In 2023, defense technology recruiter Peterson Conway VIII arrived at the nuclear fusion startup Fuse in a sleek black Suburban, topped with his iconic cowboy hat. After picking up a new employee, he launched into tales from his recruiting past, including one anecdote about sex workers at a recruiting event (which, he clarified to TechCrunch, was “not for sex”).
The new recruit was less than amused. “I thought I made it funny,” Conway reflected, acknowledging that he had been “an a–hole.”
Fuse’s founder, JC Btaiche, got wind of Conway’s comments and took immediate action, firing him. However, Btaiche mentioned to TechCrunch that Conway’s storytelling wasn’t his only misstep.
Despite his termination, Conway, who has become a key player in the defense tech sector, didn’t abandon Fuse. Over the last decade, he has been instrumental in recruiting for prominent defense and hard tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Palantir and Mach Industries. He dedicated nearly five years to recruitment efforts for Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC and its portfolio companies and has served as the head of talent at venture firm A* since last year.
Even after being let go, Conway continued to pitch candidates to Btaiche, enticing prospects with private jet flights and offers to “go blow stuff up in the desert,” he said. A few months later, Fuse welcomed him back. Since then, he has successfully recruited over seven team members for the company, including chief strategy officer Laura Thomas, a former CIA operative.
Conway largely represents the defense tech industry itself: affluent, driven, a teller of outrageous stories, and, by many accounts, exceptionally talented. According to a dozen individuals interviewed by TechCrunch for this article, Conway excels at enticing skilled professionals to leave safe positions for startup roles. “There’s a thin line between crazy and genius,” Btaiche remarked. “And I believe he walks that line.”
As defense tech funding skyrocketed to nearly $3 billion last year, Conway is poised to inspire the next wave of innovators to develop next-gen nuclear reactors or AI-driven weapons.
“A vibrant community of young individuals in the Valley is engaged in defense, national security, or other ambitious challenges,” shared Gregory Dorman, a Princeton graduate who connected with entrepreneur A* partner Kevin Hartz through Conway for his new security venture, Sauron. “They are here because of Peterson.”
“Does not comply” with safety regulations
A signature technique of Conway is to take potential recruits for a ride in his small plane. “I like to joke that I make them nauseous until they agree to my terms,” he quipped.
I first encountered him at San Carlos airport in California, just before I climbed aboard his small two-seater, financed through a loan from Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar. A notice in the cockpit cautioned: “This aircraft is an experimental light-sport aircraft and does not conform to federal safety standards for conventional aircraft.”
Moments later, we were gliding over the stunning San Francisco Bay as Conway narrated his larger-than-life backstory. His father, Peterson Conway VII, dodged the Vietnam draft, dealt LSD in Tokyo, and ended up in Afghanistan during the ’70s together with Conway’s mother, a Mormon educator. After a string of adventurous stints across the Middle East and Africa, they settled in Carmel to raise Conway and his brother, but eventually divorced.
“My dad leapt from there,” Conway said casually as we soared over the Golden Gate Bridge, explaining that the attempt was unsuccessful. His father was saved by nets and continues to thrive today, selling antiques in his store in Carmel.
In response to his father’s unconventional path, Conway sought a degree of normality by studying economics at Dartmouth. However, after graduating in the early 2000s, he found his calling in recruitment.
In Conway’s recounting, he was cruising on his motorcycle in San Francisco, dressed as a cowboy searching for office space. He spotted a warehouse and rode right into it, colliding with Hartz. During that time, Hartz was in the infancy of building Xoom, an international money transfer fintech that was later acquired by PayPal.
According to Conway, when Hartz inquired about his skill set, he answered, “None, but I can fetch lunches. I’m a decent writer. I own an Airstream trailer — we could surf.”
When asked about this encounter, Hartz laughed, calling Conway’s version “completely untrue.” He clarified that Conway merely leased office space in the same building, which led to his recruitment efforts for Xoom and the broader PayPal team.
When Peter Thiel co-founded Palantir in 2003, Conway was in the right place at the right time and began his recruitment work for the company. Though he held no official title at Palantir, he was often referred to informally as “just Peterson,” likened to a mononymous artist akin to Prince or Madonna, as humorously noted by Gabe Rosen, a humanities scholar at 8VC who worked alongside him.
Palantir dispatched Conway globally to build its international teams. As he relayed, the company sought recruits with an “internal compass and strong convictions,” individuals who had defined their values and forged their own paths.
For instance, Conway asserted that he would receive requests to “find me a Jewish person who married a Christian from rural Australia who is also gay.” Palantir declined to comment.
Conway distinguished himself by capturing the attention of potential recruits through handwritten letters sealed with wax. His approach proved effective, as he secured significant talent, including former National Counterterrorism Center director Michael Leiter and numerous Palantir international hires.
