Why He Left Anduril To Build A $3B Defense Startup (Cameron McCord — Nominal)

Описание: Today I walk with Cameron McCord, co-founder and CEO of Nominal, the hardware testing platform valued at $3B. Cameron is a former Navy submarine officer who spent 484 days underwater, worked at Anduril, Saildrone, Applied Intuition and Lux, and left Anduril for Harvard Business School on purpose, and now he sells to four of the five largest US defense contractors. He tells me why he made Sequoia wait until after his wedding, and why he thinks America lost two decades to unserious software.

We get into:

The 70/20/10 formula Qasar Younis gave him: 70% finding a co-founder, 20% understanding a market, 10% on the product
Why Sequoia's Alfred Lin had to wait until after his wedding to lead the Series B
What happens to Nominal when the defense tech music stops, and why he calls it a pickax and shovel business across three gold rushes
The four different people you have to win over to close a single government deal
484 days underwater on a submarine, and the clarity of mission he hasn't felt since

so much more!


𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
(𝟎𝟎:𝟎𝟎) Trailer
(𝟎𝟏:𝟎𝟒) Cameron McCord, Co-Founder & CEO, Nominal
(𝟎𝟏:𝟒𝟔) What Nominal is and what it isn't
(𝟎𝟖:𝟑𝟒) Nominal as an iceberg
(𝟏𝟎:𝟏𝟏) Two decades lost to unserious software
(𝟏𝟔:𝟓𝟗) What happens when the defense tech music stops
(𝟐𝟎:𝟏𝟔) The four customers in every government sale
(𝟑𝟑:𝟐𝟑) Action produces information
(𝟑𝟓:𝟑𝟖) Exec coaches and getting out of the maze
(𝟒𝟗:𝟏𝟑) 484 days underwater on a submarine
(𝟓𝟒:𝟐𝟖) From nuclear nonproliferation to Nominal
(𝟓𝟗:𝟏𝟏) Anduril, Saildrone, Applied Intuition, Lux, then Harvard
(𝟏:𝟎𝟓:𝟒𝟓) Qasar Younis's 70/20/10 founder formula
(𝟏:𝟏𝟏:𝟐𝟑) Sequoia called ten days before his wedding
(𝟏:𝟏𝟑:𝟒𝟑) Meeting his wife and co-founder at business school
(𝟏:𝟏𝟗:𝟓𝟒) What he's still becoming
(𝟏:𝟐𝟑:𝟏𝟒) Outro


Follow Cameron
LinkedIn:   / cameron-mccord  
X: https://x.com/CameronLMcCord
Website: https://nominal.io/about-us

Follow Luba
Instagram:   / lifeoflubaa  
LinkedIn:   / yudasinal  
X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina