Blair Heavey

Looking forward to speaking at the Creative Defense Foundation's Creative Disruptors in the Desert this coming weekend. Moderated by Robyn Brazzil at FedTech, James Parker, Jesse Gipe and I will discuss how #deeptech, #dualuse start-ups can best position themselves for venture funding and other pathways to capital. While Entrada Ventures is not a defense-specific fund, many of our deep-tech portfolio companies have dual-use applications: * Coreshell is pioneering metallurgical silicon battery anodes—the first commercial solution delivering lower cost than Chinese graphite while enabling a resilient US and European supply chain—backed by contracted demand from major automotive OEMs and defense customers. * d-Matrix is redefining generative AI inference with ultra-efficient accelerators delivering step-function gains in speed, cost, and power—making large-scale AI economically and energetically sustainable. * Kapta Space leverages breakthrough metamaterial technology to produce electronically scanned sensors for persistent, geospatial intelligence with critically required functionality at a fraction of the cost. * Lucidean is redefining AI data center connectivity—bringing coherent optics to IMDD-level cost and power while unlocking 2–4× higher bandwidth per wavelength for next-generation AI infrastructure. * MixMode is using third wave AI to protect the world’s most critical infrastructure from cyber attack * Oso Semiconductor provides ultralow-power, high-performance beamforming microchips that power electronically steerable phased-array antennas for SATCOM, 6G, radar and defense with 80% lower power, 10× better linearity and 2× smaller area * PseudolithIC unlocks the next generation of RF and physical AI systems through proprietary 2.5D wafer-scale chiplet integration—combining CMOS with advanced materials to deliver 50% greater energy efficiency and 10× output power, with active engagements across leading commercial and defense partners. * Quantum Rings is building large, complex quantum circuit simulations for advancing breakthroughs across optimization, machine learning, cryptography and materials science * Subtle Computing, with its hardware, specific machine learning models, is building a voice first computing experience, allowing users to be heard and understood in both loud and quiet places with near silent speech. Looking forward to meeting and learning from fellow creative disruptors.

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Yesterday during Intu Global's panel webinar I was a part of hosted by Ben Yurcisin, Peter Chmiel asked a great question from the audience: is AI personalization too creepy? A fellow panelist Frank Casale made a solid point: AI can be great at filtering and identifying the right funnel. But after that, you have to be mindful. I gave my two cents: It's not just creepy. It's annoying, and it can have an adverse effect. When AI becomes too salesy, you've already created a negative impression on your product or service before the conversation even starts. For instance, this morning I had to block someone on LinkedIn who kept trying to sell me on their tax strategy. Despite my non-response, they kept sending me "extremely specific and personalized" messages six times back to back. (I'm going to assume it was AI generated, because there is no way a human could fail to read a room to that degree. And if that was the human doing that? Well, that's even worse.) AI can be great at personalizing outreach. But personalization without awareness is just spam with a name on it. Can your AI read the room? What does it mean for you to REALLY understand your prospective clients or customers? Can you do it in a way where technology will not interfere in your trust building process? #HumanCentered #AI #ReadTheRoom #ToBeHuman

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🚀 Verif-y is redefining digital record management. With 9 State DOE contracts, 200+ institutions onboarded, and 90%+ margins, this AI-powered SaaS platform is solving a $20B+ global problem: fragmented, insecure, and outdated education and credential systems. Now raising $5M Seed funding to accelerate U.S. and international growth. 👉 For VCs and institutional investors: this is defensible, AI-driven SaaS with regulatory moats — the right product, right time. See www.verif-y.com Then DM me for more info. Join us on this funding round? Follow me on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/e8bZ8srt

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Great session on this week’s SaasRise Mastermind call🚀 We covered some really valuable topics with an amazing group of founders and CEOs, including: 🔹 Patent trolls — Real experiences and strategies to handle lawsuits, including resources like the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and consortiums that protect companies from patent trolls. 🔹 Executive coaching — Exploring ways to bring in coaches, especially for sales teams, with recommendations like Vistage’s Key Advisory program. 🔹 Seasonal buying patterns — Challenges around summer slowdowns for SMBs and how members are navigating these trends. 🔹 Exit options — Interesting discussion about management buyouts for <$3M ARR companies as tax-advantageous alternatives to traditional exits. 🔹 Partnership models — Best practices for structuring deals, protecting IP via code escrow, and including first right of refusal clauses. 🔹 AI and SEO changes — How AI is reshaping SEO strategies, including optimizing FAQ pages, leveraging Reddit for AI visibility, and setting up Wikipedia pages (with Fiverr services mentioned for help). If you’re scaling a SaaS business and want to dive into practical challenges and solutions with peers, apply to join at SaasRise.com. We offer a trial, and you can RSVP to our weekly masterminds. Next week’s mastermind calls: 🔸 Tuesday, 1pm ET: Enterprise CEO & Founder Mastermind Call (ACV > $25K) 🔸 Wednesday, 11am ET & 3pm ET: SaaS CEO & Founder Mastermind 🔸 Thursday, 11am CET: Europe/Asia/Middle East/Oceania SaaS CEO & Founder Mastermind #SaasRise #SaaS #Mastermind #StartupGrowth #PatentTrolls #ExecutiveCoaching #Partnerships #AI #SEO #SaaSCommunity

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Selling is often misunderstood as manipulating the customer to buy what you are selling. No, real selling is about figuring out what the customer needs. It starts with customer discovery. But to do that, you need to get the customer engaged in a conversation. For which you need to "sell" yourself as someone they care to speak with. How do you "earn the right to ask"? Focus on that challenge as the 1st step

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