The Full-Body Scanners Will See You NowRead Now

Feb. 11, 2023 7:00 AM PST

Blake Resnick’s life changed forever on October 1, 2017, when a shooter opened fire on the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest country music festival. While he was safe at his Las Vegas home, his best friend was near the shooting and called Resnick for help. It was a traumatic and sobering moment for Resnick, who at 17 became obsessed with how technology could have assisted first responders. It led Resnick to found Brinc Drones, a startup that creates drones equipped with a camera and a two-way audio system for police to survey active crime scenes.

It’s a tricky space he hasn’t always navigated gracefully—in late 2021, Resnick was widely condemned after the leak of a 2018 video that showed the teenage founder proposing to put tasers on drones for policing the U.S.-Mexico border. Resnick has since apologized and promised the company would never arm its drones. Despite the scandal, Resnick, now 22, has maintained support from Silicon Valley heavyweights: He raised a $25 million Series A in 2021 from Index Ventures, Sam Altman, and Elad Gil. Resnick walks us through his journey, from building a nuclear reactor at 14 to helping police save victims from the Miami condo wreckage.

Get access to exclusive coverage
Read deeply reported stories from the largest newsroom in tech.
Latest Articles
 
Exclusive asia venture capital
Revenue at TikTok Owner ByteDance Rose More Than 30% in 2022, Topped $80 Billion
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Bloomberg
ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, generated more than $80 billion in annual revenue last year, up more than 30% from roughly $60 billion in 2021, according to two people with knowledge of the figure. The 2022 result, which hasn’t previously been reported, is significant because most technology companies with that kind of revenue experienced a marked slowdown in growth last year. It...
Latest Briefs
 
Twitter Releases Ranking Source Code Ahead of Verified-Check Removals
Meta Tells Managers to Temporarily Stop Hiring Remote Workers
Fidelity Marks Down Twitter Stake Another 7.9%
Stay in the know
Receive a summary of the day's top tech news—distilled into one email.
Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
From left, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Google Brain chief Jeff Dean. Photos by Getty, Bloomberg
Exclusive google ai
Alphabet’s Google and DeepMind Pause Grudges, Join Forces to Chase OpenAI
OpenAI’s success in overtaking Google with an artificial intelligence–powered chatbot has achieved what seemed impossible in the past: It has forced the two AI research teams within Google’s parent, Alphabet, to overcome years of intense rivalry to work together.
Art by Clark Miller.
Opinion startups
Don’t Build the Wrong Kind of AI Business
At a catch-up coffee a few weeks ago, a founder friend asked me, “What AI thing should we build?” It was the third time that week a founder had asked me the same question.
Orlando Bravo, co-founder of Thoma Bravo LLC. Photo by Bloomberg.
DEALS enterprise
Private Equity Firms’ Secret Weapon for Big Software Buyouts
When Thoma Bravo was drawing up the financing of its $8 billion acquisition of Coupa Software last year, the private equity giant didn’t turn to a bank, and it didn’t get a traditional loan.
Art by Clark Miller.
Market Research e-commerce culture
The Skin-Tech Devices Helping Execs Beautify in a Hurry
I’m always 29 at heart,” said Liyia Wu, CEO of ShopShops, a livestream shopping app for fashion, beauty and lifestyle products.
Art by Clark Miller.
Opinion entertainment media/telecom
The Streaming Business Model Is Hitting Its Half-Life
Sign up for Rosen’s newsletter, Parqor, part of The Information’s newsletter network.
Org Charts microsoft ai
The People Who Make OpenAI Run Fast
Sam Altman has been the face of OpenAI as it quickly outmaneuvered rivals such as Google to launch cutting-edge artificial intelligence to the public.