“Defense is an away game; we’re not going to be able to fight our way in” 

Stephen Rodriguez is the Founder of One Defense and an Operating Partner at DCVC. He invests in and serves on the boards of leading defense-tech companies, including Applied Intuition, Firestorm, Ursa Major, Mach Industries, and ZeroMark. He chairs Booz Allen’s Defense Technology Board, leads Blue Forge Alliance as Chairman and serves as a Commission Director at the Atlantic Council. 

This episode covers:  

• American war fighting patterns.  

• Defense is an away game.  

• Replicator Initiative.  

Stephen Rodriguez is the Founder of One Defense and an Operating Partner at DCVC. He invests in and serves on the boards of leading defense-tech companies, including Applied Intuition, Firestorm, Ursa Major, Mach Industries, and ZeroMark. He chairs Booz Allen’s Defense Technology Board, leads Blue Forge Alliance as Chairman and serves as a Commission Director at the Atlantic Council. 

This episode covers: 

• What should our defense policy be? 

• Drone manufacturing reforms.  

• How to keep up with China.  

Ex-SpaceX Dragon Capsule software lead, Karthik Gollapudi, built two-fault-tolerant systems that flew astronauts to the ISS. He left to found Sift, an AI platform that automates testing, manufacturing and observability for rockets, rovers and autonomous fleets. 

This episode covers: 

• SpaceX’s young staff & the push for automating everything. 

• Same job in 12 months = failure.  

• Bootstrapping a tech startup team and funding.  

A VC managing partner covers AI ethics, a boom of domestic jobs in tech and why the gov needs to get out of the way. Hamlet Yousef is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Irongate Capital Advisors, where he leads investments in early-stage technologies that strengthen national defense. He has worked with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies across disruptive and emerging technology sectors.

Are our adversaries building ethical AI? Dive into it on the pod with Lt. Col. Joshua “Cabo” Gunderson, former combat pilot, and former Commander of the Air Force F-22 Demo Team. Since leaving active duty, he serves in the Nevada Air National Guard as an F-22 Subject Matter Expert, works for a private company as a corporate pilot flying the Challenger 300 aircraft, and consults for aviation clients. Hear his takes on ethics in the military, democratizing defense tech, strategic bombardment and advice for the next gen of combat pilots.

Are our adversaries building ethical AI? Dive into it on the pod with Lt. Col. Joshua “Cabo” Gunderson, former combat pilot, and former Commander of the Air Force F-22 Demo Team. Since leaving active duty, he serves in the Nevada Air National Guard as an F-22 Subject Matter Expert, works for a private company as a corporate pilot flying the Challenger 300 aircraft, and consults for aviation clients. Hear his takes on ethics in the military, democratizing defense tech, strategic bombardment and advice for the next gen of combat pilots.

General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.), is a Partner in the global investment firm KKR; Chairman of the KKR Global Institute; and Chairman of KKR Middle East. He is also a member of the boards of Optiv and OneStream; a Strategic Advisor for Semperis, Advanced Navigation, and Ontic; a personal venture investor; the Kissinger Fellow at Yale's Univ's Jackson School; a speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau; and co-author with Andrew Roberts of the NYT, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly best seller "Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza,” also selected History Book of the year by Aspects of History.

General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.), is a Partner in the global investment firm KKR; Chairman of the KKR Global Institute; and Chairman of KKR Middle East. He is also a member of the boards of Optiv and OneStream; a Strategic Advisor for Semperis, Advanced Navigation, and Ontic; a personal venture investor; the Kissinger Fellow at Yale's Univ's Jackson School; a speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau; and co-author with Andrew Roberts of the NYT, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly best seller "Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza,” also selected History Book of the year by Aspects of History.

CEO and Co-Founder of Picogrid, Zane Mountcastle is a key member of the emerging El Segundo defense tech scene. Him and Dan discuss the tough questions facing founders today.