Vannevar CEO Brett Granberg walks through his founder journey, from the first days to a $1.5B valuation. We cover his lessons learned and key decisions he made along the way: why Vannevar is not dual-use, how to think about defense TAM, why you should reference-check your investors, and building credibility in the early days. Finally, Brett explains what shifts once you do raise venture capital – how incentives and expectations change, and why managing founder psychology and energy becomes part of the job if you want to build something durable.

Highlights

-- The $16K bill that triggered the leap
-- Why defense-only > dual-use for actually shipping value
-- How to talk TAM in defense (and how not to)
-- Building credibility from zero with “part-time hooks”
-- Reference-checking your investors
-- Founder psychology and burnout, from survival mode to scale

🔗 Careers at Vannevar: https://vannevarlabs.com/careers/

Outline
00:00 The very beginning
01:08 Deciding to drop out of school
02:24 Making the leap 
03:23 The early co-founder partnership
05:46 Product development before customers 
07:26 Fundraising then vs. now
09:39 The dual use trap (and why we avoided it) 
12:33 How to think about defense TAM 
15:47 Recurring revenue in defense
18:03 Screening investors 
20:26 Building credibility as an unknown quantity 
22:13 Biggest surprises about being a founder
24:08 Mindset shifts from zero to $1.5B

Vannevar CEO Brett Granberg explains the ideology behind one of our core operating principles: “Leave your ego at the door." Brett breaks down the difference between confidence and ego, and why “nice guys don’t close big deals” is lazy thinking that hurts mission outcomes.

We get practical: how to hire high-agency people, how to spot toxic ego in interviews, when a strong personality becomes net-negative for the team, why learning rate is Brett’s personal success metric, and how to give high-conviction builders room to run without letting them steamroll the org. Brett also shares the operating principles that took Vannevar from 50 to 250+, the cross-functional model that 10x’s outcomes, and which roles he thinks are the hardest to hire.

We discuss:

• Confidence vs. ego (and why ego is often a lack of self-confidence)
• The “net output” test for keeping or moving on from a hire
• Red flags in interviews
• How to structure teams for high-conviction bets without chaos
• Scaling culture around specific outcomes as opposed to generic values

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How do companies know which products to build? What are traits of a 10X product leader? Should national security startups pursue a portfolio of bets or take a couple concentrated big swings? What does it look like to balance buyer vs. customer demand in defense? In this episode, CEO Brett Granberg shares how Vannevar has navigated these questions while making strategic product bets. We explore Vannevar's product evolution, from early failures to recent strategic moves.

We're hiring: https://vannevarlabs.com/careers/

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In this episode, learn how defense companies can close deals faster and build better products by getting business development and engineering on the same page. Vannevar CEO Brett Granberg explains why engineers should be in the room early, how forward deployed engineers shape both products and customer trust, and why time on-site with users drives the best results. Brett and Hayley also discuss avoiding the “services trap,” how to balance conviction with customer needs, and why cross-functional teams consistently win the largest defense deals.

Outline
00:00 What is the ideal BD-engineering relationship?
02:57 Indicators of broken partnerships
04:23 When to bring engineering into sales
05:35 BD involvement in product decisions
07:15 Balancing conviction with customer needs
09:03 Avoiding shiny object syndrome
10:36 Processing customer feedback
13:23 Forward deployed engineer model
15:06 What it means to be a "product company" vs. a "services company"
18:00 When BD goes rogue
20:20 Leadership team dynamics
22:09 Building trust across functions

In this episode of In the Arena, Vannevar CEO Brett Granberg breaks down the shift from building software-only tools to integrated hardware-software systems. He shares why defense startups need to deliver complete systems (as opposed to just components), how hardware forces a different pace of iteration, and why real-world deployments – failures and all – are the only way to validate products.

We cover lessons from Vannevar’s RF sensing venture, the structural challenges of defense acquisition, and what it really takes to move fast in hardware while staying mission-first.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:19 Do defense companies need to build both hardware and software?
01:56 Deciding to build hardware as a software-first company
03:45 Building exquisite systems vs. smaller, attritable nodes
05:38 Differences between hardware and software builders
07:15 How to learn how to build hardware
09:27 How does the government customer shape how you build hardware products?
13:08 How to build an integrated system
14:26 Scaling software vs. hardware companies
16:16 Aligning incentives when team cadences are different
18:01 Building hardware as a remote-first company
19:28 Lessons defense primes could learn
22:12 The unexpected
24:04 Build vs. buy considerations

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In the first episode of In the Arena, Vannevar CEO Brett Granberg discusses what it really means to build technology for the national security mission.

They discuss Brett’s personal path from consulting into defense, what led him to co-found Vannevar, and why working in public service can be both meaningful and urgent.

The conversation explores:

• Why commercial tech doesn't always translate to defense
• What motivated the founding of a new kind of defense tech company
• How Vannevar builds agentic AI and deployable tools for mission users
• The importance of public service in a representative democracy
• Why the current geopolitical moment, especially competition with China, demands a new generation of engineering talent

Whether you're an engineer curious about working in defense, a policymaker thinking about tech adoption, or someone just trying to understand this evolving space, this episode offers a candid look at the mindset and mission behind Vannevar.

• (00:00) - Introduction