Anduril: $5B raise, $61B valuation. The same week was the largest defense-tech VC week on record. Silicon Valley is re-enlisting — and it's worth remembering the Valley was born defense (Fairchild → Minuteman, Apollo → ~60% of all ICs, DARPA → ARPANET). Then it drifted. Cold War wound down in '91, the web arrived in '93, and by the late 2000s the dominant Valley archetype — Google, Facebook, Twitter — had near-zero federal exposure. The near-divorce hardened in 2018, when 3,000 Googlers signed the letter that killed Project Maven. The reversal came quietly: Palantir (In-Q-Tel → 2020 IPO → $300B ), Anduril (founded 2017 to rebuild a prime the Valley way), SpaceX (the Pentagon's biggest launch provider). Today's Stanford/MIT grads compete for the offers that were career suicide in 2018. What changed? A hot geopolitical backdrop, DoD on-ramps (Replicator, OTAs) that fit startup timelines, and a founder generation that decided ceding the frontier was the bigger ethical risk. The $5B isn't the story. The story is there's no longer a contradiction. Full piece: interplay.vc/blog/silicon-va…

Most law firms are already using AI, but agentic AI is a whole different level. It doesn't just generate content. It qualifies leads, routes inquiries, triggers follow-ups, and flags bottlenecks automatically. See how it fits into your intake workflow: na2.hubs.ly/H05X4-g0

Rho now lets admins require two-factor authentication across the entire team, and updating any individual security setting is just a toggle.

Cats are 40% of the pet market, but are somehow still chronically overlooked. Every innovation goes to dogs first. Even your vet's office is built for dogs first. Matt Michaelson, cofounder and CEO of Smalls, and his team have built an incredible cat-first brand precisely because of that blind spot. In this episode, I sit down with Matt to break down: • Why the cat industry is structurally underinvested (which includes VCs simply saying "I don't really like cats") • What "human-grade" actually means for pet food — and the sustainability trade-offs nobody talks about • Ingredient splitting: the regulatory hack that lets pet brands disguise what's actually in the bag • "Wrestling in the mud": a feedback culture where every hire is expected to disagree • Founders Pledge, and why committing 5% early changes the giving conversation later Big thanks to Matt for coming on the pod and sharing the playbook behind Smalls.

Law firms waste hours re-entering the same client data across intake and matters. Collections lets you capture repeating information. Learn more about how Collections can streamline your workflow: na2.hubs.ly/H05VbH_0

Rho now lets you retry failed or canceled reimbursements individually or in bulk. No recreating from scratch.

US manufacturing output is rising. Headcount is not. Q1 2026 BLS: factory productivity 3.6% — 5x the rest of the economy. Output up, hours down. That's the AI/automation story showing up in government data. interplay.vc/blog/manufactur…

Couple separates after bride reveals she is, in fact, a finance platform. Just like that, the May Product Rhound Up is here. Featuring: Rho Close, Vendor Cards on mobile, and more. Check out the full release in the comments below!

Rho now sends receipt reminders only when your policy actually requires one. Swipe your card at lunch? You get a text. Buy software online? You get an email. And if your expense policy doesn’t require a receipt for that transaction, no ping at all.

US manufacturing PMI: 52.7 in April — 4 straight months in expansion. Factory construction: $189B SAAR — 2.5x the pre-CHIPS baseline. Soft and hard data agree. That is rare. interplay.vc/blog/us-manufac…

The elevator pitch is dead. For years, founders have been coached to cram their entire business into a 60-second monologue, in case they corner a VC in an elevator. That's not how real conversations work — and it's not how investors decide what to look at next. When I meet a founder and ask what they're working on, I want a normal answer. One sentence. "We're helping people do X by offering a service that does Y." If I'm interested, I'll ask questions. If I'm not, I'll say so and we both move on. A canned, rapid-fire pitch doesn't make me lean in. It makes me wonder why you're talking at me instead of with me. The founders who actually raise well speak plainly about their business, answer questions directly, and send a clean executive summary afterward. The pitch isn't a performance. It's the start of a conversation. If you're prepping to fundraise, throw out the script. Be able to explain what you do in plain English, and trust the investor to ask for the rest. From The Fundraising Rules — the chapter on getting the meeting.

Howdy from San Antonio🤠 If you’re at PILMMA Super Summit this week, stop by Booth 26 to see how our AI-powered intake and growth platform can help your firm convert more leads, automate intake, and drive growth.

RT @mpd: Venture studios are quietly becoming one of the most effective models for company creation, but most people still don't understand…

"VC is back" is a misread. Q1 2026 hit an all-time record — and 43% of it was one round (OpenAI, $122B). Strip out four AI labs and the other 5,996 startups split what was left. There are two venture markets right now. Most founders live in one of them. interplay.vc/blog/two-ventur…

Most founders treat fundraising like a finish line. It isn't. It's a pit stop. You stop racing for a few weeks. Fresh tires, souped-up engine, the right advisors on board. If the raise doesn't make you faster after, you ran the wrong play.

RT @mpd: Great team, real problem, working product — and still fail because the market isn't big enough. Market size isn't a pitch deck sl…

NEW in Rho: You can now create virtual vendor cards straight from mobile. Assign a cardholder, set limits, configure spend settings, and create a new vendor on the spot.

Most VCs fund <1% of what they see. That means 99 of every 100 founders hear no — and founders take their company personally. It's their baby. A successful VC has to tell 99% of parents their baby isn't the one. Don't take the no personally. The math forces it.

Heading to PILMMA Super Summit in San Antonio? Stop by Booth 26 to see how Lawmatics helps personal injury firms streamline intake, automate workflows, and drive growth. We can’t wait to connect with you in Texas! 🤠

We're hiring an Operating Partner inside the Interplay Studio.Built a company. Sold it. Want to do it again on a portfolio of new builds?Diligence, CEO hires, 0-1 operational lift on every studio co. Part-time, remote.Apply: interplay.vc/jobs?ashby_jid=…