Chad Williamson
Nearly fifteen years after Marc Andreessen published his legendary op-ed, Why Software Is Eating the World—August 20, 2011—we find ourselves witnessing another domain shift, this time not in code, but in combat. As the U.S. asks its allies and adversaries alike to reimagine national power through the lens of defense spending, innovation, and deterrence, one thing becomes clear…
This isn’t just a digital revolution anymore. It’s a defense revolution—a full-scale transformation in how nations think, build, and align around security. The Pentagon is no longer just a consumer of defense technology. It is attempting to become the founder of a global warfighting ecosystem.
But ecosystems aren’t purchased—they’re built. And this new world of defense innovation requires a different blueprint. Not the blitzscaling of Silicon Valley. But the long game of Boulder, Colorado.
Feld, a venture capitalist and co-founder of Techstars, laid out a generational theory of how to build startup communities. His Boulder Thesis argues that real ecosystems need four key ingredients, 1. entrepreneurs as leaders (not bureaucrats), 2. long-term vision, 3. inclusive networks, and 4. substantive engagement through shared experience.
That’s exactly the mindset the Department of Defense—and its international counterparts—must adopt now.
No comments:
Post a Comment