E11 – Lockheed Martin Ventures

Mike and Jake chat with Chris Moran, VP and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, for an inside look into why the world’s largest defense company invests hundreds of millions of dollars into tech startup companies. ---- Links * Sign up for our amazing newsletter https://www.themerge.co * Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/the_merge * Lockheed Martin Ventures https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/lockheed-martin-ventures.html * Machina Labs https://www.machinalabs.ai/ * Norm Augustine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_R._Augustine * Augustine’s laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine%27s_laws ---- Follow us on... * Instagram https://www.instagram.com/merge_newsletter * Facebook https://www.facebook.com/themergenews * Twitter https://twitter.com/MergeNewsletter * LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/themerge * Website https://www.themerge.co ---- Show Notes (01:03) intro (03:08) icebreaker (04:59) how Chris got into defense (07:35) how Chris got into defense finance (11:52) VC 101 (12:21) Lockheed’s investment track record (14:32) how to exit an investment (19:10) quantum use-cases (20:30) Machina Labs (23:02) investment tension (25:11) times have changed (32:20) dual-use hedge (38:15) Lockheed Martin CEOs (41:46) Kelly Johnson (48:16) magic wand (49:51) what everyone gets wrong about innovation (52:17) graveyard of eVTOL companies (55:13) lightning round (58:45) outro