rohan suresh

Building Mosaic Defence

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

the only emotion I can apply to
my own future with any lasting
conviction, ever, is curiosity.

[Alfred Lin @Alfred_Lin]

A CEO from one of our portfolio companies shared this with their team. I’m re-sharing it with their permission, because it resonated and reflects what all founders and CEOs should be communicating.

--
We are living through a period of compounding change. And in moments like this, the biggest risk is no longer making the wrong decision. It is moving too slowly while the world moves around you.

There are two paths. We can play defense:
- Protect what we have
- Optimize what works
- Wait for clarity

It feels safe. It isn’t.

Or we can play offense:
- Learn faster than the environment changes
- Use new tools to solve old problems in better ways
- And create entirely new strategies and businesses

That’s where the opportunity is.

Challenge yourself to do things faster and better than you have ever attempted. Stay uncomfortable. Stay on the front foot.

[emily yu @emily_yu]

the future belongs to those who can move atoms at the speed of bits.

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

@kunalvg we are heads down building this at Mosaic Defence.
already working with the right stakeholders on this.

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

@KaranGoyalbuild @SharangShakti @deepigoyal @surobhidas @lataerospace Congratulations Bhai! Well deserved! Onto new hights now! 🚀

[Paras Chopra @paraschopra]

A simple reminder.

For India’s currency to remain valuable, India must have something valuable to export to the world. Historically its has been cheap labour and growth story but when western countries replace that with AI and discover high growth industries in their home ground, rupee value could drop significantly and evening India imports would become dramatically costly.

And we do import a lot! Oil, electronics, gold. All of it would become expensive.

This is why India must remain competitive on the global stage. Our population will quickly go from being a growth driver to being a liability if we don’t ramp up on innovation and R&D.

It’s honestly an existential matter for the country’s future.

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

one week away from indian defence and the government drops this banger!
can't be a better time to build in defence! 🚀

[Nithish Kumar @Infinithish]

We are entering PEAK DEFENCE ERA for India 🇮🇳🚀🛰️

Here are the key improvements in DAP 2026 over DAP 2020, in one-line bullets:

Strategic Shift
∙Moves from “Made in India” to “Owned by India” — prioritising IP, source code, and design data retention over mere local assembly
∙Introduces “JAI” (Jointness, Atmanirbharta, Innovation) as a unified doctrinal framework replacing piecemeal indigenisation goals
Speed & Process
∙New fast-track procurement protocols for AI, quantum, autonomous platforms, and directed energy weapons with shorter cycles
∙Delegation of decision-making to lower levels to eliminate bottlenecks that caused 2–3x timeline overruns under DAP 2020
∙Revamped trials and quality assurance — likely accepting simulation-based certifications and reducing reliance on lengthy live trials
∙Software upgrades recognised as acquisitions — no longer treated as afterthoughts to hardware procurement
Technology & Innovation
∙Spiral design & procurement introduced for major platforms — allowing iterative upgrades rather than monolithic contracts
∙Exploitation of modern tech before bulk procurement — test and validate before committing to large orders
∙Dedicated procedures for equipment with short technology cycles (drones, EW systems, cyber tools)
Industry Participation
∙Eased financial and experience eligibility criteria — lowering barriers for startups, MSMEs, and private sector
∙Incentives for innovation and indigenous R&D formalised into the procedure
Indigenisation
∙Pragmatic IC (Indigenous Content) and ID (Indigenous Design) evaluation — replacing the rigid metrics that were often gamed or poorly monitored
∙Mandatory use of indigenous military materials where available
∙Import restricted only to domestically non-available and critical equipment
Digitisation
∙Aggressive digitisation and automation of acquisition procedures and processes end-to-end
∙Addresses the language ambiguity and procedural inconsistencies flagged in 100+ amendments to DAP 2020
Budget Alignment
∙75% of modernisation budget (₹1.11L Cr+ in FY26) earmarked for domestic procurement, with FY27 seeing a 25% increase

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

@royan_sanju and we ball! 🚀

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

defense atmanirbharta can't be built on hardware alone. the real choke point is the software layer, the designs, validation, integration, and upgrades. you can't "ToT" your way to sovereignty without owning the brains.

[Normal Guy @Normal_2610]

India is building a 5th gen fighter that runs on software owned by 3 countries :)

In May 2025 the US cut off EDA tools to China in one week. India has no backup plan. We spend lakhs of crores on defence but zero on making our own design tools. This is a gap nobody wants to talk about -Major Risk (Kill Switch)

Look at what happened to China. Synopsys and Cadence got pulled overnight.

China at least has Huawei and Empyrean trying to build domestic tools. India has nothing.

