Summary: James “Hondo” Geurts, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode. Takeaways:<br><br>- What kept Hondo up at night was that there was a good idea out there that wasn’t passed on to him and thus wasn’t used on the battlefield.<br><br>- A society can’t be secure without prosperity and can’t have prosperity without security.<br><br>- The challenge for startups working with government is that the public is a fickle venture capitalist. They don’t like to fund things that don’t go anywhere.<br><br>- It tends to be small and large companies (but mostly large) supplying the Department of Defense. The “middle has been lost.”<br><br>- The DoD overvalues standardization.<br><br>- Often in government, the user of the product is not the same as the buyer. Commonly startups make a mistake by not having buyer fit even if there is user fit for a product.<br><br>- Government values past performance to a fault.<br><br>- The United States, both via government and private enterprise, needs to build the industrial network of the future.<br><br>- Commercial technology companies will be on the front lines of the next conflict and need to adapt features to make them resilient.<br><br>Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.<br><br>Check us out on the web at <a href="http://www.villageglobal" rel="noopener">www.villageglobal</a>.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.<br><br>Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We’ll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. <a href="http://www.villageglobal.vc/signup" rel="noopener">www.villageglobal.vc/signup</a>
