Defense and Capital: A Conversation with Raj Shah of Shield Capital
War on the Rocks
War on the Rocks
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 October 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
Continuing our series of conversations about issues at the intersection of defense and capital, Ryan chatted with Raj Shah of Shield Capital last month in San Francisco. From his service in the Air Force flying F-16s to his time as an entrepreneur to the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental to his current work in venture capital, Shah has been a critical player in trying to maintain and grow the U.S. military's technological advantages.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the War on the Rocks podcast on strategy, defense, and foreign affairs. |
| 0:15.6 | My name is Ryan Evans. |
| 0:16.7 | I'm the founder of War in the Rocks. |
| 0:18.6 | A few weeks ago I sat down with Raj Shah. |
| 0:21.2 | He's the managing partner of Shield Capital and the former head of the |
| 0:26.9 | Defense Innovation Unit back when it was still experimental and we spoke about the |
| 0:32.0 | venture world and investing in Defense tech and dual use technology. |
| 0:35.7 | It's a fascinating conversation. |
| 0:37.7 | You might have just seen that Shield Capital's in the news more recently for closing its 186 million dollar inaugural fund. |
| 0:46.1 | Hope you enjoy the episode. You really were at, I think it's fair to say, the leading |
| 0:51.5 | edge of this sort of new wave of innovation and the new defense ecosystem future defense industrial base whatever you want to call it. |
| 0:58.3 | You were sort of at the leading edge of this when you became the head of the defense innovation unit then denoted with X for experimental. |
| 1:06.8 | Is that fair to say? |
| 1:07.8 | It is right. |
| 1:08.8 | We had a lot of us together trying to be the early innovators and push the department and the valley towards capturing this trend. |
| 1:19.3 | Who are some of the other early innovators from that phase of your career? |
| 1:22.4 | Well there are several and I also include my partners in D.I. |
| 1:27.3 | When we started, but I think it originally originated from Secretary Ash Carter. |
| 1:32.6 | He was the visionary behind this. |
| 1:35.0 | In fact, in 2001, he wrote a paper with Marcel Lettra |
| 1:41.0 | about how commercial innovation and technology is going to be so important to the |
| 1:47.8 | battlefield and to preserving security. |
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