El Segundo, California · Est. 2024
Cultivating a visionary vanguard of founders solving America’s hardest problems in El Segundo.
An early-stage fund and a two-week founder residency for young technical founders building hard tech and software for the national interest — defense, aerospace, manufacturing, energy.
Cohort companies funded by
18 firms · tap a logo to open the firm ↗
01 The thesis
America’s next generation of innovation is being misdirected.
The majority of innovation in our nation is not going toward tackling our most pressing challenges.
Trapped within the confines of traditional educational institutions, companies, and startup ecosystems, our smartest individuals find their creativity diverted toward problems that are not vital for our nation.
A major cause of this diversion is the loss of popularity of ideals that once spurred innovation and societal growth, ideals like religion, patriotism, and family, within our nation’s most important institutions and ecosystems. These ideals, and the companies they inspired, led to some of the most monumental successes in our history.
PROOF · FORD
Ford Motor Company
“Affordable automobiles and good wages that transformed manufacturing.”
PROOF · BOEING
Boeing
“Patriotic drive that built the aircrafts that won WWII.”
PROOF · APOLLO
NASA’s Apollo Program
“Put a man on the moon.”
02 The founders
We are looking for founders who are —
A new Cohort model for value-aligned founders building for the Western interest.
I · VIRTUOUS
Virtuous
Elevating founders with a strict devotion to truth and goodness. These founders want to build great companies that fulfill that devotion.
II · FUTURIST
Futurist
Seeking founders with a transformative vision for the future of industry by combining their agency, personal virtue, and obligation to our nation.
III · RENEGADE
Renegade
Empowering visionary founders driven by a profound desire for transformative impact, rather than mere wealth or conformity to Silicon Valley norms.
03 The answer
“Where is the new healthy ecosystem for pioneers aiming to embark on our most important quests? And how do we aid our most brilliant minds in engaging in less-traveled, yet more vital, areas of innovation?”
We are creating this ecosystem in El Segundo, CA.
The water tower over the Gundo · El Segundo, California
04 The call
A charter for the new industrialist.
The Discipulus manifesto · the close
We are building an exclusive, tight-knit network of the West’s smartest, most value-driven individuals and giving them a home to build solutions to our nation’s most important problems, surrounded by people who can greatly accelerate their impact.
— discipulusventures.com/manifestoApplications open · Fall cohort · El Segundo, CA
05 The cohort
Two weeks in El Segundo.
An early-stage fund and an in-person residency for the top of a generation of technical founders.
1%
Acceptance rate on the latest cohort.
10
Companies per cohort, hand-selected.
$175K
Invested in each company.
~250
Investors accessible to the cohort.
Mentors & speakers
Cohort companies
Rune
Durin
Vanguard Defense
1AU Technologies
Aleph
Western Chemicals
Actinide
Tex
Watoga
Framework
Fundraise partner: HF0. Full cohort & residency detail on the cohort page →
The Gundo · 2026 — from the Discipulus hero film
06 Team
The people behind the vanguard.
Leadership and a bench of operators building at the frontier of the national interest. Each advisor listed once, with a real bio — the fix the current team page needs.
Senior Advisors
KH
Headshot — license at buildJS
Headshot — license at buildIT
Headshot — license at buildBK
Headshot — license at buildJM
Headshot — license at build07 In the press
The Gundo is on record.
Featured · Forbes
“Silicon Valley’s ‘Gundo’ Bros Are Building A Y Combinator For Military Tech”
Feb 10, 2025
Featured · TechCrunch
“Discipulus Ventures mentors young founders to revive a Norman Rockwell vision of America”
Mar 26, 2024
Featured · LA Business Journal
“Military Culture in Tech?”
Los Angeles08 Signal
From the timeline.
The Gundo narrates itself in public. Follow the firm — and the founder whose posts drive the timeline.
Live embeds · light theme · platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
09 Admissions — join us
Think you belong in the vanguard?
Discipulus backs young technical founders building for the national interest. Applications for the Fall cohort are open.
Next residency · Sep 29 – Oct 8, 2026 · El Segundo, CA