Jan 21, 2025
On this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, Brenda speaks with Salvador Badillo Rios. Salvador is Founder and CEO of EquiTech Innovate, a strategic consulting and advisory firm aimed at helping underserved and overlooked founders bring innovative and disruptive technologies to market. He is also Senior Associate and Portfolio Manager at National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC), a component of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), aimed at accelerating early-stage dual-use deep tech startups toward commercialization
At DIU and NSIC, Salvador supported 21 early-stage dual-use hardware startups across 12 states with ~$50M over three years leading to over $335M in total follow-on private capital (up to 20X funded amount at up to 11X prior to funding valuation).
They speak about Sal’s origin story; how despite being from a disadvantaged background, this has not deterred his purposefulness and positivity to make a difference particularly in underrepresented communities. Listen as Sal shares how he eventually settled on an engineering degree after choosing over music and English literature. What he does today as a senior portfolio manager in the DIU defense innovation unit’s National security innovation capital is a long way from Rancho Cucamonga.
You can find out more about Sal at:
Linked IN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salvador-badillo-rios
Transcript:
00:04
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01:01
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01:19
Welcome back to the Founders Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, your host
to this monthly podcast that reaches entrepreneurs and business
owners who learn about building resilient, purpose-driven and
scalable businesses with great corporate governance. Guests to this
podcast are founders themselves, professional service providers,
corporate board directors and investors.
01:47
who like me want to use the power of the enterprise, be it small,
medium, and large, to create change for a better world. And I do
storytelling with each one of my guests that starts with their
origin story. And then we'll get into the contents of the podcast
with each of my guests, and we touch upon topics around resilience,
scalability, and purpose-driven.
02:15
initiatives or what drives the guest. So thank you for joining me.
And I am absolutely delighted this month to have Salvador Badillo
Rios, Sal, as my guest. So thank you for joining me, Sal. Thank
you, Brenda. I'm very excited to be here. Excellent. So we met not
too long ago. I am a member of Angel Capital Association and
attended their national
02:44
Summit in Columbus, Ohio. And I'm from Columbus, Ohio. So I kind of
killed two birds with one stone. And I was blown away. So I've been
a member for three years. And this year they had for the first time
a breakout session on deep tech and dual technologies. And Sal, you
were one of the panel members. And I myself
03:11
love to work with deep tech companies. So we had a lot of
synchronicities. And that's when I asked you to join me eventually
here in the podcast. Yeah, yeah, no. Yeah, that's where we met. And
I think it was an amazing opportunity to really connect with the
angel community. I think oftentimes, you know, there's a lot of
focus on VCs, but angels really drive that early start to these
companies and to these technologies. And so
03:37
I wanted to make an effort to reach out to the angel community,
educate, inform, you know, angels about deep tech and a lot of the
DOD opportunities that there are for startups and potential
collaborations and synergies. So yeah, I'm happy to have met you.
So we're going to touch on a couple of those points because you do
have a multifaceted career and background and diverse founder
yourself of your own.
04:05
strategic consulting and advisory firm. So you are founder and CEO
of Equitech Innovate. And it's really working towards serving
underserved and overlooked founders that bring innovative and
disruptive technologies to market. So kudos to you. That's amazing.
Thank you. Thank you, yeah. And another hat you wear, and I don't
know where you find the time in the day. Frankly.
04:33
And this was your speaking capacity when I met you earlier this
year, your senior associate and portfolio manager at the national
security innovation capital, a component of the defense innovation
unit, DIU. So lots of acronyms in our department defense. So INSEC
and DIU. And I was fascinated because that particular area, what
you're involved in is it's accelerating early stage
05:02
dual use later on, you're going to tell us what dual use is. Yeah.
Deep tech startups toward commercial commercialization. So, um,
again, thank you, um, for joining me. We're going to talk about
deep tech. We're going to get into also your own work that you're
doing with, um, underserved founders. And I always like to have a
title of our episodes. Um, and this one, I really think we're going
to talk about scalable businesses. So what you're doing.
