In 2023, defense tech recruiter Peterson Conway VIII pulled up to the offices of nuclear fusion startup Fuse in a black Suburban, donning his signature cowboy hat. He picked up a recent Fuse hire and proceeded to regale her with stories of his old recruiting days. One story involved prostitutes attending a recruiting event ('not for sex,' Conway clarified to TechCrunch). Fuse founder JC Btaiche caught wind of the conversation and agreed, promptly firing Conway ' although Btaiche told TechCrunch that telling the prostitution story wasn't the only inappropriate thing that Conway had done. But Conway, who has become one of the defense tech industry's biggest behind-the-scenes power brokers, didn't give up on Fuse. Conway has recruited for some of the buzziest defense and hard tech firms in Silicon Valley over the last decade, like Palantir and Mach Industries. He spent nearly half a decade doing recruitment at Joe Lonsdale's venture firm 8VC for the firm and its portfolio companies,...
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