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Code Metal: Rewriting the Code Behind National Security
AI made writing code cheap. Verifying it is the new bottleneck.Peter Morales, CEO and co-founder of Code Metal, joins Maggie Gray and Pat O'Reilly to talk about modernizing the legacy code running US…
Techquisition: $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Request Explained
Decoding the President’s Budget Request, POM, and DoD J-Books for Defense Tech Startups.In this Techquisition Edition episode of The Mission Matters Podcast, Maggie and David explain why the…
Armada: Building American Edge AI Dominance
In this episode, Shield Capital's Maggie and Akhil sit down with Dan Wright (Co-Founder & CEO) and Pradeep Nair (Founding CTO) of Armada — the company building distributed AI infrastructure for…
Techquisition: SBIR Reauthorization Explained — What the New Bill Means for Startups
After a 6 month lapse, the SBIR program is officially back following Congressional reauthorization.In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, we sit down with Chris Benson, the CTO of Istari…
Geopolitical Briefing: U.S-Israel Military Strikes on Iran w/Gen. David Goldfein and Norm Roule
Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen David Goldfein (Ret.) and former CIA Middle East expert Norm Roule break down recent U.S.-Israeli military operations in Iran
S1E19 Vector Defense: Building American Drone Dominance
Drones are re-defining modern warfare – and the U.S. is behind. On the latest Mission Matters episode, we sat down with Andy Yakulis, CEO & Co-Founder of Vector Defense, to discuss what it will…
S1E18 Starfish Space: Building Autonomous Satellite Servicing in a Contested Space Domain
Space is a contested domain. Russian and Chinese satellites are conducting proximity operations near American satellites. Critical U.S. and allied infrastructure depends on space-based assets that…
S1E17 Techquisition: The $839B FY26 Defense Appropriations Explained — What the New Budget Means for Startups
After a brief government shutdown, Congress finally passed the $839B Defense Appropriations bill! What does this new budget mean for startups? In our newest Techquisition Edition of the Mission…
S1E16 Techquisition: The War Department's New AI Strategy and Innovation Ecosystem Reform
🚨EMERGENCY POD! The DoW has officially released a new AI strategy, and along with it a whole slew of new reforms to the Defense Innovation Ecosystem. In the newest episode of the Techquisition…
S1E15 Geopolitical Briefing: Venezuela with LTG. H.R. McMaster (ret.)
This episode of the Mission Matters podcast features a conversation between Shield Capital Managing Partner Philip Bilden and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster (ret.) on recent U.S. strikes on Venezuela. This…
S1E14 HawkEye 360: How to Build a Profitable Space Startup in National Security
What does it take to build a serious profitable, sustainable, scaled defense tech startup? In the newest episode of the Mission Matters podcast David and I sit down with John Serafini, the CEO and…
S1E13 Techquisition: What the 2026 NDAA Means for Startups
What does the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) mean for tech startups? Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 2026 NDAA, and the United States Senate is set to vote…
S1E12 L3Harris: Inside the Trusted Disruptor Strategy with CTO Andrew Puryear
In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, Akhil and Maggie sit down with Andrew Puryear, the CTO of L3Harris, the 6th largest U.S. defense prime, to discuss L3Harris's "trusted disruptor…
S1E11 The New Dawn of Defense Acquisition
Last week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth released a memo outlining a series of reforms to the defense acquisition system. In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, David Rothzeid and Mike Brown…
S1E10 How Missile Defense Actually Works
There’s a lot of buzz these days around missile defense, but not much discussion around how missile defense actually works. In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, Matt and I sit down with…
S1E9 Rangeview: Manufacturing in the Cyber Foundry
What will it take to actually bring manufacturing back to America? In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, Akhil and I sit down with Cameron Schiller and Aeden Gasser-Brennan, the founders of…
S1E8 Seasats: Scaling Persistent Maritime Autonomy
In this episode, we speak with Mike Flanigan, the CEO of Seasats, a startup building the future of maritime autonomy.
S1E7 Building the Software Defined Navy
This month on the Mission Matters podcast, we sat down with Justin Fanelli, the CTO of the U.S. Department of the Navy, and Artem Sherbinin, the CTO of the U.S. Surface Navy to discuss the future…
S1E6 Breaking Down the Defense Budget
What does this new trillion-dollar defense budget and "Big Beautiful Bill" mean for national security startups?This week on the Mission Matters podcast, I sat down with my teammates Michael A. Brown…
Geopolitical Briefing: The Israel–Iran Conflict with VADM Kevin “Kid” Donegan (Ret.)
This episode of the Mission Matters podcast features a conversation between Shield Capital Managing Partner Philip Bilden and Vice Admiral Kevin “Kid” Donegan. This episode covers everything from:…
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Mission Matters Podcast has published 24 episodes since March 2025, covering topics in Technology.
Mission Matters Podcast is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 51m.