We are second biggest buyer of CATIA and Siemens NX but we own zero of this tech. One export licence change and AMCA sits in a folder.

France and Germany get paid twice. Once for selling us the jets and parts. Again for the software we use to design everything.

India captures none of the IP value chain. We talk about Atmanirbhar in airframes and engines but the design brain runs on foreign code. That is the real dependency nobody counts - ( give PLI Creativity incentive + R&D)

India has 5 positive indigenization lists covering 4666 defence items.

Not one of them includes CAD software, simulation tools, or SCADA systems. The lists ban imports of hardware but say nothing about the software needed to design that hardware.

Nobody in the policy room is even asking this question?

In May 2025 the US cut EDA tools to China. India watched and did nothing.

We are in Tier 2 of US export controls. Access is allowed but conditional. One policy shift in Washington and every chip design house in Bangalore goes dark.

ISRO built PraVaHa for CFD. Nobody else has even started.

France bans Zoom but keeps CATIA. That tells you what they think is strategic. India buys both from France and America.

We pay for Dassault software to design jets, then pay Dassault again for Rafales. The vendor wins twice. India captures no IP value in the chain.

Just the assembly work, if India not think today then should private this domain at least + give incentive + PLI

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

you can just do things. most people don’t.

[jaiya @jaiyagill]

Bridgit Mendler is proof that you really can do anything if you put your mind to it

[a16z @a16z]

Northwood Space CEO Bridgit Mendler's advice to founders: "Be more ambitious than you think you should."

"You'd be surprised how quickly things change and how quickly things develop."

"If you're setting out to use your precious time in your life building something, build something big."

"Choose something meaningful. It's going to take up so much time and so much of your life energy to build. Do something you care about."

@bridgitmendler @NorthwoodSpace

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

@thatssodhawal onwards and upwards! congratulations on the launch Dhawal!

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

read the label on almost any garment sold in the US or EU and you’ll see the same 5 countries dominating the supply chain. the EU deal is a solid step, but a US deal is the real unlock if India wants to truly jump ranks

[Aryaman @AryamanBharat]

China's Textile exports are 13 times India's.
Bangladesh's Textile exports are 4 times.
Vietnam's Textile exports are 3 times.
Turkey's Textile exports are 2.5 times.
Even Pakistans's Textile exports are 2.2 billion USD more than India's.

We have a ton of catching up to do!!

[David @DavidSHolz]

a mentor once told me that there are three kinds of projects in life: two days, two months, or ten years

[Priestlyclass Strongman (Redemption Arc) @priestlyclass]

I refuse to believe that a nation which broke the atom on its own cannot build a jet engine. Yes it is a more complex technology and demands expertise but a lack of clarity and sustained funding is what crippled our capabilities.

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

marking my off-season attendance ✅

[Z Fellows @zfellows]

step 1: be relentless
step 2: be with relentless

[Hemant Mohapatra @MohapatraHemant]

If you're in your 20s/30s, just imagine I'm grabbing you by the collars, shaking you up and saying out loud: APPLY YOURSELVES! Forget what anyone's telling you about work life balance - there is no goddamned balance! We are genuinely entering a very interesting techno and capex cycle that will permeate into society in very, very permanent ways. You are one of the luckiest generations - perhaps as lucky as the Americans in the 60s w the post war boom, and, to an extent, the western world in the 90s w the internet. Take the opportunity, do the hard hours. If you're athletic, apply yourself into sports. If you're a brainiac, get into research. If you love hardware, there's nuclear, drones, rockets, robots! Software & AI, enough has been said. Solar, Mining, Cancer research, materials, environmental, it's all starting to pick up. APPLY YOURSELVES - punch with your full body, not with your arms. Get obsessive, go deep, learn the hard stuff - not just surface level, but pick a lane and punch through walls. If you like money? like fame? Want to have impact? Or just join a big wave like many Googlers did in the early 2000s and spend a decade helping create a behemoth? It's all good as long as you stay committed, and... apply yourselves!

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

@sameeraculous remember reading her book when it came out and was in awe of her writing 🤌

[rohan suresh @rohansuresh]

@rajatpiplewar broo I need this

[mansin @Mankaran32]

Today we are launching 100 early pre-orders for Mr. Tensors @eyecandyrobots, an inexpensive opensource lifelike robot character that's cool enough toy for kids (and a human-robot-interaction + reinforcement learning research tool for academia and hobbyists).

We are looking for parents and researchers to adopt our handmade cute little dinos!

The early 100 people would more or less be our design partners and early supporters to help us manufacture, ship and iterate on the product experience.