Who Needs a Silicon Valley Defense Group Anyway?

18 October 2022

James Cross

Who Needs a Silicon Valley Defense Group Anyway? (Little known fact:  we used to be called the Silicon Valley Defense WORKING Group but a high paid consultant we consulted with advised us on our rebranding strategy - hence no Working). 

Anyway, back the question. Why does the SVDG exist? Maybe ask a Defense Prime CEO.  They would probably say don't need to existing.  I mean, the Primes got it all covered already, thank you very much:  cheap access to space (ULA $500M a year to just keep the lights on), rapid replenishment of solid motor munitions stocks (Aerojet $600M in CR&D but years behind on deliveries), fresh drinking water in all our Navy ships at all times (and hot water and cold beer and actually they have none of the above if you check social feeds from the Nimitz and Lincoln), timely insertion of new tech into all defense platforms at all times in real time (if the price is right), and leafy Beltway HQ's. 

Or ask a Big Tech CEO?  Sorry, no one home.  They are busying building the Metaverse with Web3 NFTs so can't be bothered to secure Democracy.  Their AI is good for selling Crocs to American Shoppers when they searched on Flip Flops but not on keeping the Russian Commies out of our elections and keeping the Chinese Commies out of our Influencers and Influenceds Lives.   And also busy all of a sudden laying people off.  

Or ask a VC?  But since the venture market went to hell in a hand basket in 2022 they can't be found because they are busy hiding from their LPs and portcos in Europe, Miami, Burning Man, shroom trips, under rocks, in their podcast studios, with their lawyers plotting to spin out from their big, successful firms where they overpaid for every deal last year but their track record won't follow them to their new firm, etc.

Or ask a dual-use start-up founder?  Nope. She's too busy wishing a real Program Manager at a Real Defense Program Executive Office would talk to her instead of all these silly Dinnovation Leaders who serve great coffee and cookies but never seem to be able to find the huge contract they promised was on its way...the Alligator Arms of the DOD. 

Or ask a Hill Staffer.   But wait.  They actually know the answer.  And if you get the right lobbyist at the right time to get you the right staffer at the right time at the right place (we prefer Bullfeather's around 3pm on a weekday but some people say that's too early to pound Coors  Lites - don't be so judgy, people) you might actually get the answer to why and how the SVDG exists. 

Or we could just tell you. Welcome to the unofficial Silicon Valley Defense Group blog. 

If you are here it’s because we like you, or someone we like likes you and invited you, or you hacked our security and our friends at the NSA will be calling you soon. 

But back to the Why and How.

One day, back in 2015, we found ourselves sitting on Senator McCain's couch in his office with Bill Greenwalt.  Bill was busying writing an Innovation Revolution into the FY16 and 17 NDAA's though we didn't know it at the time.  We also didn't know what JSM wanted to talk about. 

Turns out he wanted to talk about how the DOD needed to work better with Silicon Valley. We foolishly volunteered to help (first thing military recruits learn is to never volunteer for anything because they are going to order you to do it, anyway).  One thing led to another and we started hosting VC and start-up round tables for the SASC.  Than the HASC.  Then Stratcomm.  Than the Air Force.  Then freaking everybody. 

And then our Cookies and Coffee fund ran dry so we got awesome sponsors from all the groups were just making fun of a few paragraphs ago to upgrade our budget to Martinis and Steaks at Maestros (sorry, you need an SVDG SAP Clearance to get into that one). 

So here we are today with a brand new 501c3 carrying out McCain's Mandate to help establish an enduring advantage for democracies in the new techno-security competition.  Here's some overly wordy bullet points on going deeper into the How and Why. 

• Convening thought leaders from Tech and Finance to support our Policy Friends

• Crowdsourcing ideas, criticism, and creativity from all  the above

• Including all stake holders to create a positive sum conversation - the Hill shall not blame the Building which shall not blame the VCs who shall not blame Wall Street  who shall not blame the Primes  who shall not blame the Lobbyists who shall  not blame the Start-ups.  Caveat:  It is fashionable from time to time to blame the White House bc that's what makes us American

• We are based in DC, not Silicon Valley.  The words Silicon Valley in our name represents the ultra high growth, equity ownership driven innovation capitalism engine ecosystem, not the 415 and 650 area codes

• We like  our democratic allies - we  speak Aussie and Kiwi and the Queen's (may she rest in peace's) English.  Oh, and the Hat's English, too, you betcha. 

•  We run a thing called the Academy where we brainwash, I mean coach, highly successful venture backed commercial tech companies on entering the defense market.  Ironically the defense prime incumbents help fund the Academy

•  Soon we will launch our Military Education Initiative where we will brainwash (just kidding, the Military only does that at Recruiting Depots and Basic Training - oh and the Academies) the mid level uninformed and civilian workforce into Innovating a Hell of a Lot More

• Our founders have been working on Institutionalizing the NatSec and Private Markets relationship since the mid 2000s when it actually worked really well in the GWOT but we immediately forgot the lessons learned when Obama declared Peace in 2008