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  • Dr Craig Cummings in The Briefing Room, Episode 25 | Moonshots Capital, Austin and the Series A Ecosystem

    Dr Craig Cummings in The Briefing Room, Episode 25 | Moonshots Capital, Austin and the Series A Ecosystem
    2026/07/15

    Dr Craig Cummings, Co-Founder and General Partner at Moonshots Capital, joins Peta Ellis and Sean Singleton for a conversation spanning 30 years of defence, academia, entrepreneurship and venture capital.

    Craig served 17 years as a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer, deployed to Afghanistan with JSOC and earned the Bronze Star, and co-founded two companies, including RideScout, which was acquired by Mercedes. He then built Moonshots Capital into one of the most active dual-use VC firms in the United States.

    In this episode: why Austin became the centre of gravity for U.S. defence innovation, what changed when Army Futures Command moved into Capital Factory, why Craig looks for contracting expertise in every team he backs, and why the entire defence innovation ecosystem is still only at Series A.

    We also cover Skill Bridge, DARPA accelerators, veteran-to-venture pathways, and what it would take to build a Capital Factory-style ecosystem in Australia.

    **This episode was recorded before the passing of Joshua Baer, founder of Capital Factory, who is mentioned throughout our conversation with Craig Cummings. Josh built Capital Factory into one of the world's most important defence and technology innovation hubs and connected thousands of founders across two decades. We dedicate this episode to his memory. Our condolences to his family, his team, and the Austin community.

    Craig Cummings LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigwcummings/

    Moonshots Capital: https://www.moonshots.capital/

    Host Links (for YouTube description / pinned comment):

    Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis

    Sean Singleton (Co-host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-singleton-b616292/

    BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc
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    47 分
  • Col. Enrique Oti, USAF (Ret.) - CSO, Second Front Systems in the Briefing Room.

    Col. Enrique Oti, USAF (Ret.) - CSO, Second Front Systems in the Briefing Room.
    2026/07/01

    Colonel Enrique Oti was employee number one at the Defense Innovation Unit - and he watched it nearly fail before it found its footing. In this episode, Sean Singleton and Peta Ellis sit down with Enrique, now Chief Strategy Officer at Second Front Systems, to trace a 23-year Air Force career that took him from special operations in Honduras and Afghanistan to two years as an Olmsted Scholar inside China's universities, to Silicon Valley at exactly the moment Washington and the tech sector had stopped talking to each other. Enrique shares what the original DIU got wrong, why every Ministry of Defence in the world is making the same mistake right now, why the difference between dual-use and defence tech matters more than most founders admit, and why Australian companies need to prove traction at home before showing up at the Pentagon door. He also breaks down what Second Front Systems is building to make AUKUS Pillar Two a real, frictionless reality across US, UK and Australian military networks.

    🔗 GUEST LINKS

    Enrique OtiLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enrique-oti

    Second Front Systems: https://www.secondfront.com

    Host Links:

    Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis

    Sean Singleton (Co-host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-singleton-b616292

    BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos

    BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

    Produced at ⁠The Podcast Boss⁠ ⁠podcast studio in Brisbane
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    40 分
  • Rob Castaneda - Founder and CEO, ServiceRocket | LP, Beaten Zone Venture Partners

    Rob Castaneda - Founder and CEO, ServiceRocket | LP, Beaten Zone Venture Partners
    2026/06/18

    Rob Castaneda grew up in Toongabie in Western Sydney, snuck into UTS to do computer science, and landed a help desk internship at a Silicon Valley company when he was 17. From that first role he never stopped moving forward. In 2001 he founded ServiceRocket in Sydney. In 2008, when everyone told him he was crazy, he moved the company to Palo Alto during the global financial crisis. Today ServiceRocket has around 240 people across 10 countries and Rob is an LP in Beaten Zone Venture Partners.

    In this episode Peta Ellis sits down with Rob to unpack why it is genuinely easier to grow a tech company in the US than in Australia, why the founder has to be the one who moves, how a self-funded company still runs tight board accountability, and what he looks for in the next generation of talent.

