America Builds

Congressman Gabe Amo is the U.S. representative for Rhode Island's 1st congressional district. Our conversation touches on public service and the importance of engaging with constituents, the unique story of Rhode Island, and the strategic significance of the "blue economy." We also get into national security, discussing the state of NATO, the implications of the ongoing conflict in...

We are wrapping up season 3 of America Builds with Bilal Zuberi from Lux Capital. 

In this conversation, Sarah, a former CIA officer, discusses her experience in targeting and tracking terrorists. She shares insights from her book on Benghazi and explains the career trajectory of a targeter. Sarah highlights the importance of human intelligence and the challenges of using open source intelligence. 

Tess Hatch is a Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners.

Jon Pelson is a China expert and the author of "Wireless Wars: China's Dangerous Domination of 5G and How We're Fighting Back."

Don Faul is the CEO of CrossFit and a USMC veteran. He has also held operating roles at Pinterest, Meta, and Google.

John Gedmark is the CEO and co-founder of Astranis, a satellite company.

President and CEO Steve Bowsher describes the history and mission of In-Q-Tel, the original gangster of national security investing.

Michael Easter is the New York Times bestselling author of Scarcity Brain and The Comfort Crisis. He has spent his career researching and writing about m ental and physical health, performance, nutrition, fitness, mindset, toughness, the value of challenge and adventure, and much more.

Josh Wolfe is the founder and Managing Director at Lux Capital.

Paul is a managing director at General Catalyst. He leads the Global Resilience team, focused on modernizing critical societal systems including defense, intelligence, industrial and energy.

Even Rogers is the co-founder and CEO of True Anomaly, a venture-backed space technology startup.

David Ulevitch is an entrepreneur and investor. As a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he leads the firm’s American Dynamism practice, which focuses on investing in companies advancing American interests.

Nick Sinai is a Senior Advisor at Insight Partners, Adjunct & Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, and author of Hack Your Bureaucracy: Get Things Done No Matter What Your Role on Any Team.

Paul Arcangeli is a national security expert, with over three decades of public sector defense experience. He served as an officer in the United States Army, as a Department of Defense civilian, and as a professional staffer to the House of Representatives. Paul spent 18 years on the House Armed Services Committee, including more than a decade as staff director.

Daniel Gwak is the Managing Partner of Point72 Private Investments, the institutional private investing business of Point72 Asset Management. He oversees Point72 Ventures’ Defense Tech and Growth investment teams.

Dan Brahmy is the Co-Founder & CEO of Cyabra, a social threat intelligence company.

Dr. Carl McCants is the special assistant to the DARPA director for microelectronics policy. He serves as DARPA’s top advisor on the agency’s Electronics Resurgence Initiative and the National Network for Microelectronics Research and Development, among other key investments in microelectronics for national security.

Matthew Gialich is the co-founder and CEO of Astroforge, an asteroid mining company.

Don Burnette is the founder and CEO of Kodiak Robotics, which builds advanced autonomous technology for long-haul trucking.

Rosa Hathaway is an aerospace engineer and investor at Atento Capital.

Ian Cinnamon is the founder and CEO of Apex, a spacecraft manufacturing company based in Los Angeles.

Thank you for tuning in for Season 1 of the America Builds Podcast (now the Launch Pad Podcast). We have exciting plans for Season 2, coming soon. In the meantime, please enjoy some highlights from this season.

Sam Gray is the Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Defense Group, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering connections among people, technology, and capital to secure the US and its allies' technological edge. Sam is a retired Naval Officer, and as a fighter pilot, he deployed 7 times in the Pacific and Middle East. Sam co-founded NavalX, the Navy and Marine Corps innovation office, where he...

Michael Palank has been General Partner at MaC Venture Capital since its inception in January 2019. Michael focuses on seed-stage consumer and enterprise startup investing across a number of sectors, including aerospace.