90% of Naval Warfare Will Be Autonomous

<p>Pavel Panasjuk was running cleantech startups when Russian missiles started hitting Ukraine in 2022. He had zero defencetech experience—his only military knowledge came from reading history books as a hobby. Like many Ukrainian entrepreneurs, he and his co-founder Oleksandr started by buying medkits, cars, ammunition, and bulletproof vests to supply friends in the army. But after a few months, they shifted from buying supplies to building something. So they made a crazy bet—instead of fixing today&#39;s problems, they&#39;d design autonomous submarines for the war 15 years from now. They asked &quot;what comes AFTER Ukraine&#39;s surface drones dominate the Black Sea?&quot; Their answer: AI-powered mini-subs that make tactical decisions independently underwater.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, Pavel shares how thinking ahead of the current war became Angler&#39;s strategy: why he believes human navies are finished and 90% of naval warfare will be autonomous by 2035, how Ukrainian startups move at 6-month cycles while watching Western contractors plan decade-long programs for systems that&#39;ll be obsolete before they launch, why European VCs frustrated him by acting &quot;more like bankers lending money&quot; instead of betting on breakthrough technology like American investors do—and the two things Ukrainian defence founders understand that Western founders are completely blind to: speed and affordability, because when your relatives live near the front line, you don&#39;t have time for 10-year development cycles.</p><p><br></p><p>-----------------------------------------------</p><p><br></p><p>Chapters:</p><p>00:00 Introduction</p><p>01:28 What Angler Actually Does</p><p>02:32 From CleanTech to DefenceTech</p><p>03:39 February 2022: The Decision to Build for War</p><p>04:42 Finding Your Technical Co-Founder</p><p>18:25 Customer Discovery: Who Actually Buys This</p><p>20:31 The Pivot: Why We Went Hybrid</p><p>21:49 First Prototypes: Garage to Water Testing</p><p>30:40 How to Actually Raise from European VCs</p><p>36:50 Building Fast vs Building Perfect</p><p>42:35 Where to Incorporate as Ukrainian Founder</p><p>52:27 Getting to Revenue Without 5-Year Timelines</p><p>53:41 How Much Tech to Show Investors</p><p>55:29 What Ukrainian Founders Know About Speed</p><p>55:47 The 6-Month Product Cycle Rule</p><p>56:15 The Unsexy Thing That Kill you Company</p><p><br></p><p>-----------------------------------------------</p><p><br></p><p>You will learn:</p><p