Thread by @wolfejosh

1/ Grateful + humbled to share Lux news:

Ex-head of all Special Operations, USSOCOM 4-Star General Tony Thomas—aka “T2” who oversaw 90,000 of the most elite warriors in 90 countries in every corner at the “tip of the spear” of the globe—has joined Lux...
medium.com/lux-capital/we…

2/ “T2” will be working closely with the entire Lux partnership + Lux family companies on strategy, team building, leadership, navigating complex & risky challenges—and advancing cutting-edge technologies in markets from commercial to defense....

3/ We all get to sleep relatively well at night — because for 40 years Tony didn’t.

We get to do what we do now + in the future—

b/c of what Tony has done in the past.

His experience puts in perspective: our greatest stresses seem like child’s play compared to what his were..

4/ Tony served in Afghanistan + Iraq every year between 2001 and 2013, having survived a head-on car bomb attack on his vehicle in Mosul in 2008, before returning to serve at the CIA, then Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and finally as the commander of USSOCOM...

5/ General @StanMcChrystal , who preceded him as JSOC commander, praised his “amazing vision, unwavering loyalty and personal courage.”

Others have said they admire Tony’s “reputation for pissing important people off” — emblematic of the rebel spirit we seek to back at Lux.

6/ On his appointment @washingtonpost described him as an “even-keeled officer widely known for his candor and by all accounts, inspires deep loyalty among his subordinates”,

briefly alluding to his holding of key posts in the elite counter-terrorism unit known as “Delta Force”

7/ Over the past yr, we’ve spent time w/Tony, from being embedded at the edge of the formation of Special Operations Forces on the other side of the world to attending briefings @ the Pentagon to the many analogies in high-stakes technology venture capital + special operations...

8/ the power + asymmetry of secrecy & stealth; evaluating risks w/ low-probability, high magnitude outcomes; the philosophical similarity between our risk-mitigating maxim that “failure comes from a failure to imagine failure” + Tony’s concept of being “left of bang”...

9/ the gap between sci-fi + sci-fact; the unintended consequences of technology; the trend towards democratization from drones to satellites to sensors and autonomous systems; the power & perils of AI...

10/ and the mantra of Special Operations Forces — much like that of any great venture — as “relentlessly seeking advantage in every domain to compete and win.”...

11/ Lux has long funded founders + technologists advancing capabilities useful for defense, including drones on land, sea, and air (Saildrone, Aria, AirMap, Hangar); satellites + rockets (Planet, Kymeta, Orbital Insight, Astranis, Relativity)...

12/...semiconductors (Mythic, Everspin, Flex Logix); artificial intelligence (Clarifai, Primer); radar (Echodyne); and perimeter security (Evolv)...

13/ We live in the home of the FREE—because of the BRAVE

We’re thrilled + grateful Tony will be teaming with our entire partnership + many current + new Lux family companies on evolving opportunities (and threats) in cutting-edge technologies—and global geopolitics...