DIB Innovators

Oura tracked an armored unit's gunnery qualification and found baseline heart rate variability statistically predicted top-quartile performance on weapons platforms. Their three-tier privacy architecture gives individuals AI-driven feedback, lets them share data with coaches by explicit consent, and provides command aggregate de-identified metrics. This information helps command know not only when to back off on training, but when they can push harder and how trainees are recovering.

Geoff Wylde, VP & General Manager of Health & Human Performance, discusses how Oura invested in NSA-approved hardware that operates in airplane mode for SCIF access and edge applications that sync intermittently with eight days of on-device storage for denied environments. 

Topics discussed:

• Tracking baseline heart rate variability to statistically predict top-quartile gunnery qualification performance on weapons platforms

• Implementing three-tier data architecture with individual insights, provider coaching access, and aggregate command-level readiness metrics

• Achieving 80% alcohol consumption reduction among special operators through biometric feedback loops from wearable ring data

• Building consent-based privacy systems using de-identified accounts where no personal information enters company databases for DoD

• Developing NSA-approved hardware with airplane mode capability and Bluetooth antenna for SCIF access and classified environments

• Creating edge applications with 8-day on-device storage for intermittent sync in denied environments 

Clark Haymond, COO of DEWM, leveraged active duty relationships to compress validation timelines that would take years through traditional AFRL sequences. Having friends now in squadron leadership enabled direct jet time allocation for hypothesis testing, proving DEWM's DART could complete actual SEAD kill chains before committing to the formal program of record pathways. This network-driven approach delivers a combined operation with real-time feedback loops impossible in controlled SBIR phases.

Clark also explains why Air National Guard units became initial customers: state-controlled budgets enable faster procurement decisions than ACC. Guard wings need robust EW environments but face $5-15M price tags for traditional threat emitters. DEWM's 2-foot dish exploits the power threshold gap between legacy radar warning receivers and modern HTS pods, achieving tactically relevant detection ranges without massive amplifiers. Haymond candidly admits the MBA network delivered "almost none" of the value compared to Defense Ventures Fellowship placements and direct operator access. 

Topics discussed:

Storing cargo in orbit is becoming cost-comparable to maintaining hundreds of terrestrial warehouses scattered globally, but in orbit, they’re not as vulnerable to atmospheric conditions, geographic limitations, and single points of failure.

Justin Fiaschetti, CEO & Co-founder of Inversion, explains how this approach requires orders of magnitude fewer units to cover the same geographic area because any satellite can deliver to any location within its coverage zone. When launch costs continue declining with reusable systems like Starship, the economics shift dramatically toward orbital warehousing that eliminates moisture, temperature variations, and the fragility of ground-based logistics networks while providing true global reach.

But what would a company journey be without some challenges? Recruiting for a hardware startup demands different strategies than software companies where engineers are somewhat interchangeable. Inversion needed distinct specialists, each requiring completely different screening processes and networks. Justin's solution was screening every candidate against one question: could this person be a future founder? That mindset ensured each hire could own an entire engineering discipline autonomously, allowing Inversion to build a 25-person team capable of designing and launching operational spacecraft in under 3 years. 

Topics discussed:

Jonathan DiMattei, Founder & CEO of Lothric Labs, describes his pathway into defense manufacturing as fearless, relentless, and totally unbiased networking. He attended every ribbon cutting, grand opening, and Chamber of Commerce event he could find, regardless of industry. The breakthrough came at World Trade Center Denver, where events put him directly in front of United Airlines, Lockheed Martin, and defense contractors. His team's thousands of hours of lived 3D printing experience made the elevator pitch natural rather than rehearsed. Ten months after opening Lothric Labs to the public, they secured over 50 active clients and became the US strategic partner for Ultimaker, the only 3D printer adopted by the U.S. Army.

The biggest challenge for small manufacturers entering defense isn't technical capability but compliance, warns Jonathan. You can master aerospace-grade 3D printing, network into meetings with defense contractors, and shake hands with CEOs, but without CMMC certification, you're not getting the 3D model files. Some defense companies are softer, asking to see compliance on the roadmap. Others had hard lines. Luckily, publicly accessible SCIF spaces are now creating pathways for smaller manufacturers to access government-compliant networks and start bidding without building multi-million dollar facilities. The real bottleneck isn't equipment but knowledge: which materials to use among thousands of options, how to optimize CAD models for additive manufacturing, and navigating the compliance requirements that gate access to classified work.

Topics discussed:

Listen to more episodes: 

Apple 

Spotify 

YouTube

Website

Primer.ai reduced a 50-day intelligence analysis timeline to hours, enabling operators to redirect friendlies away from hostile forces before collision. CEO Sean Moriarty explains why this speed advantage stems from working backward from customer need rather than leading with AI capabilities — understanding workflow bottlenecks where analysts spend more time assembling information than analyzing it, then building software that starts their day where it used to end.

