Book 101 Review, in its sixth season, features Mike LeBlanc Harvard graduate, Marine, and Sequoia Founder — as my guest, sharing powerful insights on leadership, discipline, entrepreneurship, and the lessons learned from navigating elite institutions, military service, and building impactful ventures.

Mike Leblanc 

Harvard | Marine | Sequoia Founder

Mike LeBlanc brings a distinct perspective shaped by experience in environments where decisions carry real consequences. He spent 13 years as a Marine Corps officer, including deployments and advisory work at the Pentagon, before transitioning into entrepreneurship and building robotics companies deployed in complex, real-world conditions.

After leaving the military, Mike co-founded multiple robotics companies, including Cobalt Robotics (acquired in 2024) and his current company, Foundation Future Industries, which builds humanoid robotic systems for defense and industrial applications. His work sits at the intersection of leadership, technology, national security, and organizational design.

Podcast conversations with Mike tend to go beyond surface-level business stories. He speaks candidly about leading under pressure, building teams from nontraditional backgrounds, translating military experience into civilian organizations, and what it actually takes to deploy technology in high-stakes environments. He also draws on experience building venture-backed companies at the intersection of AI and robotics—from early hiring and product decisions to scaling and fundraising across all stages. Hosts often find that his background creates natural entry points into discussions on leadership, trust, decision-making, ethics, and execution—whether the audience is interested in startups, defense, robotics, artificial intelligence, or personal leadership growth.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.