05:31
particularly with NSIC and the DIU is scaling, identifying early
stage companies that truly have the promise of scaling. So scalable
businesses. And you know, in a short period of time, you have
scaled and then we'll get into the questions, but I was also very
impressed with the focus of the work at the DIU and NSIC, you've
used yourself have supported 21 early stage
06:00
dual use hardware, all right, not software, hardware startups
across 12 states with over $50 million over the last three years.
And that's led on to lead on it investments of 335 million of
private capital and up to 20 times funded amount at up to 11 times
prior to fund evaluation. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Thank you,
yeah. All right. So can you...
06:30
describe for my, let's get into your origin story. Your PhD
aerospace engineering, first generation Latino. LGBT, tell me what
would be your tagline if anything. What I mean, this mashup of
deep, tell me your origin story. How did you know what you're doing
today? Yeah, thank you, yeah.
06:55
I mean, yeah, I mean, I was thinking through the tagline and I was
like, well, I think maybe one could be, you know, life through
punches, but I turned them into power and purpose. And so I think,
you know, everyone, I'm sure has their own set of struggles, right?
Everyone has dealt a different set of cards, right, in life. And
it's really what you make of that, right? That really defines you.
So for me, right, I grew up,
07:24
Here in Southern California. So I grew up in Rancho Cucamonga,
about an hour East of LA without traffic. And so yeah, I grew up,
my background is Mexican. So my parents are from Mexico. They met
here and I'm the oldest of three. So I have two younger siblings.
One is a year younger and then the youngest, seven years younger,
but he has
07:53
down syndrome pretty severely. So I grew up in a disadvantaged
background in a community where really I didn't know anyone that
went to a four-year college, no one that went into any STEM field,
right? And so, and my parents also, right, had never gone to
college. So a lot of it was just learning and figuring things out
along the way.
08:20
But I was lucky to have teachers that believed in me, that saw sort
of something in me in school. And they would say, oh, yeah, you
need to go to college. Or they would say, oh, you're good at math
and science, things like that. And so they would reaffirm those
things. But even once I got to high school, I really hadn't really
planned for the future. I didn't really have thought about what
major I wanted to go into or what college I wanted to go.
08:49
And so it was around being around other students that had thought
about that a little bit better or had parents who were engineers or
doctors that when they started asking me about it, I was like, oh,
I don't know, but let me start thinking about it a little bit more.
And so, yeah, so in my classroom, one of my teachers said, oh, the
UC applications opened up. And so that's how I found out.
09:17
you know, that I should apply to college. There were several
interests that I had, write music, English literature, and then
STEM, right? And so I decided to go and try engineering and
initially started with civil engineering, transitioned into
mechanical and then added aerospace, just as, you know, being in
college and taking different courses and being involved in
different projects and clubs.
09:47
That's sort of how my interest kind of evolved. But even then,
right, I didn't know about what a PhD was, or venture capital, or
the field that I'm in now. So a lot of it has been a bit of a
learning process. And I'm lucky to have had different organizations
along the way geared towards underserved communities in STEM.
10:15
you know, PhD or things like that, that help create awareness for
me about the different opportunities. My thing is you can't really
go after something that you don't even know exists, right? So the
more you're aware about different opportunities, the more you can
sort of start to pave your path based on your own interests, so
yeah. So you're a lifetime learner, although you're very young
still.
10:41
Thank you for the interest in that. It's interesting because
yesterday I was on a webinar with the National Association of
Corporate Directors. It was about AI and workers, right? And
interesting enough, the current generation, the largest generation
that composes the workforce in the United States are Gen Xers. No,
Gen Zers.
11:11
And the average retention, so the average period of time that
they're in is 2.4 years. The next generation is the alpha, right?
They're like 13, 14. They will have up to 17 careers, is what
they're saying. And so the young, yes. You have so many
opportunities. And again, I think people in your early
11:39
childhood, your neighborhood, your school, this professors that saw
the, the, the ability for you with STEM related topics, they geared
you those opportunities. So yeah, it's amazing the future of
workforce and opportunities. So you yourself are going to get into
in this podcast. Yeah. Some of that so you get out of college and
what is your first gig? What'd you do?
