# Jarren Reid

> Jarren Reid is the 21-year-old CEO and co-founder of Usul, a Y Combinator (S24) startup building an AI platform that helps companies find, pursue, and win government contracts. Usul monitors roughly $8 trillion in annual government spending across 60+ nations, matching companies to opportunities in defense, IT, energy, and healthcare. Reid worked for defense contractors including Palantir and MITRE while still young, dropped out of Stanford to build Usul after seeing how broken the acquisition process was, and has become one of the youngest CEOs working with the U.S. government today.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at Usul
- **Organizations:** Usul, Palantir Technologies, MITRE, Stanford University, Y Combinator, Hacking for Defense
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Computer Science (did not complete - dropped out to build Usul), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Usul and became one of the youngest CEOs working with the U.S. government at 21, Took Usul through Hacking for Defense, H4XLabs, and Y Combinator (S24), Raised approximately $3.2-3.3M in seed funding led by Scout Ventures with participation from defense insiders

## Career timeline

- **High school** — Left high school to start his first company and worked for defense contractors
- **2022-2024** — Studied at Stanford; worked at Palantir and MITRE; developed the Usul concept through the Hacking for Defense course
- **2024** — Dropped out of Stanford and co-founded Usul with Oliver Gomez and Joonghyun Lee
- **2024** — Usul joins Y Combinator's Summer 2024 (S24) batch
- **2025** — Raised roughly $3.2-3.3M seed round led by Scout Ventures; featured in Inc. Magazine's 'Defense Tech's New Guard'
- **2025** — Usul won the Army xTechIgnite Competition with a private invite for a Direct-to-Phase II SBIR
- **2026** — Usul featured in the New York Times (February 2026)

## Achievements

- Co-founded Usul and became one of the youngest CEOs working with the U.S. government at 21
- Took Usul through Hacking for Defense, H4XLabs, and Y Combinator (S24)
- Raised approximately $3.2-3.3M in seed funding led by Scout Ventures with participation from defense insiders
- Won the Army xTechIgnite Competition with a private invite for a Direct-to-Phase II SBIR
- Built an AI platform monitoring roughly $8 trillion in annual government spending across 60+ nations
- Featured in Inc. Magazine and the New York Times

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Usul and Jarren Reid featured in the New York Times.
- **2025-05** — Featured in Inc. Magazine's 'Defense Tech's New Guard'; closed a ~$3.3M seed round.

## Links

- Website: https://usul.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrenreid/

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/jarren-reid
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01