Gray Matters

🎙️ Ep 8 - Seasats: Scaling Persistent Maritime Autonomy

Encounters with Chinese destroyers, how maritime autonomy differs from Waymos, and more...

Sep 12 • 

Maggie Gray

, 

Mike Flanigan

, and 

Matt Kaplan

1

59:11

August 2025

🎙️ Ep 7 - Building the Software Defined Navy

Maritime computer vision, generative AI, resilient communications, and more…

Aug 12 • 

Maggie Gray

, 

Akhil Iyer

, 

Artem Sherbinin

, and 

Justin Fanelli

7

2

1:18:31

Demystifying Defense Corporation Sales: Insights for Startup Founders

Talk to almost any employee at a large corporation, and they will tell you that the technology their employer uses internally is clunky, old, and hard…

Aug 5 • 

Maggie Gray

 and 

Pat O'Reilly

6

4

July 2025

The Race to Diffuse AI

How China and the U.S. stack up in AI development and deployment

Jul 22 • 

Maggie Gray

 and 

Matt Kaplan

16

4

🎙️ Ep 6 - Breaking Down the Defense Budget

What does the Big Beautiful Bill mean for national security startups?

Jul 21 • 

Maggie Gray

, 

David Rothzeid

, and 

Michael Brown

4

50:38

Satellites and SBIRs: The Strategic Signal the Space Force Must Send

How Space Force can leverage R&D contracts to signal demand to startups and VCs for future-leaning capabilities

Jul 15 • 

Maggie Gray

 and 

Nestor Levin

13

2

🎙️ Ep 5 - Geopolitical Briefing: The Israel–Iran Conflict with VADM Kevin “Kid” Donegan (Ret.)

This episode of the Mission Matters podcast features a conversation between Shield Capital Managing Partner Philip Bilden and Vice Admiral Kevin “Kid…

Jul 10 • 

Maggie Gray

 and 

Philip Bilden

2

1

52:23

June 2025

AI-Native Consumer Hardware: The Next Strategic Advantage

Agents, brain computer interfaces, wearables, and more

Jun 26 • 

Maggie Gray

4

3

🎙️Ep 4 - Obviant: Building the Decision Edge for Defense Acquisition

In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, David and I speak with Brendan Karp, the CEO of Obviant, a startup building a government market…

Jun 25 • 

Maggie Gray

, 

David Rothzeid

, and 

Brendan Karp

3

51:46

May 2025

🎙️Ep 3 - Unstructured: Building the Infrastructure to Win the AI Race

In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, Akhil and I speak with Brian Raymond, the CEO of Unstructured, a startup building the future of data…

May 23 • 

Maggie Gray

, 

Brian Raymond

, and 

Akhil Iyer

5

2

58:04

Field or Fail: Building the Attritable Arsenal of Democracy

What it will take for DoD to procure and field FPV and other attritable drones at scale

May 15 • 

Maggie Gray

 and 

Trent Emeneker

13

2

🎙️Ep 2 - Autonomous Cyber: Building the AI Platform for Offensive Cybersecurity

In this episode of the Mission Matters podcast, Akhil and I speak with Patrick O’Brien and Bohdan Volyanyuk, the founders of Autonomous Cyber, a young…

May 1 • 

Maggie Gray

, 

Patrick O'Brien

, 

Bohdan Volyanyuk

, and 

Akhil Iyer

2

56:45