12:08
Yeah, well, again, I went all the way to the PhD route. So one
thing that was unique and what plugged me into DOD was, you know,
going into my PhD, I had the opportunity to go to UCLA, but having
a unique opportunity to work with the Department of Defense. And so
whereas most students conduct research on campus, in my case, I had
the opportunity to, after I take
12:37
a few of my, you know, some of my course requirements go to Edwards
Air Force Research Lab, which is called the Rocket Lab, and really
conduct research there. And so one, you get a lot more resources,
right? Just because you're within DoD. And so you're able to really
run, you know, and create projects and do these things that are at
a higher level, right? This research is able to conduct at a higher
level, and working on also
13:07
important problems to national security, you know, to the DOD that
are more applicable than simply something that's just in a lab,
right, that may be cool and interesting, but maybe there's not, you
know, a huge focus on the application area. And so, yeah, I got to
work alongside other military members and other researchers at DOD
and really start to look things from a national security
perspective.
13:34
And so how is certain technologies, whether more fundamental, more
applied, how is that important to DOD and national security in
general? As well as, you know, I got to see a lot of also the
issues within traditional DOD and obstacles and sort of
inefficiencies as well. And so it gave me sort of this unique
perspective that
14:03
I would say most PhD students typically don't get, so I was very
fortunate to have that. And so while being there, I also got
interested in an entrepreneurship program. I was like, I wanted to
get myself out of my comfort zone, out of the box and really
interact with people from different backgrounds, not just from the
STEM background. And...
14:28
And I loved it. I didn't know that I was going to love it. And I
just decided to try it one day. And I just really loved speaking
with customers. I got to be part of a student led startup. And so
speaking to customers and that customer discovery phase, pitching
to VCs, brainstorming with people from different backgrounds. I was
like, this is where I want to be at. And so I thought I wanted to
go into product development.
14:57
at a startup. And so that's what I was gearing towards. And so
taking business courses online. And again, this is when the
pandemic started to hit. So taking business courses online,
learning more about emerging technologies like quantum and AI, that
just interested me. And then DoD found me. And so they were like,
okay, you have this unique
15:26
you know, technical background, background with DoD and some
knowledge, right, regarding DoD and then interest in this startup
and business, you know, business world. And so DoD was really
starting, wanted to stand up and say National Security Innovation
Capital, which, you know, focuses on early stage hardware
technology. So as you may know, a lot of funding tends to go.
15:54
towards VC funding tends to go towards software and not enough
towards hardware. And often hardware companies will resort to
getting foreign capital, which at times may be considered
adversarial and may compromise national security. And so DoD wanted
to sort of get a hold of this a bit. And so stand up this program.
And so, yeah, a few of my team members and I, we basically were
hired on board to really stand up this program.
16:24
And this really involved developing the funding thesis,
establishing the processes, eventually me running operations. Then
because of my background, right? I got to do a lot more and help
source these startups, evaluate these startups and help fund them
and then support them. So I think naturally I just like wearing a
lot of hats. It was very, it's been a very startup culture.
16:52
in a way just because we're a very small but mighty team. And so
it's allowed me to do a lot as well as have a seat at the table and
really sort of see things from that perspective. I love the that
you were in the early stage of standing up the is it pronounced in
sick. We usually refer it to as an insect. So what are
17:21
you know, these will be in the show notes, the we have a kind of
infographic on NSIC. What are the I think there's seven key areas
of investment within the DOD? Yeah. Yeah. So again, we're a
component of the Defense Innovation Unit. And so
17:50
companies that are a little bit more mature that have some VC
funding, that have commercial product. And the goal there is for
them to find sort of the use cases and sort of pair those gaps with
and look for specific solutions to address those gaps and
transition that technology into DoD.
18:17
Again, we focus on the earlier stage, pre-seat to seat stage
companies. And so, however, our technology areas are aligned with
DIU's portfolios. So, you know, our technology areas are autonomy.
And then sensors is weaved into that now. So advanced sensing would
fall into autonomy. Energy technology. So this can involve energy
storage. Advanced battery chemistries is a big thing under that
one.
