Russell Smith 🤙

Currently @9mothers building AI weapon systems. YC P26.

LP/VP @pioneer_fund. LP @ others. Ex @recursecenter A1'22, @rainforestqa, @ycombinator S12, P26.

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

Having done YC before, it's amazing to be back. The energy is the same 14 years (!!) on. Also, the quality of the folks I met was just as a high, if not more. So many have done a ton already, some are early. All are moving super fast.

Crazy achievement by the YC team and @garrytan.

My personal takeaways from the kick off of P26:
- the vibe/how folks/users feel matters - prolly even more for hardware
- what is the smallest thing one can actually ship rn
- watch out for hero-mode; are we solving the real problem, or the easy one
- strong cofounder bond is key, and the easiest way to fail, even vs funding
- building a pro sports team, not family
- post more to LinkedIn, as spaced rep is a thing, and starts a brand
- create a tribe. convert people. if founders don't no one will: but build one tribe, not more

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

Exactly right. The bottleneck has never been compute or capital. Its taste and judgment about what humans actually want. Infinite compute just makes the great founders faster and the confused ones more confused. https://t.co/AmPmal8NYF

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

Lets go!

We're expanding what we're doing, and also still hiring!

[9 Mothers @9Mothers]

New site, new things! https://t.co/7gE6W2qz6k

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@DesaiAshu @grok @garrytan So yes, no one died. I never claimed that. I said what the DoW said to me. I also see that we don't currently have the ability to stop attacks against our troops, assets, etc...and we should.

You don't - but that's not the world I believe we live in.

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@DesaiAshu @grok @garrytan Ashu, the two things are related, the quote is real.

Barksdale; "intelligence drone" - imho no, it's "someone" showing that "Operation Spiderweb" is totally possible here, and we have nothing.

Also, we don't make bombs, today we make cUAS.

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

Note, it’s in quotes, and from DoW. I didn’t make it up, and they believe it. It is obvious based on Russia-Ukraine conflict that defense against these is needed. This is not for you, obviously.

Based on your argument we need defense against nothing here, as nothing happened, and we have nukes? Unfortunately that’s not reality.

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@garrytan follow @9Mothers for sporadic updates

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@garrytan It's so true. Literal quote from customer in DoW when I pushed back about selling too early - "if you don't, we will die".

So we're selling. LFG.

[9 Mothers @9Mothers]

"9 Mothers in the YC Spring 2026 batch is a counter-drone defense co for whom bar is zero, there is no viable close quarters defense otherwise! There's no chasm to cross for that."

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@willde_ath the @TfL stuff used to be solid....no?

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

BA 🙃

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@gdb Pretty great offer for the right teams!

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

Somehow this is their app, and it’s a webpage, that breaks instantly. It’s also constantly asks you to use the app….

����

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@datarade Insane, and cool

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@RohdeAli @bosmeny @ycombinator @sama @dflieb exciting times!

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@aryanlabde $100/mo one is 5x Plus.

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@aryanlabde You know there is 20x plan - $200 for codex?

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@matvogels @BlackFlagVC Good to hear!

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@pioneer_fund @TimSuzman @BlackFlagVC @ycombinator It's still actually missing us...

[Russell Smith 🤙 @rhs]

@pioneer_fund @TimSuzman @BlackFlagVC @ycombinator Nice. Ya I didn't tell them about who our investors are.