Steve Blank on Rebuilding the Department of Defense

Steve Blank (@sgblank), creator of Hacking For Defense and author of 4 Steps To The Epiphany, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:

- The secret history of Silicon Valley is that it emerged from the government’s desire to develop advanced technology and weapons in universities during World War II.

- Stanford became a powerhouse in microwaves and electronics post-WWII. People were encouraged to leave to start companies, which kickstarted Silicon Valley.

- The Department of Defense needs a radical redesign. Steve says the US can’t even keep pace with innovation in North Korea, let alone China.

- The DoD was designed for a different world. China currently operates like Silicon Valley and the DoD operates like GM.

- The “game is fixed” against small startups trying to sell to the government.

- Steve says things typically don’t change unless there’s a leadership change or a crisis, and that the US is lying to itself about China and how fast it is advancing.

- Billionaires like Peter Thiel, Palmer Luckey, and Elon Musk have accomplished “miracles” building companies in the defense space in spite of how the system is designed.

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