18:47
space technology. And so this is satellite stuff, as well as
satellite communications, things like that. Telecommunications, so
advanced communications technologies. And again, there's a lot of
synergies with these different technologies. And then we have an
emerging technologies area, which under that we've we've been edge
computing hardware.
19:15
electronics, photonics, as well as hypersonics platforms.
19:25
Interesting. It's fascinating. Yeah. And then within that we have
sort of funded as well companies that are in the sort of advanced
manufacturing, advanced materials, but they usually align with one
of the technology areas that I mentioned.
19:43
So for my listeners, I would absolutely love you to define deep
tech and dual technologies, all right? Yeah. Because many, you
know, I have quite a large audience now and it's a concept that we
don't run into. You don't go to the grocery store and buy. Right,
yeah. Yeah, I even had a friend, you know, just a close personal
friend that is not in this field at all.
20:11
asked me about that too. So yeah, it's constantly educating, right,
the audience, just because it is a crucial part of our society
nowadays. So yeah, so I would say I would describe deep tech
startups as sort of being distinguished by their intensive focus on
sort of cutting edge technologies and scientific achievements. So
they operate at the frontier of innovation. And so
20:40
I would say they're characterized by sort of novel solutions that
are rooted in scientific breakthroughs or, you know, significant
technological or scientific breakthroughs. And you know, I think
where a lot of technologies, a lot of conventional startups
leverage existing technologies to solve market needs, deep tech
startups.
21:06
can often create entirely new markets or radically transform
existing ones with their disruptive innovations. And so the reason
I think there's probably a name for this set of technologies is
because they also face unique challenges in commercializing their
innovation. So one characteristic thing and challenge is long
development cycles.
21:34
So, you know, they often require years, if not even decades, right,
for research and development before you even have some viable
prototype, right, that may become a product. High R&D costs,
right, so, you know, very capital intensive, you know, and securing
funding can be challenging, especially in the early stages for
these sets of technologies that
22:01
are often unproven or the market potential is not quite fully
understood. And so when it comes to going to market, it may be a
little bit more challenging because it's not just a matter of
finding product market fit, but it's also about educating potential
customers about.
22:28
you know, educating the market right about your technology. Right.
And the dual purpose? Yeah, so the dual use purpose really involves
having both commercial and defense applications. So defense tech,
you know, is sort of a focus on these DOD critical needs for
national security to enhance military capabilities.
22:55
And so the dual use aspect means really developing a product or
technology that can serve both, civilian and military purposes. And
so I will say there are challenges with this though, just because
the DOD aspect is mission focused, right? And so you have to worry
about finding product mission fit in that sense. Whereas on the
commercial side, you have to worry about finding
23:25
product market fit. And so, it can be competing at times, right?
Where, the startups and VCs are naturally focused on revenue and
increasing sort of their investment and DOD may be focused on the
mission, right? And so, it's a matter of really finding where you
can overlap both of those missions, right? To really make progress
in society.
23:54
And then it's also as you're developing a technology, it's a matter
of balancing as well, the different requirements and applications.
So, yeah. So the startups that you have been involved with, have
they come like a spin out as a technology transfer from a
university or not? I mean, where did you? Yeah.
24:22
Where did these companies come from? Their original ideas. Yeah.
Yeah, so a lot of the companies that we fund, some of the
technologies have begun in a university research lab setting.
However, they're usually a little bit further along before we see
them and we fund them. So we have partnerships with different
programs, including National Security Innovation Network, which is
a part of DIU.
24:51
that really focuses more on really helping spin out these
technologies out of a research setting and finding those DOD use
cases. And again, we also look at companies from all over the US.
So, our meetings are usually virtual, which makes it easy for
companies to reach us. But yeah, they come from all sorts of
settings, right? Some of them have spin out from the lab.
25:20
others from another company. But like I mentioned, by the time we
see them and we fund them, they've already had some preliminary
traction on the DOD side, whether that means some funding spoken to
and, you know, DOD users to really develop the requirements, as
well as some commercial preliminary traction, like obtaining
letters of support and things like that. Yeah.
