Timmy Wahba
Columbia Angels | STRENGHTEN.US , NSIN Foundry Cohort 2023, DEF member & event organizer
New York City, New York, United States
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A civilian with no ties to Defense, knee-deep in the NYC startup ecosystem on both sides of the table, crawled out of this innovation culture to a more meaningful one that serves the public good and national interest. This is defense entrepreneurship.
Professionally Timothy Wahba serves as President of the Columbia Angels, where alumni of Columbia University invest in the startup and venture ecosystem together. Timmy Wahba was previously chief Executive of Beast Enterprises, a New York City-based venture studio, and corporate strategy advisory firm.
After a year-long critical illness in 2022, Timmy Wahba pivoted toward Defense Tech & National Security Innovation. Deeply interested in finding novel solutions to solve the valley of death from a realist and pragmatic perspective. He is a current National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) Foundry 2023 cohort member. He is also a member and an organizer of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum. He is also building strengthen.us, a community of deep-tech researchers, defense innovators, and investors.
Timmy Wahba is a Columbia MBA, specializing in entrepreneurial finance and private equity with an undergraduate Bachelor's in Political Science from
New York University.
Outside of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital - while under the age of 18, Timmy Wahba was a curious digital native hacking dark parts of the internet for fun. That interest necessitated a transition to a lifelong interest and specialization in white-hat Cyber Intelligence Threat Analysis, Open Source Intelligence, Heavy Metal & Fishing (naturally.)
Area of Expertise
Topics
Sillicon Valley of Death - The Shape of NatSec and DefTech Venture Investment to Come.
This is a subject I am deeply involved in. This is a rough explanation.
How do we re-envision the role of Venture Capital in the Natsec Innovation and Defense tech?
Traditional Venture Capital firms to fund investment in deep technology and R&D is at a crossroads. These firms, MIA after decades of investing in D2C, B2B SaaS, convenience tech with low initial capex models with "scalable hockey stick growth) do not have a culture that pursues long-term bets outside their comfort zone.
This primary private source of capital stopped playing its traditional role of risk-takers in investment, and their complicity in the Valley of Death is substantial. The U.S. is using policy to resurrect their engagement
The government has established numerous initiatives to stimulate venture investment in NatSec and Critical/Deeptech.
The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), and the National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) have provided two examples of these efforts.
One program by the OSC is incentivizing traditional venture firms to invest in Critical Technologies, through certifying SBICs (small business investment companies) which will receive $2 for every $1 invested in DeepTech. These SBICs are essentially traditional VC funds.
The program is in its infancy, but we see VC funds that previously had no appetite to invest in critical technology for the national interest, (but love to invest millions in IoT Juicing machines) begin to posture themselves as veteran defense tech investors.
Are they qualified investors we should rely on for investment? Recent history has shown they might not be, but they do have their place.
What other serious alternatives are there? I propose a few that should and must be a part of any private capital solution to solve the Valley of Death.
Look at a quick draft outline below for what I propose.
Defense Entrepreneurs Forum (DEF) Conference 2023 Sessionize Event
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