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
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 693 Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Yeah, I mean, you basically can't have a defense company if you don't have a large U.S. business. |
| 0:04.0 | The government thinks that we can deliver some pretty major stuff now and in the future. |
| 0:08.8 | There are very few drone programs that would create a material enough amount of revenue to actually create a real business. |
| 0:16.3 | There are lots of VC companies I would love to buy if I had an unlimited checkbook. |
| 0:20.1 | Is there other an ethical question of like, do we agree with sending thousands of missiles to Iran? |
| 0:26.7 | This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings. |
| 0:28.7 | And today I'm so excited for one of the most current shows we could do. |
| 0:32.1 | We've got Matthew Steckman, president and CBO, chief business officer for Andgerald. Just last week, they announced a |
| 0:39.2 | monster $20 billion contract with the US military, one of the largest ever. We could not have a more |
| 0:47.1 | apt or pertinent guest as he takes us behind the scenes of both the contract and of Andgerald. |
| 0:53.4 | But before we dive into the show today, over 80% of Fortune 100 companies are running their |
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