The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing Demystified 504. American Dynamism: The Future of U.S. Industrials, Backing Companies with Major Production Components, Manufacturing Sovereignty, and Why Space Dominance is Critical (David Ulevitch)
Mar 16, 2026
David Ulevitch, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz who leads the American Dynamism practice and founded OpenDNS. He discusses backing companies with major production components. Short takes cover manufacturing-as-product, navigating government versus commercial sales, supply-chain and industrial sovereignty, and why space dominance and energy investments matter.
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Choose One GoToMarket And Win It
- Focus on a single go-to-market lane early rather than pursuing dual-use (government and commercial) simultaneously.
- The government itself is many buyers; pick one customer segment, get reps, then expand into commercial or other agencies.
Learn The Government Sales Playbook
- Learn government sales the same way you learn enterprise sales: study playbooks and hire experienced operators.
- David cites Steve Blank's Hacking for Defense materials and the growing pool of startup veterans who understand government procurement.
Contracts Without Production Create Illusions
- Winning a large defense contract is only half the battle; production and manufacturing readiness determine when revenue is recognized.
- Companies must measure contract-to-production lag across SKUs and staff production capabilities to avoid top-line illusions.