25:47
So about the time I met you, I'd also been working in deep tech.
And I have heard that perhaps private investment VC money had been
crowding out the traditional investment of Nandaluda funding that
was under either the DOD or SBIR.
26:16
Right. And for like the last 20 years or so. And the Department of
Defense, and actually under, I think it was the Obama
administration, Ash Carter kind of flipped the model and said that
we can actually do dilutive as well as non-dilutive funding in
order to attract again, I don't know whether you're losing the
game, but to really get back into the pipeline.
26:44
of potential new businesses and new technologies. Is that, and
that's kind of what I've, you know, you perceive it. I also saw
that SBIR grants, VCs were no longer allowed to participate
probably about eight years ago. So what have your observations been
on the public versus private investment in the strategic
mission-driven
27:13
sectors is, is it true? What I'm saying is that I mean, there's no
probably it's not black or white, right? So what is the transition
between public and private investment in these strategic sectors
evolve? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So the way I would see it is, you know, a
while back, there was really a lack of communication between sort
of these public and private entities.
27:42
And so there wasn't much of a collaboration going on. And so, for
example, with the establishment of DIU, the purpose was to really
establish those public and private partnerships to really further
innovation and especially deep tech innovation. And so that was
just the first goal, right? Let's improve and establish these
public and private partnerships and show that we can work together
to fund companies.
28:11
that was a little bit rocky and figuring out, okay, how does that
work and who does what? But I think over time, right, those
relationships have really become established in some way and have
been fortified. And now, DIU and NSIC and all these other DOD
entities, we have strong relationships with different BCs and
accelerators and other types of organizations.
28:41
they are aware of us and are interested in really knowing what our
priorities are. And we are trying to always better communicate that
to them. And we're going on funding companies together. So I would
say that was sort of the first phase over time. Then, you know, I
think you focused on, OK, let's let's let's see if we can if this
model works, right? If we can fund companies.
29:10
using OTAs, for example, these prototype contracts, and helps to
transition some of this technology into DoD. And I would say now
where we're at is now we're really hyper-focused on the, you know,
because we already proved we can do this, so now it's, okay, let's
focus on the most impact for an urgent technologies to DoD,
especially given
29:39
the current geopolitical climate. And so now we've sort of shifted
into really a focus on these high impact, high, you know, at large
scale and in high urgency technologies and startups. So it's a
journey, right? It's an evolution. It's been a journey, yeah. And
then on the hardware side, right, again, it's been a little bit
different, but again, similar where, you know, there wasn't a lot
of, I would say,
30:06
VC interests to really fund, especially hardware, early stage
technologies. VCs were typically repelled by that, right, in some
sense. And naturally so, right? But I think with standing up NSIC
and these other organizations, there's been actually several VCs
now in this pre-seed to seed stage, funding.
30:35
hardware companies. And so I would say now the hurdle is probably
as we funded these companies, now they go on to series A, series B
and now they need BCs at that stage, right? To really help them
along and further their scaling, right? And so I would say more
work is probably needed on that end now. Very exciting times.
31:05
Let's switch gears and let's go back to your consulting firm.
Equitech innovate. Again, I don't know where you find the time, but
I, you know, so can you showcase here what it is that you do in
serving the underrepresented founders that are in these disruptive
technologies? What was it that made you go out on your own?
31:32
Yeah, yeah, so just being in the deep tech space that I'm at, and,
you know, dual use as well, you know, one thing that I started
noticing, and it's something that I've noticed even from just my
own background, right, in STEM, right, sort of one, a lack of
diversity and representation, right, of, you know, different
backgrounds, especially my backgrounds, right, whether it's
32:02
And so again, this is naturally found in a lot of the, deep tech
spaces, right? Finding leadership and innovators in that space. And
that, that's a whole nother conversation, right? But there's a lot
of hurdles, just even for people getting to that space, right? And
so naturally you find sort of a lack of talent there.
