During this year’s DC Startup & Tech Week, a first-of-its-kind convening was held. In the event’s decade-long run, the conversation on national security hadn’t yet made it to the spotlight. This year, nearly 200 attendees gathered to listen to five founders taking on five critical national security technology challenges.
“Boundary Breakers” delivered on its name, showcasing truly innovative technology from tenacious people who’ve worked through challenges to make new things happen.
What came through in the talks and throughout the event is that these are founders on a journey. Yes, they want to create change in national security. But they also want to build lasting companies that can make a difference in our lives, in our communities and in the global economy.
An important thing to note: This was a local evening hosting a national conversation.
More than a decade after we all first witnessed the power of TED talks and Ignite events, it was incredible to see how people not only embraced this rapid “lightning talks” format, but also responded to the domain-specific focus. With an audience that chose this event out of many DCSTW and other options that Tuesday night, coming together under the literal state-of-the-art spotlight that the Hopkins Bloomberg Center put on them, these entrepreneurs took their place as leaders in a dynamic and fast-growing community of national security innovators.
An important thing to note: This was a local evening hosting a national conversation.
Two of the founders travelled to take the stage here in DC. While both had roots in the area, Warren Su as a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Edgar Garay as a portfolio company of DC-HQ’ed Squadra Ventures.
DC is the epicenter of this kind of national security activity, and we see others coming every week to take part in this work.
The academic community, the government community, and the innovation community are driving the ecosystem forward. All three are here, and leadership is in the conversation — that is why people come. The National Capital Region is not only the place where the decisions are made, but also the home of where these critical technologies move from ideation to the lab to production.
In national security, it’s about outcomes, not names or titles
In the interest of what entrepreneurs, VCs and yes, the US DoW are trying to do — gain the edge — we talk a lot about competitiveness. The reality is that the edge we are seeking lies a layer below what we might think of as the folks on the frontlines.
None of the founders who shared their stories served in the military. None of these founders are veterans. None of these founders were warfighters.
They are scientists. They are public servants. They are immigrants. They are educators. They are engineers.
Yet each of these founders is contributing to the fight for America’s future.
Communications, critical minerals, microchips, autonomy, manufacturing — these are the components underlying our ability to end the wars in our world, to settle the conflicts we have yet to realize, to protect domains citizens never see.
Department of Defense, Department of War. It’s not about the name, it’s about the outcome of the work.
Dan Madden, principal at Squadra Ventures, had a concise way to express the sentiment in the event’s closing remarks. “Nobody is coming to save us,” he said. “You have to take agency in your own lives.”
That agency takes effort. Everyone who took the stage that evening is working towards deterrence through innovation. These are people who care enough to dedicate their lives to solving hard problems that have meaning — and that, if successful, will long outlive them.
Find the videos of each of these inspiring talks below, or add the full 75 minute video of the complete program to your watchlist.
Patrick Ho, CEO of Forrager Station
Patrick Ho, CEO of Forager Station, gives a crash course in the ins and outs of the biochemistry of waste, and how he aims to free the critical minerals that are trapped within.
Emma Bates, CEO of Cachai
Emma Bates, CEO of Cachai, navigates how her experiences across the private and public sector sides of the defense community drove her to work to solve mission critical challenges in autonomy.
Alex Marder, CEO of Revelare Networks
Alex Marder, Johns Hopkins University professor and CEO of Revelare Networks, explores the so-called “valleys of death” facing entrepreneurs as they transition technology from the lab to the commercial sector.
Edgar Garay, CEO of Falcomm
Edgar Garay, CEO of Falcomm, takes us on a journey into the world of semiconductors through the lens of personal experience as an immigrant, graduate student, and solo founder.
Warren Su, CTO of Endox
Warren Su, CTO of Endox, shares his journey from Taiwan to the United States, what he has learned about the American industrial workforce, and what he plans to do to change it.
