20VC: Inside Anduril's $20BN Army Contract & Why Anduril Must Go Public | Why 99% of Drone Companies Will Die | Why There is Never an Ethical Question of How Anduril Products are Used with Matthew Steckman, President @ Anduril

Key Takeaways

• •

  Anduril secured a $20BN military contract

  “Just last week, they announced a monster $20 billion contract with the US military, one of the largest ever. We could not have a more apt or pertinent guest, as he takes us behind the scenes of both the contract and of Anduril.”

• •

  Defense companies require a US presence

  “Yeah, I mean, you basically can't have a defense company if you don't have a large US business, right? So 50% of defense spending is in the US and 50% is in the rest of the world. And so if you are cutting off half of your market from the get go, that's probably a big problem.”

• •

  Hubris often blinds new defense founders

  “There's too much hubris in the technology market. You know, as high tech people, we can do everything better than everybody else. That causes some companies to think they have an idea that isn't actually an idea because it already exists. And that's pretty common.”

• •

  Teams need inside procurement expertise

  “The challenge becomes in defense that if you're missing any of the 12 different types of disciplines it takes to really capture a large program, you will fail. And so one of the things that we've done is over the years we've built up a pretty sophisticated apparatus to kind of round out these teams with all of the various skills in acquisition and budgeting.”

• •

  Europe remains a fragmented defense market

  “The challenge in Europe is it's not like a European Union in defense spend, right? Each country has its own sovereign companies and has its own sovereign agenda. And so you keep getting winnowed and winnowed and winnowed and you're like, oh, well, Europe is my market. Well, if you're a French company, it kind of isn't. France is your market.”

Episode Description

Matthew Steckman is the President and Chief Business Officer of Anduril. Matt played a central role in securing the $20BN contract Anduril just won with the US military. Prior to Anduril, Matt served as Chief Revenue Officer for Zipline. Before Zipline, Matt held several leadership positions at Palantir. AGENDA: 3:45 — Anduril's $20BN Army Contract Broken Down 6:30 — What Do Most Defense Founders Get Completely Wrong? 9:15 — Can You Build a Billion-Dollar Defense Company Without the US? 12:05 — Why Government Contracts Are Brutal (And Why Most Fail) 15:40 — How Does Anduril Predict Wars 5–10 Years Before They Happen? 18:20 — Why Cyber Warfare Is the Most Dangerous Battlefield No One Understands 23:50 — Why There Will Only Be ONE Winning Drone Company 28:10 — How Anduril Decides Where to Deploy $100M+ Product Bets 35:20 — What Would Anduril Buy If They Had an Unlimited Checkbook? 41:10 — Why Anduril Must Go Public 45:00 — Quickfire: The Future of War, VC Mistakes & Career Advice