A local founder confirmed this week that his autonomous “War Pods” startup — a Pentagon-adjacent hardware platform he described as “sovereign resilience infrastructure” — has opened a friends-and-family funding round ahead of an anticipated defense-sector Series A. The round’s lead slide, shared with relatives over the Thanksgiving table, listed a grandmother’s savings account as “anchor LP interest, pending conversation.”

When a cousin declined to participate, citing the fact that he does not have the money being requested, the founder’s pitch deck was updated same-day to reclassify the refusal as “a strategic pass, not a rejection,” and to note that the cousin remains “warmly invited to re-engage at a more favorable valuation.” Family members confirm the deck now includes a slide titled “Objection Handling: Kevin.”

The founder says he is “not worried” about the round closing, noting that “conviction compounds,” and that he has begun approaching in-laws.