Unconventional methods
Last summer, Conway and his father took flight into the Mojave desert using Hartz’s borrowed plane. Like a mirage of American dynamism, they encountered a group of young men setting up a drone on the back of a truck.
This gathering was a testing session for Mach Industries, a defense company established by Ethan Thornton at just 19 years old. Mach is among the select few defense and hardware firms that Conway has recruited for as the head of talent at A*. The company has since raised over $80 million from investors, including Bedrock and Sequoia Capital.
While those men were busy arranging orange cones and explosive devices for their engineering trials, Conway entertained others on flights in Hartz’s aircraft. “He landed so hard on multiple occasions in the Mojave,” Hartz remarked. “Everything came loose.” Conway countered this claim, maintaining that the plane merely “got a bit dusty” and that he lost one of the window coverings.
As per Conway, he has successfully recruited SpaceX veteran Gabriela Hobe and Mach’s former Tesla employee and vice president of manufacturing, Fasil Mulatu Kero. “Ethan has probably compensated me over a million dollars for my services,” Conway reported, though he later disputed that amount.
It appears that nearly everyone in the defense technology field has an entertaining story involving Conway. In one instance, after ordering an Uber and hitting it off with the driver, he surprised a founder by suggesting they interview the driver for a potential job.
On another occasion, Btaiche recounted that Conway once left a Porsche with the keys accessible at the airport for a recruit, who was formerly a government contractor. The company later clarified that it was a four-seater Porsche, lent to the candidate as a cost-effective solution to Uber rides.
The candidate utilized the Porsche for their business discussions and ultimately concluded the day at Conway’s residence, an expansive estate situated in the affluent Carmel-by-the-Sea, adorned with his father’s antiques and trophy animal decor from hunting trips. Conway frequently hosts dinners for candidates there (with his father doing the cooking), as well as parties that range from birthday celebrations for Joe Lonsdale to weddings for Sankar.
However, Btaiche emphasized that Conway’s true strength lies not in his theatrics but in his ability to present “candidates in a more relatable manner, rather than merely evaluating them through résumés and credentials.”
For Fuse’s recruitment needs, Conway prompted Btaiche to consider what backgrounds might produce individuals capable of leading teams or introducing innovative concepts to the engineers. Consequently, they have recruited talent from rural backgrounds, former athletes, and gaming enthusiasts.
When it comes to persuasion, Btaiche stated that Conway excels at selling candidates on the importance of defending America. “If you’re involved in a genuine mission-driven endeavor,” he said, “I believe Peterson can communicate that vision.”
Dorman, a recipient of the Conway experience, reflected on his decision-making process between careers in the Valley or New York when he crossed paths with the renowned recruiter. Conway encouraged him to opt for the Valley, saying, “Peterson convinces people that there’s a lot of excitement and adventure here.”
For years, Conway has embraced the persona of a cowboy within the Valley, and now the broader tech industry seems to be catching up. He applauds the surge in interest surrounding American Dynamism—a term coined by Andreessen Horowitz to describe government-related companies. “It’s spot-on. It’s bordering on fanaticism,” Conway commented. “It’s evolving into its own form of religion.”
Main character energy
People generally describe Conway with a consistent set of traits: a clever strategist, a significant figure in defense technology, and, on occasion, a potential risk.
A few days after I took a ride in his plane, he reached out to me asking, “Did you catch that news?”
The preceding day, Conway had taken an early morning flight from Carmel to Silicon Valley. In the dim morning light, he neglected to use a flashlight to check his fuel gauge, leading to a misreading. “That was a complete pilot error on my part,” he admitted. As he soared through the sky, he soon realized that he lacked sufficient fuel to reach the nearest airport.
Conway recounted the ordeal as if it were an epic tale: a pivotal moment with choices between virtue and vice. Initially, he believed landing on a local school’s sports field might be safer. “I panicked, thinking a kid wouldn’t stand a chance against a propeller,” he said.
Ultimately, he decided to alight on Highway 85, targeting oncoming traffic in hopes of safer landings for those in vehicles. Miraculously, his two-seater landed safely, and both he and the drivers escaped harm.
Conway then assured me that I was dangerously close to experiencing the same outcome. “If we had continued flying, we wouldn’t have made it,” he warned.
This turned out to be somewhat exaggerated; he later confessed that he had flown again after our excursion. Yet, he framed our shared journey in a profound context, creating a memorable experience. After spending time with him and spending the next two months validating his numerous claims, I realized that Conway is unmatched in his ability to tell grandiose tales. It’s this skill that secures him opportunities with remarkable companies. And, at times, leads to his dismissal — only for him to be brought back again.
As Dorman candidly expressed, “He’s an extraordinarily unconventional recruiter.” However, he is also “the best recruiter around.”
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