#40 | Preston Dunlap: How Starlink Got Into the Pentagon

Preston Dunlap ran about $75 billion a year of Air Force and Space Force technology spending, and wrote the first government checks into SpaceX.More on Preston Dunlap and this episode: thedealtablepodcast.com/episodes/preston-dunlapHe was the first chief technology officer and chief architect for the US Air Force and Space Force, and he is the person who named Conventional Prompt Strike, still the Navy and Army hypersonic missile program. He now runs Arkenstone Capital, an industrial technology firm named for Tolkien's most valuable gem, the one buried deepest inside the mountain.The clearest thread is why the missile against drone math breaks. An exquisite solution built for one target falls apart the moment you take two coming in, then three, then fifty. He argues Ukraine and the Iran and Israel exchanges are not the same drone war, that the US is badly underutilizing cheap drones, and that the supply chain behind them is broken.For founders there are real numbers. Roughly $10 billion to $15 billion sits in the innovation organizations out of a near trillion dollar budget. Selling to the government means six people turning keys at once, and every one of them rotates out every 18 to 24 months. Space Force has gone from $19 billion a year to $35 billion or $40 billion, and total US government space spending approaches $70 billion of about $95 billion worldwide.Preston Dunlap is the founder and managing partner of Arkenstone Capital, an industrial technology investment firm. He was the first chief technology officer and chief architect for the US Air Force and Space Force, overseeing roughly $75 billion a year in research, development, acquisition and procurement.KEY MOMENTS00:00 Why the US is the place to be in space07:56 The Pentagon as a boardroom10:45 First checks into Android and SpaceX15:53 One drone against a hundred21:46 The 2022 warning about China33:24 Naming Conventional Prompt Strike35:39 Project Maven, and Google walking out38:31 $10B to $15B of innovation money40:21 Six key-turners, 18-month rotations49:32 Bringing Starlink into the PentagonNewsletter: thedealtablepodcast.com/connectLane Carrick on selling a business, The Optima Advantage: amzn.to/48nLElWFollow The Deal Table: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, XThe Deal Table is hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick, filmed in Dallas, and produced by Harper Belmont Media.Sponsored by Capital Southwest.