99. Building a Winning Defense Tech Company with Colin Carroll

In this episode, Brock talks with Colin Carroll. Colin is a former Marine Corps recon and intelligence officer and today works at Anduril on strategy and growth. Colin has been a part of several unique teams within and adjacent to the Department of Defense. We get into his time at Project Maven as well as the Joint AI Center to talk about building innovative teams from scratch, why people are the most important ingredient when determining success, and how those people influence the early culture of an organization. Colin also talks about some of the technical advancements AI is bringing to the battlefield and the changing state of the defense technology business in particular how people should be thinking about how to win in defense.

Show Notes:

Getting fired from the Joint AI Center. 0:39

Command climate surveys and morale in the Department of Defense. 3:02

Career in DoD and Project Maven 12:06

Military service, Intel, and AI development. 15:30

Autonomous systems and program design in government. 19:02

Team dynamics in the DoD. 25:34

Building and maintaining a high-performing team. 29:36

Hiring and evaluating candidates for innovative companies. 32:44

Career paths and personal growth. 39:15

Disrupting the defense industry with AI. 43:17

Government procurement and defense industry. 46:42

Tailoring government go-to-market strategies for different stages of a company's lifecycle. 50:03

Defense industry strategy. 56:28

Scaling production and command control for multidomain unmanned systems. 59:33

Defense tech gaps and data needs for autonomous systems. 1:02:15

The data problem in the DoD. 1:10:03

Tension between industry and government in defense tech. 1:13:23

DOD acquisitions challenges and cultural changes. 1:16:53

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The Scuttlebutt Podcast - The podcast for service members and veterans building a life outside the military.

The Scuttlebutt Podcast features discussions on lifestyle, careers, business, and resources for service members. Show host, Brock Briggs, talks with a special guest from the community committed to helping military members build a successful life, inside and outside the service.

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• Episode & transcript: https://www.scuttlebuttpodcast.co/

• Brock: https://www.brockbriggs.com/