There is a sports theme Tom Cruise movie with Cuba Gooding, and the Tom Cruise character is trying to secure the Cuba Gooding’s character representation as a sports agent. Cuba says say Show Me the Money, and Tom Cruise says it. Cuba says louder and eventually Tom shouts it in the office. Show me the money and people will follow the path.

Every year highly capable people who have served in the armed forces retire and the retire with a number of skill sets. The military has an age limit to retire which means people still want to do something. In the past, if you examined the Vice Presidents at a company which supplies services and goods to the military, the resume of the Vice Presidents often included past military service. This was the accepted route and many followed it. but lately there was been a new path to follow.

In an article by Eric Lipton of New York Times News Service, the new path to follow is venture capital firms. The pay could be twice as much, if the pentagon buys the equipment being offered the company could go public and you would have low-cost stock or carried interest and the job includes mingling with the decision makers on a regular basis.

The difference is similar to most industries in the world, the military suppliers are changing, yes there is still the large equipment makers such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, but drones are playing a larger role in wars around the globe. Drones are dependent on software or technology or often smaller companies. With drones there are both offensive and defensive strategies and both are needed.

In the past 4 years, at least $125 billion of venture capital has flooded into startups that build defence technology, according to data assembled for the Times by PitchBook which tracks these investments. The prior 4 years $43 billion flowed into startups with defence technology.

One of the many forms the new lobbyists were found was the Annual Reagan National Defence Forum at the Ronald Regan Presidential Library. Similar to every other type of convention, people were mingling and talking about potential deals to be made.

The difference between moving into venture capital and moving into large military companies is speed for the deal to close. The Defence Department typically moves slowly. A venture capitalist places money in a startup expecting to see revenues moving to $50 million or $100 million a year. It does not happen often. The venture capitalists are talking to members of Congress, members of the military to help move along solutions to problems facing the military. Sometimes it works.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in every industry there are attempts to bring technology to disrupt the processes or to make it better, in the eyes of those promoting technology. Large organizations take their time to pick which one works best for them. New is wonderful, but does it create higher margins? Whatever industry you invest in, they all have a similar structure, they all have conferences which the decision makers go to and conferences which information is shared. It is not surprising people move back and forth between government and industry, it is a long accepted practice and good for many careers.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.