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Laura Thomas is a former CIA operations officer. Reading how she moved in 2021 from CIA ops into a quantum technology company offered insightful career transition advice for those leaving her agency. Most of her lessons were applicable to any government employee venturing out to the private sector. Below is the first of her three-part […]
a year ago

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More from Steve Blank

The U.S. Led the World in Science and Technology and Just Gave It Up

Prior to WWII the U.S was a distant second in science and engineering. By the time the war was over, U.S. science and engineering had blown past the British, and led the world for 85 years. With the cutbacks of U.S. government support and the Chinese investing heavily for the last three decades to surpass […]

a week ago 19 votes
How to Flip the Script, Beat China and Russia – And Fix the Broken Department of Defense

A version of this post previously appeared in War on the Rocks. This version has been updated with suggestions from leaders across the Department of Defense and Venture Capital community. BLUF: In WW II, the U.S. outsourced advanced weapons systems development to civilians. The weapons they developed won the war. It’s time to do that […]

4 months ago 77 votes
Quantum Computing – An Update

In March 2022 I wrote a description of the Quantum Technology Ecosystem. I thought this would be a good time to check in on the progress of building a quantum computer and explain more of the basics. Just as a reminder, Quantum technologies are used in three very different and distinct markets: Quantum Computing, Quantum […]

5 months ago 74 votes
How Saboteurs Threaten Innovation–and What to Do About It

“Only the Paranoid Survive” Andy Grove – Intel CEO 1987-1998 I just had an urgent “can we meet today?” coffee with Rohan, an ex-student. His three-year-old startup had been slapped with a notice of patent infringement from a Fortune 500 company. “My lawyers said defending this suit could cost $500,000 just for discovery, and potentially […]

6 months ago 70 votes
What Does Product Market Fit Sound Like? This.

I got a call from an ex-student asking me “how do you know when you found product market fit?” There’s been lots of words written about it, but no actual recordings of the moment. I remembered I had saved this 90 second, 26 year-old audio file because this is when I knew we had found […]

6 months ago 73 votes

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At least five interesting things: Nightmarica edition (#62)

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The U.S.-China trade war drove Apple’s Chinese suppliers to Vietnam. Now they’re stuck with hard choices.

2 days ago 2 votes
All the arguments for tariffs are wrong and bad

Trump's defenders are flailing.

3 days ago 3 votes
Trump is escalating a global trade war. Rest of World tracked the fallout across five continents

Trump’s latest round of tariffs targets nearly all U.S. imports, hitting countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America with steep new rates and shaking global supply chains.

3 days ago 3 votes