32:31
And then the other thing is, you know, once, you know, you have
underserved communities in deep tech, right, then you have less of
them that are aware or become deep tech founders, right? And so
then once you are a deep tech founder, right, then you have these
VC funding gaps, right, that you find, right, where
32:56
out of all the VC funding, 136 billion, only 1% goes to Black
founders or even smaller to Latinx or Indigenous or to women. And
especially being in the field that I am in, I would see very few,
again, founders from understaffed communities even applying to our
program. But then unfortunately, even those that did apply,
sometimes the quality was just not up to par.
33:25
Okay. And so it does tear me a bit, you know, in the sense that,
you know, I have compassion, but at the same time, there's a level
of quality that we need to maintain and things like that. And that
is because they often lack some of the resources and guidance,
right? And so even to get to where they're at now has been such a
huge feat. And so that's where I saw the opportunity
33:55
strategic consulting and advisory firm to really help underserved
founders and give them a little bit more guidance and really help
them get their technologies to market. Bringing in my DOD
expertise, my deep tech expertise, and also in working with
underserved communities throughout my career with different
nonprofits and whatnot. All right. Yeah.
34:24
Yeah, being that person that looks like them, right? In the room,
right? And you also have, you're a mentor for the Stanford Latino
Business Action Network. And you're serving on the board of
directors for Science is Elementary. And tell me, is that also part
of kind of mission-driven? Speak to me a bit about those
collaborations. Yeah, yeah, it is, yeah. So...
34:52
Again, just because I'm interested in helping underserved founders,
you know, I must have gone, I think to an event at Stanford, and
then that's how I got plugged in to that nonprofit organization.
Okay. Yeah, so I became a mentor, that this was before starting
Ecotech Innovate. And so again, that's where I also just got to
focus on helping underserved founders and really guiding them, get
them through that process.
35:22
And then in terms of the nonprofits that I'm a board of directors
for, yeah, so one of them is Science is Elementary. And so that
nonprofit, we focus on really providing inspiring, innovative, high
quality science experiences to preschool and elementary school
children from underserved communities. And.
35:48
you know, that involves, you know, teaching students, right,
training teachers as well, to really build sustainable and quality
sort of curriculum, and then engaging as well with different
scientists and STEM professionals, and some of them may serve as
role models and mentors and things like that. So again, I didn't
have any sort of exposure to this. I wish I did when I was, you
know, a young kid. But, you know, I think providing that
36:17
for the industry communities is very important because that's where
it begins, right? Yes, but you get exposed to it. Yeah, you get
exposed, so you learn about opportunities. And so you can dream to
be a scientist or things like that. And also you get rid of those
fears, right? That may intimidate you from going into STEM, right?
Because now there's familiar. And then also it's important to know
that
36:43
going to STEM doesn't necessarily mean you need to be a scientist,
right? I've transitioned into this role, which is more business,
right? But my science background, I'm able to leverage that and
it's sort of a value add. So in the show notes, I would like to
call out different ways by which my listeners can contact you. Can
you speak to...
37:10
what you would like to have in the show notes? Is that your
LinkedIn profile? Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, so yeah,
people can reach me on LinkedIn. I'm on there. Also, www.ancik.mil,
you can find my LinkedIn there. And also, equi You can find my, you
know.
37:37
LinkedIn information there as well as my email, salvador at equi
Excellent. So that will be in the show notes as well as the
infographic of NSIC. Thank you. So I am gonna move into the part of
the podcast that I repeat with every single guest. I have my own
consulting firm, NextAct Advisors, and I really work with
38:06
growth stage companies on being purpose driven, scalable and
resilient. And I'd like to ask you, I guess, what does purpose
driven mean to you? Yeah, I think to me, I've actually always been
drawn to purpose driven work. And so for me, it's the so what,
right? So there's a lot of cool things you can do, cool
technologies. But to me, it's the why, right? And the so what
behind it, that really
38:35
pushes me and motivates me to really do the work that I do because
I know I'm making a difference in people's lives in one way or
another, in a positive way. So whether it's through the nonprofits
that I've been involved with, both at a volunteering level and then
now on the board leadership or through NSIC and DIU, right? Helping
the war fighter and helping with national security.
