Jason Engelhardt

Everyone talks about building the future of drones and autonomy. Very few people understand what it actually takes. It’s easy to talk about innovation when it lives in software.It’s much harder when that innovation has to operate in the real world. Because at that point, you’re no longer just building technology. You’re navigating systems. You don’t build a drone ecosystem with code alone. You build it with: Airspace Infrastructure Regulatory alignment Military coordination Operational...

Defense tech is no longer a niche. It’s becoming the center of gravity for the next wave of venture investment. For years, venture capital largely avoided the sector.Too slow. Too regulated. Too dependent on government procurement cycles. That perception wasn’t wrong—it was just tied to a different era. Today, three forces are reshaping that reality: 1. Geopolitics is back.Global competition is no longer theoretical. It’s influencing supply chains, capital flows, and national priorities in...

The next Silicon Valley won’t be in California. Not because California failed—but because the rules of innovation have changed. For the last 30 years, proximity to talent and capital defined where companies were built. If you had engineers, venture funding, and a dense network, you had an advantage. That era is ending. The next generation of innovation is being shaped by entirely different forces: National security priorities Physical infrastructure Access to airspace and testing environments...