    GUEST LINKS

    Rob Castaneda LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcastaneda/

    ServiceRocket: https://www.servicerocket.com/

    Leadership Behaviours Substack: https://leadershipbehaviors.org/

    Host Links:

    Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis

    BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos

    BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

    Production: Produced at The Podcast Boss podcast studio in Brisbane. thepodcastboss.com
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    49 分
  • Ross Osborne - Chief Engineer, Advanced Technologies Group, SYPAQ Systems

    Ross Osborne - Chief Engineer, Advanced Technologies Group, SYPAQ Systems
    2026/05/20

    Ross Osborne is the Chief Engineer and Technical Director at SYPAQ Systems, a Melbourne-based company founded in 1992 that has grown from professional services and consulting in defence and government into one of Australia's most capable autonomous systems developers and manufacturers. Ross has been with SYPAQ for 16 years, joining after a graduate engineering program at BAE Systems where his focus was already on autonomous systems.

    In this episode we trace the full arc of SYPAQ's most celebrated product: the Corvo PPDS, widely known as the cardboard drone. Ross explains how the concept came from a three-day sprint in 2018, prototyped on day one, flown on day two, bid written on day three. The idea was pitched at an Army Innovation Day, secured a contract, went through 10 months of engineering development, was shelved during COVID, and then, when the Ukraine conflict began in 2022, went from sitting on a shelf to full-rate production of 100 systems in five weeks.

    We also discuss the Corvo X, SYPAQ's fixed-wing VTOL surveillance drone now delivered into Australian Army service through a formal acquisition program, a journey that took close to a decade. Ross explains the difference between running a rapid innovation program and navigating a full defence acquisition cycle, why both matter, and what makes SYPAQ's engineering culture different: nearly a quarter of the workforce are veterans, the team draws from automotive, medical, aerospace, and software backgrounds, and the engineering environment is built around multidisciplinary collaboration.

    Ross shares his thinking on sovereign manufacturing, why the small premium to produce in Australia is worth it, how SYPAQ is now turning its decade of drone-building experience toward counter-drone technology, and why the 5,000 square metre Melbourne facility that felt large five years ago is already bursting at the seams.

    🔗 GUEST LINKS

    • Ross Osborne LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-osborne-sypaq/
    • SYPAQ Systems: https://www.sypaq.com.au

    Host Links:

    • Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis
    • BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos
    • BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

    Recorded and produced at ⁠The Podcast Boss⁠ ⁠podcast studio in Brisbane

    thepodcastboss.com
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    43 分
  • Battle-Tested: Breaking Into U.S. Defence Contracting - Judd McCann in The Briefing Room, Episode 21

    Battle-Tested: Breaking Into U.S. Defence Contracting - Judd McCann in The Briefing Room, Episode 21
    2026/05/06
    Judd McCann, supply chain and defence tech specialist, joins The Briefing Room to share what it really takes to break into U.S. and UK defence markets as an Australian founder. Judd's career spans British MOD contracts in conflict zones, autonomous maritime platform development, and hands-on U.S. federal contracting, including 72-hour bid windows for U.S. Navy programs. He explains why your network is worth more than your product, how SBA programs and joint ventures compress timelines, and why the UK is often the smarter first move before tackling the U.S. Topics include SOFWERX, Cyber CISA, Defense Innovation Unit, Vulcan, Austrade pathways, Sam.gov, Society of American Military Engineers, and why reliability matters more than ego in federal procurement. Find out more: https://beatenzone.vc

    Judd McCann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juddmccann/:

    Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis

    BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos

    BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

    Recorded and produced at The Podcast Boss podcast studio in Brisbane
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    45 分
  • From GE Acquisition to Defence Investing - Robin Levison in The Briefing Room, Episode 20

