Relationship to Blank
Raj Shah co-founded the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford (November 30, 2021) with Steve Blank and Joe Felter. Shah, Felter, and Blank co-taught "Technology, Innovation and Modern War" at Stanford. Shah's work at DIUx/DIU was a practical embodiment of Blank's Lean Innovation approach applied to defense acquisition.
Background
AB from Princeton University; MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. F-16 pilot in the Air National Guard with three combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Began career at McKinsey & Co. Co-founded Morta Security, a cybersecurity startup acquired by Palo Alto Networks, where he became senior director of strategy.
DIUx / DIU
In May 2016, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter appointed Shah as the first managing partner of the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), which had been announced in April 2015 at Stanford. DIUx's mission was to bridge the Pentagon and the commercial technology sector — rapidly acquiring existing commercial products and leveraging venture capital to grow a defense technology ecosystem. Shah led DIUx from May 2016 to February 2018. In 2017 the "Experimental" was dropped, renaming the organization DIU to signal permanence.
Current Roles
Co-founder and Managing Partner of Shield Capital (dual-use technology venture fund). Chairman of Resilience (cybersecurity). Board of Directors, NATO Innovation Fund. Commissioner, DoD Commission on PPBE Reform. Author of "Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War."
Significance
Shah embodies the defense innovation strand of Blank's later career — someone who took lean startup principles and applied them to Pentagon acquisition. His trajectory from F-16 pilot to startup founder to DIUx leader to Stanford co-teacher parallels Blank's own arc from military electronic warfare to Silicon Valley to defense education.
Sources: CNAS, Defense News, Shield Capital, NATO Innovation Fund, steveblank.com