Defense Tech Sector Research: Building the Case at The Venture Guys

Aditya ran the defense tech sector research at The Venture Guys in 2023, at a point when the sector was beginning to gain momentum but was still considered a risky bet by many in the investment community. The mandate was to assess whether a defense tech startup was worth onboarding onto the platform.

He owned the entire research workstream. The CEO handled investor relations and calls with VCs; Aditya set up those calls and ran all of the underlying research. That meant mapping the Indian Armed Forces procurement cycle in detail: how it had been reformed over the years, what the current efficiency looked like, what types of equipment were being inducted and why, where indigenous components were being used versus imported ones, and what the structural trends were.

He also used primary sources within the ministry to understand the end-to-end procurement process, going beyond publicly available data to get a ground-level read on how the cycle actually operated.

The research surfaced two key dynamics. First, the government was actively moving toward faster procurement and was increasingly trusting new-age indigenous companies. Second, the working capital risk was real but manageable: the faster procurement of certain indigenous components meant a company with the right product profile could survive the cycle without exhausting its capital.

These findings gave the CEO enough confidence to onboard the startup, despite the inherent concentration risk of government being the primary customer.