For decades, the relationship between emerging technology companies in Silicon Valley and Washington has evolved alongside geopolitical priorities, market cycles, and the pace of innovation itself. Periods of close collaboration have given way to moments of distance, shaped as much by structural incentives as by perception.
In many categories, Washington was viewed as a regulatory consideration rather than a strategic lever, and something to address later rather than early. Today, that model is no longer sufficient for a growing set of categories in the venture capital ecosystem.
At MVP Ventures, we’re increasingly excited about companies and categories where Washington is not optional, but critical to success. When done well, thoughtful coordination with government stakeholders can become a meaningful and durable competitive advantage. Through years of working alongside founders, MVP Ventures has developed a clear point of view on what great government engagement looks like, what to avoid, and why early, thoughtful outreach matters.
True to our ethos of being founders’ Most Valuable Partner, MVP Ventures is putting real resources behind that conviction by investing in an in-house capability to help companies navigate and build relationships in Washington effectively.
Where Government Engagement Creates Real Leverage
Many of the most important technologies being built today rest squarely within the national interest. Defense and dual-use companies are the clearest examples, where government is often a direct customer. But they are far from the only ones. Companies in energy, AI, crypto, and other markets operate in environments shaped by policy frameworks and public investment.
For these companies, government decisions directly affect budgets, timelines, and pathways to success. Agencies and lawmakers often set priorities and funding years in advance, and those decisions don’t stay contained in Washington. They ripple outward, shaping markets long before companies feel their impact and they endure long after.
Founders who account for this reality early tend to plan more deliberately and preserve more optionality over time. They are also better positioned to be part of the conversation and help educate policymakers on the technologies they’re building, giving government a clearer view of what’s possible and how technology can support the outcomes policymakers are trying to achieve.
Trae Stephens has spoken openly about the importance for Anduril to speak directly with policymakers as early as possible in the company’s journey:
“At Anduril, we started the company on a Monday. By Wednesday, we were walking the halls of the Capitol, briefing people on what it is that we were doing. So if you have a sense for how it works, and what relationships you need to start building, you need to get the ball rolling sooner than you would expect.”
The takeaway isn’t that founders need to become policy experts. It’s that the early outreach, when done intentionally, creates clarity and starts to build momentum for long-term success.
Where Founders Get Stuck
For early-stage companies operating in national-interest markets, especially defense and dual-use, government engagement presents a classic chicken-and-egg problem. Engaging early can unlock meaningful long-term value, but it requires time and effort well before results materialize, often when runway is tight and focus is precious.
When relationship building fails to achieve desired results, it’s rarely due to lack of good intentions. More often, it comes down to a few predictable challenges.
The first is timing. Congressional and agency engagement is a multi-year process. In the early days of a company, when there is no shortage of immediate priorities competing for attention, it can be easy to overlook the importance of investing time in conversations where the impact unfolds over years. Waiting until a company “needs” government involvement or support often means the window for shaping outcomes has already narrowed or passed.
The second is execution. Many founders don’t initially “speak Washington.” Policymakers and agencies operate on different incentives, calendars, and decision-making structures than investors or commercial customers. Without building a deeper understanding of how their company aligns with the broader priorities of a committee, individual member of congress, or agency, founders can misjudge timelines, misallocate effort, or disengage altogether. It’s not uncommon for companies to be unsure where to turn for external support, which can lead teams to spend precious resources on consultants without achieving clear outcomes.
What Effective Engagement Actually Looks Like
Effective government engagement, at the right moments, is about understanding how the system works and showing up with credibility to help policymakers achieve their desired outcomes.
In practice, that means understanding the congressional budget and appropriations cycle, knowing when and how to educate policymakers, framing a clear and realistic “ask” when appropriate, and sequencing engagement so teams don’t burn cycles at the wrong time. In defense and dual-use markets, non-dilutive government funding in the form of a few million dollars can be a realistic goal and materially extend runway for an early-stage company. While those amounts are small relative to overall defense appropriations, it could be a game-changer for a startup.
It also requires understanding how different groups of policymakers operate, like authorization committees and appropriations subcommittees, the critical distinctions between them, and how to engage the right offices at the right time. It means knowing which organizations inside an agency have flexible funding authorities and which ones don’t, and how they make contract award determinations. Getting this right is often the difference between aspiration and achievement.
Finally, effective engagement means recognizing the reality inside Washington. While polarization between Republicans and Democrats is a fact of life, substantive collaboration still happens across many of the issues shaping emerging technology. Founders who approach Washington broadly and pragmatically tend to build more resilient relationships and benefit from having a diverse coalition of supporters over time.
When supported properly, government engagement becomes a source of leverage. Companies move with more confidence, avoid unforced errors, and are better positioned to execute in complex environments.
Why MVP Ventures Is Investing Here
At MVP Ventures, our goal has always been to be the Most Valuable Partner per dollar on a founder’s cap table. In practice, that means being responsive to where founders are likely to encounter friction and investing early in the resources needed to help them navigate it.
Government outreach is one of those areas.
Rather than leaving founders to figure this out on their own, MVP Ventures has made a deliberate investment in building in-house capability to help our companies engage with government and develop a clear, effective playbook for how they can be successful in Washington. This includes helping founders understand congressional and agency timelines, prepare for productive conversations, translate what they’re building into language that resonates with policymakers, and make informed decisions about when and how to leverage additional resources without wasting time or capital.
This effort is being led by Jonathan Rue, Partner, Government at MVP Ventures. Jonathan previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Development and Emerging Capabilities, where he worked to advance next-generation technologies and integrate them into the Joint Force. He served in the Pentagon’s chief analytical office responsible for the defense budget and future years defense plan, OSD Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation. He has also served in the U.S. Senate, working for a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, spearheading the agenda in the NDAA and staffing defense appropriations requests. And before those roles, he was a U.S. Marine Corps officer. He’s spent years navigating both the Pentagon and Capitol Hill, and brings deep experience in how decisions are made, funded, and executed.
Our goal is simple: founders should have access to people who understand how Washington works and have the relationships to help companies navigate it effectively. This investment reflects MVP Ventures’ broader belief that outcomes are earned through execution, not signaling. As more companies build at the intersection of technology and national priorities, effective government engagement will increasingly separate those that struggle from those that succeed.
Building this capability is how MVP Ventures continues to show up, follow through, and earn its place as a long-term partner to the founders we back.
Let’s talk about what you’re building and how we can help move it forward:
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