Trae Stephens is Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril Industries, a defense technology company, and a General Partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund, where he invests across sectors with a particular interest in startups operating in the government space. Previously, Trae was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he led teams focused on growth in the intelligence and defense sector as well as international expansion, helping large organizations solve their hardest data analysis problems. He was also an integral part of the product team, leading the design and strategy for new product offerings. While at Palantir, Trae also served as an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University. Before joining Palantir, Trae worked as a computational linguist building enterprise solutions to Arabic/Persian name matching and data enrichment within the U.S. Intelligence Community. He began his career working in the office of then Congressman Rob Portman and in the Political Affairs Office at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. immediately following the installation of Hamid Karzai’s transitional government. Trae graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Join the Glacier waitlist - https://theglacierapp.com/waitlist Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkoujZQZatbqy4KGcgjpVxQ/join Shawn Ryan Show Links SUBSCRIBE: http://www.youtube.com/@ShawnRyanShow Sign up: https://shawnryanshow.com/pages/newsletter Support the Show: https://www.patreon.com/VigilanceElite Download Free Content: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lF-8_5jwRc5eAhzDkqqCOp-6yvd05vAw?usp=sharing Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shawn-ryan-show/id1492492083 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5eodRZd3qR9VT1ip1wI7xQ?si=59f9d106e56a4509 Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shawnryanshow Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnryanshow/ Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawnryanshow/ Follow on X: https://twitter.com/ShawnRyanShow SRS Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4pqo9Uoh0WuUKxw0BmaK1yrg9Kd7E4lk #vigilanceelite #shawnryanshow Trae Stephens Links: X - https://x.com/traestephens LI - https://www.linkedin.com/in/trae-stephens-485a811 IG - https://www.instagram.com/trae.stephens Founders Fund - https://foundersfund.com/team/trae-stephens Anduril Industries - https://www.anduril.com Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: https://USCCA.com/srs https://mypatriotsupply.com/srs https://patriotmobile.com/srs https://bubsnaturals.com – USE CODE SHAWN https://aura.com/srs https://rocketmoney.com/srs 00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome 00:44 Trae Stephens' Background and Early Career 01:46 Faith in Silicon Valley and Gen Z’s Spiritual Shift 06:57 Act 17, Just War Theory, and Defense Tech 20:50 Government, Silicon Valley, and Public Misconceptions 23:47 Early Life, Education, and Intelligence Work 38:09 Palantir and the Jump to Venture Capital 49:17 PayPal Mafia, Palmer Luckey, and Oculus Origins 54:59 Building Defense Products 01:04:36 American Manufacturing and Tech Scalability 01:10:47 Education Reform and Parenting in the Digital Age 01:32:13 AI, Dating Apps, and the Future of Relationships 01:40:43 Social Media, Road Trips, and Family Life 01:45:48 The Role of Young Men and Societal Shifts 01:51:04 Autonomous Warfare and U.S.–China Relations 02:15:17 Side Projects, Global Unity, and End Times 02:20:06 Final Thoughts and Guest Recommendations