39:04
or now with my consulting firm and really focusing on helping
underserved founders, I think that I'm just drawn to really
purpose-driven work that creates a positive impact in people at
scale, right? And maybe lead on to your next question, but that
does it in a meaningful way. So that moves the needle. I love it.
So you've chosen really in alignment with your own
39:33
Origin story. So scalable growth. What does that mean to you? And
maybe wearing your INSEC hat or what was scalable? Yeah. So I
think, you know, first in terms of like, you know, deep tech
startups and going that route, the focus is first on finding
product market fit and really getting there. But once you do,
40:02
I think scaling is really about growing, right? Growing not only
your team, but expanding your product and really doing it in an
impactful way. And I think along with that comes many challenges,
right? That you have to make sure your manufacturing processes are
in order and that can...
40:28
really accommodate for the volume and speed at which you need to do
that. And so I think before scaling needs to come preparedness,
right? Being prepared to grow before you do grow because one thing
I find often is, you know, sometimes people are focused on growing
and then as you're growing, you're really finding all these things
that you can't keep up with, right? And then unfortunately,
sometimes that's where startups fail, right?
40:55
And so, and it's sad because you've gone so far right along. And
so, since you've worked so hard to get there, it's important to
just take a beat and really prepare for the growth because I think
that will set you up for success. You know, I'm gonna divert a
little bit from the third question. I mean, product market fit.
Yeah. And software, right?
41:23
Deep tech technologies, it's really about around technology
readiness level, TRLs, right? Scaling right to that level where you
are scalable, right? Can you for my listeners again, indulge us in
technology readiness levels? Yeah. So, yeah. So there are
different, you know, technology readiness levels that really
describe sort of.
41:52
where your technology is in its development. With NSIC, for
example, we have a minimum TRL three. And so that involves at least
having sort of analytical and experimental critical function and or
characteristic proof of concept. So we don't fund, you know, sort
of paper studies or science projects. And so, that's a TRL level
that we focus on.
42:21
And as that TRL advances, then you get into the testing phase and
in-field environment testing and things like that. So then you can
further refine your technology until it's really ready for a proper
use case. And then I would say one thing we focus on now is
also
42:48
just on the level of advancement in that TRL, right? So, you know,
the more you can advance with the funding, the better and so that
involves really having a very strong product development plan,
right, in place. So that you get more bang for your buck in a way.
Right, right. So the product roadmap. Yeah. Thank you. Let's get
back to the sandbox and its resilience.
43:17
What does resilience mean to you? Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Yeah, it's
one thing that someone told me, you know, they said, you're very
resilient. And I was like, oh, really? Thank you. And so, yeah,
reflecting back in my life, right? Again, as I mentioned before,
you know, you'll be dealt different cards in life, you know,
punches, right? And sometimes that will be things that you have no
control over. And sometimes there'll be consequences because, you
know, you're human and you're young and you make mistakes.
And...
43:46
you're stubborn at times or things like that. And so I think
resilience is, for me it involves a few things. One is not allowing
that to define you. And so it means getting back up, but it also
means getting back up stronger and wiser, at least for me, right?
There's, I think something you can learn about yourself.
44:11
and about the situation and about others, right? In whatever
circumstance you're in. And so it's really making sure you learn
the most you can about that particular situation so that when you
do stand up and move forward, you're able to do so in a more
intentional and successful way, hopefully. Thank you. So last
question, did you have fun in the sandbox today? Oh, I had a lot of
fun. Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah.
44:41
It's been a unique experience. And so, I had a great time speaking
to you when we first met and so today as well. So thank you so much
for inviting me. Thank you, Sal. To my listeners, if you liked this
episode with Sal Badiyurios, CEO and founder of Equitech Innovate,
as well as advisor with Insic of the DIU, that's the Defense
Innovation Unit. Please.
45:11
sign up for the Founder's Sandbox. It's released monthly. And
business owners, corporate directors, and professional service
providers are my guests and they help us learn about how to build
with strong governance, resilient, scalable, and purpose-driven
companies to make profits for good. So signing off for this month,
thank you. And again, Sal, thank you for joining me. Thank you.