Sean's product background shaped his counter-intuitive approach to government AI deployment: aggressive, rapid vetting with proper oversight beats trying to solve hypothetical risks in abstract policy frameworks. He also advocates for time-bounded capability mandates that force elimination of bureaucratic barriers rather than incremental process reform. Sean's team matches customer shift work during crises, a level of commitment he attributes to hiring people who care about mission as deeply as the end users they support. 

Topics discussed:

SpaceX's early mission operations exposed a fundamental problem: mission-critical teams were executing complex procedures across Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, and fragmented communication channels, creating dangerous gaps where hardware gets destroyed and critical data falls through the cracks. Laura Crabtree, Co-founder & CEO of Epsilon3, built Epsilon 3 to solve this after watching teams flip through paper documentation at T-minus countdowns instead of focusing on root cause analysis. 

Her platform now digitizes operational decision-making across aerospace, defense, and robotics, enabling real-time visibility across distributed teams without voice loop confirmations, automated conditional branching that redirects operators to the right procedures when failures occur, and full lifecycle traceability from parts inventory through testing to flight operations. The shift from "try it indefinitely" to paid adoption came down to proving 10x value over internal development costs calculated across 5-year customer lifecycles. 

Topics discussed:

Michael Peters, CEO & Founder of Lazarus Alliance, built his cybersecurity career on one principle: turn over rocks before the bad guys do. After 25 years conducting audits, he's watched DIB companies treat compliance frameworks like magical protection. For Michael, however, passing CMMC means you had two good weeks, not 50 weeks of security. His Security Trifecta framework overrides this checkbox mentality with three layers: governance that documents policies in writing, technical enforcement that operates without human bias or fatigue, and vigilant teamwork for everything technology can't solve. As Michael puts it, defenses actually fail not because of the hardware, but “the wetware" — humans clicking ransomware, ignoring protocols, losing focus.

His continuous monitoring methodology spreads audits across 12 months instead of annual blitzes, increasing sample coverage from 10% to near-complete while catching problems in real time. For SMBs without massive budgets, Michael reverses the typical approach: stop buying security tools before identifying what you're protecting. Start with a data-first question, like “What are my critical assets?” Then work backward to the network controls, endpoint protections, and monitoring rules that actually defend them. 

Topics discussed:

OpsLab's scheduling platform saves Air Force squadrons 200 hours per month — time previously spent by pilots manually fixing flight schedules until late at night. Arun Nair, Founder & CEO, showcases how OpsLab's three-layer intelligence system went from 30% scheduler acceptance to operational deployment across 75+ squadrons by combining operations research algorithms, reinforcement learning from daily user feedback, and LLM interfaces that let commanders simulate scenarios like losing 20% of their fleet while managing ATOs and continuation training simultaneously.

Arun warns how Phase III SBIR contracts aren't the finish line everyone thinks they are — the real Holy Grail is program-of-record status. His team spent four years collecting feedback from schedulers to calibrate their algorithms, hired former Air Force schedulers to understand the dysfunction, and built a middleware layer borrowed from his Wall Street high-frequency trading experience that can combine air power from different branches onto the same platform. 

Topics discussed:

When Kim Crider, Founding Partner at Elara Nova, became the Air Force's first Chief Data Officer, she had no mandate, minimal staff, and skeptical four-star commanders. Her CORONA presentation changed everything: using actual pilot retention data and analysis, she demonstrated how insufficient training aircraft was driving attrition. The Secretary's response unlocked buy-in across the service. 

Kim shares how she did it: start with the decision you need to make, then work backwards to determine what data you need, where to get it, and how to manage it. This problem-first approach drove real outcomes, from identifying landing gear failures caused by excessive fuel loads to optimizing mission planning. 

She also warns defense leaders that tech disruption means nothing without adoption infrastructure. AI capabilities, for example, fail at scale without proper data centers and power systems. Invest equally in disruption and the foundational infrastructure that enables adoption — test environments, integration capabilities, and the cultural shift needed for people to work effectively with new technology.

Topics discussed:

Roger fills gaps other military banks ignore: free credit score monitoring that typically costs $20 monthly, 2% yield on checking with savings rates reaching 5.25% during peak periods, and zero overdraft fees while competitors generate significant revenue from service member overdrafts. Jill Castilla, President & CEO of Roger Bank/Citizens Bank of Edmond, walks through how the platform's fraud detection handles the reality that 75% of account opening attempts come from bots, while allowing legitimate zero-balance accounts to remain open for a year pre-enlistment. 

All Roger staff have military experience and provide 24/7 access for financial mentoring, addressing the recruiter-reported problem of family members committing fraud on young service members' accounts during training. Jill also compressed Citizens Bank's VA loan timeline to match conventional loan speeds after experiencing discrimination firsthand, eliminating the realtor objection that VA loans "take too long" and preventing service members from competing for homes.

Topics discussed: