Ellen Chang is a deep-tech investor focused on the maritime and space domains.
She is Managing Director at CapZone Impact Investments, and Co-Founder and Co-President of Wharton Aerospace.
She served the U.S. Navy as an Intelligence Officer, later working on JP Morgan’s aerospace team and founding a B2B aviation parts sourcing startup.
She spent 12 years at Northrop Grumman, holding leadership roles across systems engineering, program management, and advanced systems, with work spanning autonomous air and space platforms.
This episode covers:
- Deep tech investor insights.
- Drone adoption and reducing cognitive load.
- Why manufacturing scale, not just innovation, wins wars.
00:00 - Intro
01:07 - Taiwan’s defense strategy: Standing on their own vs. US support
03:07 - Geopolitics and the "Chip Deal": China’s path to self-reliance
04:42 - The ITAR debate: Should the US "drown the world" in American tech?
05:23 - Why the US struggles with "trinkets," motors, and batteries
06:39 - Economic Statecraft: Lessons from the Great Depression & WWII
08:01 - Revitalizing the Maritime Sector: US vs. China’s $90B investment
09:48 - Partnering with allies to accelerate manufacturing speed
12:00 - Is American innovation too arrogant? Lessons from South Korea
13:08 - The "Hard Tech" Founder Profile: MIT, Stanford, Palantir, and SpaceX
14:59 - Ellen’s investment philosophy: De-risking the "Go-to-Market"
16:23 - Advice for young people entering the "Defense Tech Rage"
17:59 - The Wharton Effect: Why MBAs and Vets are moving into defense
19:36 - Defense Tech as an emerging asset class
21:01 - AI Infrastructure: Data center risks and 2-year backlogs
23:11 - The Future of Autonomy: Adoption challenges in the "System of Systems"
25:01 - Lowering the "Cognitive Load": Designing tech for the 18-year-old warfighter
26:49 - Moving the Bureaucracy: Using safety arguments to improve UI/UX
28:04 - Closing Remarks
About Drone Wars
Firestorm Studios brings you The Drone Wars Podcast, a show that explores all facets of autonomous systems - ground, air, and sea - and their transformative impact on various aspects of human life, from agriculture to warfare. We feature interviews with CEOs, founders, and C-suite executives from the world's leading autonomy and robotics companies.
