AcquiredAmerican Dynamism (with Katherine Boyle)
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
a16z’s American Dynamism thesis: rebuilding real-world industries with tech innovation
- Katherine Boyle (a16z GP) defines “American Dynamism” as investing in companies that support the national interest, spanning defense/aerospace and also core civic domains like housing, education, transportation, and infrastructure.
- The thesis argues that the last decades of software innovation largely bypassed these physical, regulated sectors—creating huge opportunities, but also demanding different venture muscles because these companies are harder, slower, and often capital-intensive early on.
- Boyle traces why “why now” is driven by COVID-era shifts: renewed urgency to “build,” government’s growing need to buy (not build) modern software, and a geographic decentralization that lets founders build category-defining companies outside Silicon Valley.
- The conversation also covers Boyle’s journey from Washington Post reporter to investor, contrasts Washington’s power/attention incentives with Silicon Valley’s equity/creation incentives, and highlights portfolio examples like Anduril, Flock Safety, and Hadrian as emblematic of this next era.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasAmerican Dynamism is “national-interest tech,” not just defense.
Boyle frames the category as companies that touch core civic life—education, housing, transportation, infrastructure—and often interact with government via sales, regulation, or direct competition.
These businesses are harder early and often look “worse” at Series A.
Because they operate in the physical world with entrenched incumbents and regulation, they can require more capital/time and show slower early traction—“deeper down the J-curve”—yet can become massive and strategically important (SpaceX as exemplar).
The U.S. government’s “build internally” posture is increasingly untenable.
Boyle argues government lags modern tooling: employees live consumer-internet lives but work with outdated systems, driving cost bloat and poor service outcomes in public goods like education and housing.
COVID created a timing window for a rebuild cycle.
The pandemic stress-tested institutions (schools, supply chains, public systems) and accelerated acceptance that the pre-COVID Silicon Valley playbook is changing—creating tailwinds for builders targeting real-world sectors.
Founder archetypes are expanding beyond the classic engineer profile.
Because startup-building components can be “taken off the shelf,” people from frontline systems (teachers, DoD procurement, operators) can credibly found startups to modernize the domains they know firsthand.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotes“The most simple definition is it’s companies that support the national interest.”
— Katherine Boyle
“These companies go deeper down the J curve. They often don’t look that good at Series A.”
— Katherine Boyle
“They go into government, and it takes thirty minutes to start their computer. It’s like being back in the 1980s.”
— Katherine Boyle
“Silicon Valley is an idea, not a place.”
— Katherine Boyle
“I think America is the greatest experiment in human history.”
— Katherine Boyle
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