Venture capital is the dynamism engine of all innovation in America.

It's the envy of the world.

And so we have to make sure that this system is not just operating for the Facebooks of the world

and the TikToks of the world, the consumer technology that we use.

We have to make sure that we bring this urgency and this capital and the speed

to the things that matter most, which is, of course, building our defense industrial base. I care a lot about my country. That's why I'm doing it. And I think there's a business opportunity here, right? It's not just I'm a patriotic capitalist and I'm throwing money away. Like, I think this is the biggest business opportunity of our time, and it's sitting right in front of my face and no one's looking at it.

And so I'm gonna invest in it.

Today, we're sharing a conversation

from the Sean Ryan Show with A16Z general partner,

Catherine Boyle.

Catherine co-founded our American dynamism practice,

which invests in companies building in defense,

aerospace, manufacturing, energy, and critical infrastructure.

In this conversation, she talks with Sean about the rise of defense tech startups,

why optimism is central to her work, and how new generations of engineers and founders

are rethinking patriotism, innovation, and the future of American industry. Let's get into it.

Let's get into it. Catherine Boyle, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having me.

Thanks for being here. Thanks for being here. So you came on my radar, what, about a couple of weeks ago from a mutual friend.

And so it looked into you and you're invested in all of the companies that just fascinate me every day.

And I'm brand new to, you know, kind of diving into the tech space.

And man, like, what a, this has been mind-blowing for me just to be able to talk to

these people who are just on a whole other operating field as everybody else and

...