The podcast
Crossing the Valley.
Stories, lessons, and case studies from companies going from pilot to production inside the U.S. Department of Defense. Hosted by Noah Sheinbaum. 97 episodes so far.
Recent episodes.
From the archive.
- 85Outlander VC and Noda AI
- 84Cape
- 83Nominal
- 82Machina Labs
- 81Obsidian Sensors
- 80Persistent Systems
- 79Inside GrayMatter Robotics
- 78HavocAI
- 77Tasking satellites in seconds
- 76WHOOP: wearables at war
- 75Overland AI is bringing the lab to the field
- 74Forterra acquires goTenna (in 72 hours)
- 73Saronic
- 72Wirescreen: from Pulitzer to intelligence platform
- 71Why America lost the hypersonics race (and how to win it back)
- 70Checking in on Apex Space
- 69Legion Intelligence
- 67Putting a robot on a nuclear missile
Questions we get asked
What is Crossing the Valley?
Crossing the Valley is a podcast from Frontdoor Defense, hosted by Noah Sheinbaum. Each episode is a story, lesson, or case study from a company that went from a pilot to production inside the U.S. Department of Defense.
What is the valley of death in defense acquisition?
It is the gap between early R&D or prototype money and a funded production program. Companies fall into it when a pilot succeeds but no program office has budget to buy the product at scale.
Where can I watch Crossing the Valley?
Full episodes are on the Crossing the Valley YouTube channel. New episodes come out regularly.
Crossed the valley? Tell the story.
We want guests who got a product from pilot to production and can explain how.