    From GE Acquisition to Defence Investing - Robin Levison in The Briefing Room, Episode 20
    2026/04/29
    Robin Levison, investor, former ASX-listed CEO, and one of Beaten Zone's earliest Limited Partners, joins The Briefing Room for a candid conversation on high-risk investing, sovereign capability, and why he sees Australian defence as low-hanging fruit. We trace Robin's career from KPMG auditor to Merrill Lynch investment banker to CEO of an ASX-listed technology company, culminating in a $700 million acquisition by General Electric. Robin explains why he stopped doing his own angel investing, how he came to trust the BZV team's research process, and why special purpose vehicles like HEO's Series A offer investors a way to back sovereign capability on their own terms. Topics include financial discipline in startups, fractional executives, university commercialisation, the future of Australian defence investment, and why the large super funds are about to start paying attention. Guest Links :
    • Robin Levison LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-levison-7b9b3b10/
    • Ignition Equity Partners: https://www.ignitionpartners.net/
    Host Links (for YouTube description / pinned comment):
    • Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis
    • BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos
    • BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

    Recorded and Produced at The Podcast Boss podcast studio in Brisbane
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    36 分
  • From SAS to ASX: Wayne Jones on Building the World’s Leading Tactical VR Training Platform | The Briefing Room EP19

    From SAS to ASX: Wayne Jones on Building the World’s Leading Tactical VR Training Platform | The Briefing Room EP19
    2026/04/15
    In this episode of The Briefing Room, Peta Ellis sits down with Wayne Jones, CEO and Co-Founder of xReality Group (ASX: XRG) and its subsidiary Operator XR. Wayne served 21 years in the Australian Defence Force, spending the last 15 in the Special Air Service Regiment with deployments across Rwanda, East Timor, and Afghanistan. After leaving the ADF, he co-founded Indoor Skydive Australia (iFly), which listed on the ASX in 2013 as the highest-performing IPO of the year. When a legal battle halted iFly’s expansion, Wayne made a bold pivot into virtual reality, ultimately building Operator XR, now one of the world’s leading tactical training platforms for military and law enforcement. In this conversation, Wayne and Peta cover:
    • What 21 years in the SASR teaches you about leadership, resilience, and taking action under uncertainty
    • How two SAS soldiers founded iFly and built the highest-performing ASX IPO of 2013
    • The legal battle that stopped iFly’s expansion and forced a pivot to virtual reality
    • How Operator XR now serves around 95 US law enforcement agencies with immersive, data-driven tactical training
    • Why counter-drone training in VR is now one of the fastest-growing use cases for the platform
    • Keeping the engineering culture alive in Australia while scaling the business in the US
    GUEST LINKS
    • Wayne Jones LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-jones-637aba58/
    • xReality Group: https://xrgroup.com.au
    Host Links:
    • Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis/
    • BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

    Produced at our ⁠The Podcast Boss⁠ ⁠podcast studio in Brisbane
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    53 分
  • From Lab to Battlefield: How Silentium Defence Built the World's Leading Passive Radar Company | The Briefing Room EP18

    From Lab to Battlefield: How Silentium Defence Built the World's Leading Passive Radar Company | The Briefing Room EP18
    2026/04/09
    In this episode of The Briefing Room, Peta Ellis sits down with James Palmer, CEO and Co-Founder of Silentium Defence, the Adelaide-based company redefining what it means to see without being seen. James shares the full story: from meeting his co-founder at the Defence Science and Technology Group in 2006, to a decade of experimental research, to the decision in 2017 to leave the public service and build a company from scratch. What followed is one of Australia's most compelling deep tech origin stories, navigating IP and conflict-of-interest requirements, running through the CSIRO ON Accelerate program, securing early grants and commercial contracts, and ultimately building a globally recognised passive radar business with over 100 employees across Australia and the US. In this conversation, James and Peta cover:
    • How passive radar works, and why not emitting a signal is the ultimate tactical advantage
    • The MAVERICK family of systems, from soldier-portable units to the OmniGuard space domain awareness platform
    • The decision to enter the US market and post a co-founder to Virginia
    • How Silentium maintains a unified culture as it scales globally
    • What the next two years look like as the company focuses on manufacturing scale and global market expansion
    GUEST LINKS
    • James Palmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-palmer-sd/
    • Silentium Defence: https://www.silentiumdefence.com.au
    Host Links:
    • Peta Ellis (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/petaellis
    • BZV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BeatenZoneVenturePartners/videos
    • BZV Website: https://beatenzone.vc

    Produced at our ⁠The Podcast Boss⁠ ⁠podcast studio in Brisbane
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    41 分