Raj Shah is a former US Air Force F-16 pilot and was the head of the Defense Innovation Unit, Experimental. He now leads Shield Capital, an early stage venture capital firm investing in technologies that will secure America’s future. Raj is the author of Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War.

In this episode of the Defense Tech Underground, we discuss Raj’s journey from small town Georgia to becoming an Air Force pilot, his experience leading the Defense Innovation Unit, the founding and mission of Shield Capital, and his new book Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are Transforming the Future of War, which explores the evolving nature of the Department of Defense’s acquisition of cutting-edge technology for the warfighter.

This episode is hosted by Jeff Phaneuf and Josh Pickering.

Full Bio:

Raj Shah is the co-founder and managing partner of Shield Capital, an investment firm focused on technologies applicable to both the commercial and defense markets. He is also the chairman of Resilience, a cyber-security start-up and a commissioner on the Department of Defense’s Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform (PPB&E).

Raj also serves on the Board of Directors to NATO’s Innovation Fund. Most recently he was the managing partner of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), reporting to the Secretary of Defense. Raj led DIUx in its efforts to strengthen U.S. armed forces through contractual and cultural bridges between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon.

He is the author of the book, Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are Transforming the Future of War. Previously, Raj was senior director of strategy at Palo Alto Networks, which acquired Morta Security, where he was chief executive officer and co-founder. Raj serves as an F-16 pilot in the US Air Force and has completed multiple combat deployments. He holds an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Trae Stephens is the co-founder and executive chairman of Anduril, and partner at Founder’s Fund. After fighting his way into Georgetown University, Trae began his career working in Congressman Rob Portman’s office and at the Embassy of Afghanistan to the United States. He went on to work at Palantir and then found defense tech juggernaut Anduril, which raised a $1.5B fundraising round at a $14B valuation this month.

In this episode, Trae shares his unconventional journey from rural Ohio to Silicon Valley. Starting with his determination to attend Georgetown, Trae’s career has been defined by a commitment to public service and innovation. While in college, his work at the Afghan embassy during its post-Taliban reopening provided early insights into the challenges of modernizing DOD protocols, discovering the need for a company like Palantir. Trae's move to Palantir marked his entry into tech, where he navigated the complexities of selling software to the government. This experience laid the groundwork for his co-founding of Anduril and his work as a partner at Founder’s Fund.

Trae discusses the importance of mission-driven work, the challenges of navigating government procurement, and his experiences rapidly scaling the new era of defense companies. His story is a testament to the impact of combining technological innovation with a deep sense of purpose.

This episode is hosted by Jeff Phaneuf and Josh Pickering.

Full Bio:

Trae is a Partner at Founders Fund. He is also Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril Industries, a defense technology company focused on autonomous systems, and Co-founder of Sol, a next generation wearable e-reader.

Previously, Trae was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he led teams focused on growth in the intelligence/defense space as well as international expansion, helping large organizations solve their hardest data analysis problems. He was also an integral part of the product team, leading the design and strategy for new product offerings. While at Palantir, Trae also served as an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University.

Prior to Palantir, Trae worked as a computational linguist building enterprise solutions to Arabic/Persian name matching and data enrichment within the United States Intelligence community. He began his career working in the office of then Congressman Rob Portman and in the Political Affairs Office at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. immediately following the installation of Hamid Karzai’s transitional government. Trae graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Nand Mulchandani joined the Central Intelligence Agency as its first-ever Chief Technology officer in 2022, but his career started a long way from Langley. With degrees from Cornell, Harvard, and Stanford, he spent more than 25 years in tech as a serial entrepreneur and senior executive. He then served as the Chief Technology Officer and Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), before joining the CIA.

In this episode of the Defense Tech Underground, Nand discusses working astride the worlds of Silicon Valley and Washington DC, and what the government can do to better adopt new technology for national security. Nand discusses the importance of software-defined warfare, the role tech plays in the intelligence community, and why the US needs more technologists in government.

This episode is hosted by Jeff Phaneuf and Kyle Kennedy.

Full Bio:

Nand Mulchandani joined the CIA as Chief Technology Officer in June 2022. In this role, he focuses on driving CIA’s efforts in leveraging cutting-edge and future innovations to further CIA’s mission. He previously served as the Chief Technology Officer and Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC). Prior to that, he spent 25+ years in the technology industry as a serial entrepreneur and senior executive in the enterprise infrastructure and security software industry as co- founder & CEO of Oblix (acquired by Oracle), Determina (acquired by VMware), OpenDNS (acquired by Cisco), and ScaleXtreme (acquired by Citrix), and as an EIR at the venture capital firm Accel Partners.

Mulchandani holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Cornell University, a Master of Science in Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.