How to invest into defence startups: 6 lessons for success

>Defense startups often proudly showcase retired generals or elite veterans among their founders and executives. There’s a good reason: ex-military leaders intuitively understand the problem set.

I disagree with this portion. There are two reasons defense startups add senior military leaders to their staff. The overwhelming majority of them are there for access to their roledex. It’s hard getting in the door to decision makers. Hiring one of the in-crowd is one way to gain access. For proof of this, look at how many recently retired officers drop off startup jobs within a year or two. Their contact list gets stale and their value to the company plummets. The second reason is to reward someone for steering a contract to the company when they were a decision maker. This is illegal, but happens often enough.

One thing you definitely don’t want to hire a retired general for is product development. After 10-15 years in, most military officers do administrative work, think editing PowerPoint slides, writing personnel evaluations and office politics. The longer they’ve been in, the less likely it is they understand any end user problems.