#158 CRO Anduril Industries, Matt Steckman: On Defense

Guest: Matt Steckman, CRO of Anduril Industries

Walk into one of Anduril Industries’ offices and it might take a minute for you to realize: This is a defense contractor. “It feels like a tech company, stylistically,” says CRO Matt Steckman, “because we know we have to recruit the best software talent in the world.” Matt says the executive team spends a “comical” amount of time on recruiting, one of his personal passions, and especially works to minimize the number of people who turn down offers. “That’s something that a lot of companies, both tech and non-tech, miss ... Are you losing candidates at the very end, where you spent a tremendous amount of time and resources getting to that decision?”

In this episode, Matt and Joubin discuss security clearance, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, politics vs. technology, Palantir, consensus building, border security, command and control technology, the qualities of great defense tech workers, and long-term thinking.

In this episode, we cover:

• The importance of defense tech (02:37)
• What Anduril does (04:33)
• Barriers to entry (07:58)
• How the government picks winners (11:56)
• Matt’s path to the defense industry (17:04)
• Why he left Palantir (19:57)
• Low moments and self-awareness (22:17)
• What you can control (27:36)
• Joining Anduril (30:14)
• Surveillance towers (33:26)
• Dive Technologies (37:30)
• Risk mitigation (39:24)
• Kinetic warfare (42:43)
• Recruiting top talent (45:26)
• Performance against expectations (48:34)
• Caring and empathy (51:25)
• Hitting revenue goals (52:31)
• How Matt manages his calendar (54:38)
• The economics of defense (56:26)
• Who Anduril is hiring and what “grit” means to Matt (58:11)

Links:

• Connect with Matt
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Joubin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
• Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
• This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm