me, you know, there were limited opportunities. Like I said, I grew up as a refugee. I grew up, you know, not as wealthy in LA. And just what the Naval Academy did for me, you know, I can't even describe it. I met my wife because of the Naval Academy. Unfortunately she's a Notre Dame grad, so I have to live with that. But we met at Spring Breakout when I was still at the Academy.
Speaker 1:So most of my life is based around the Naval Academy. Even 20 years removed, what?
Speaker 2:about you, brad? What do you got for us? You know, listen, I don't think there is a finer set of institutions in the world to develop well-rounded leaders of character. And you know that's a combination of one of the top STEM educations in the country, hands down, you know, doesn't matter, we're in the top 25, top 50 best educations every single year, right? So pure education, I think, is top 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 Academy is doing.
Speaker 2:I know, like the entrepreneurship summit, you're about five years behind us, so I'm glad you guys have been paying attention. So I don't know where you are in terms of the stuff that we're doing, but we're building a robotics center, an autonomy. We're building all of that into the academy. We're spending more time on nuclear because there's a shortage of nukes. So I think, core education and infrastructure second to none.
Speaker 2:I think and again, you know, speaking mostly with my familiarity with West Point the physical challenges and requirements combined with the leadership challenges and requirements is what produces leaders of character. And you know, the leader of character is one that can go back to the same things, persevere in hard times, provide leadership to their team in challenging times, leverage their network and resources to find problems to challenging times, and these are the things that make great entrepreneurs and great leaders. And so you know, I would say, though, for all the aspiring entrepreneurs out there, I don't want a service academy grad that hasn't served. I think the service is a critical part of the character development and the education post. Any of the academies go get, get your service, and you know the soup. You know kind of gave me a hard time. He said I want you to steal my cadets, and I was like, sir, I don't want your cadets.
Speaker 3:I really don't Like.
Speaker 2:I don't want them until after. You know they've been lieutenants and captains in the Army, but I want them to have that experience. And if they're not going to have that experience then you know it's not really that interesting to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just to double down, the Naval Academy is doing really cool stuff. So again, abet accredited cyber operations major, which has continued to develop tons of visiting professors from the NSA given stuff. They just finished the construction of the brand new Hopper Hall, which is our cybersecurity like cyber science department building, which actually is a SCIF in the top floor. So some of the you know 400-level classes in the cyber operations major are taught at the top secret level with you know specific tools at the NSA. So a lot of really cool opportunities for midshipmen at the Naval Academy as well to continue making progress in the emerging tech sector. So awesome stuff.
Speaker 3:And, if I could point out, we've been doing nuclear since 1950.
Speaker 2:I mean, I also think that you know we are at a time, given the geopolitical landscape in the world, that I'm hoping people are finding a sense of need to serve, because we do need it. It is critical to maintaining our lifestyle. Unless you all want to be speaking Chinese and I say that in jest, but you know, not in jest, right? I mean, you know there is definitely tension in the South China Sea. You know that the Chinese have rammed the Filipino Navy five times now this year and that creates an interesting dynamic because the US has a security alliance with the Philippines and so, technically, if that escalated, the US would be responsible to defend the Philippines, who has been a longstanding ally and military base provider. So I think that you know I'm hoping people find a call to service and I encourage them to look at the service academies for providing one of the most holistic educations. And, in fact, if you do want to be an entrepreneur, you know, go serve for 10 years, get a subject matter expertise and then go build a great company.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well, team. Thank you so much. I'm going to turn it back over to Paul and then Brad back to you. If you guys have any lasting thoughts or words that you want to leave with the audience, or just you know direct people to learn more about Havoc, ai and Scout and what y'all are doing. Just want to give you the opportunity again to kind of leave the audience with any last thoughts that you have.
Speaker 3:No, you know, I want to echo what Brad said. Right, I think it is very critical right now. We live in very challenging times and you know the software academies are going to have a huge impact on, you know, the next few years and what happens, you know, and people from the software academies right, I think, both Brett and I, that's what we're passionate about. We want to help solve these national security challenges. That's our mission at Havoc AI. You know, it's why we hire a lot of service academy grads and veterans, because everyone kind of, I think, for the first time sees, you know what's happening on the seas and want to help solve it. So, you know, I appreciate Brad having trust in me and the team at Havoc AI, allowing us to do what we do, which, hopefully, is to prevent this conflict from happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Paul, that was well said. You know, listen, I think I would leave it with this. There's a lot of choices you can make. You can do all sorts of different things and there's lots of amazing universities. There's only five service academies and they all have unique and different things about them. They have networks that have been around. For you know, we're at. You know, 1802 is when we were founded, right? You guys were somewhere in the 1840s, 45. Yeah, Again, you know about five decades behind us again, but nonetheless, you know, again, these institutions have been around. They have evolved with the needs of our country. They have been the front line for leadership development. They have produced presidents, senators, congressmen, entrepreneurs, and I am very, very proud of my military service. I am very, very proud of the fact that I went to West Point and I would say go Army, beat Navy.
Speaker 3:Love it Go, Navy beat Army.
Speaker 1:We're not going to let you get the final word in there, though. So we appreciate it. Brad, thanks so much for coming and sharing this. Again, what you're doing with Scout is awesome. For anyone who doesn't know, I actually got to do my Skillbridge internship with Scout Ventures out in Austin, built a relationship with Brad and saw all the amazing stuff that they're doing. So, again, this is something that was really fun for me to get to bring to life, because it really is just the full cumulation of the Service Academy Network and coming back and supporting grads, you know, doing good things to continue to make a positive impact in the world and support national defense and live that life of service, even if it's outside of the uniform. So really appreciate you both being on here today. Thank you so much, and you know we got to beat it to it, so beat army beat.
Speaker 3:Army is a beat.
Speaker 1:All right to the Academy Insider audience. Thank you so much, hope you have a great day and let me know if you have any questions. Thank you so much for listening to 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 to like and subscribe or leave a comment about the episode. We really appreciate to hear your feedback about everything and continue to make Academy Insider an amazing service that guides, serves and supports midshipmen, future midshipmen and their families. Thank you.
