Investing in the Age of National Security: How Geopolitics Shape Today’s Startups

In the early 2000s, Silicon Valley saw massive growth as a largely unregulated internet allowed for a "move fast and break things" era of innovation. Billions were made by taking legacy businesses and digitizing them, while startups faced minimal compliance and overhead costs in a period of laissez-faire legislation. Globalization encouraged founders to frame their company as eventually serving every nation on earth. National security concerns were largely an afterthought.

All that has changed.