Full Interview: Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf on $1B+ Revenue & Still Doubling

Schimpf reveals Anduril is 8 years old with ~7,000 employees and has consistently doubled revenue every year, even past $1B. He discusses their product expansion strategy across land, air, sea, electronic warfare, and cyber, emphasizing they only pursue opportunities with 3-5 year adoption timelines and technical edges they can execute on.

• •Company has doubled revenue annually, continuing even after crossing $1B threshold
• •Grown to 7,000 employees with dozens of fielded products across multiple domains
• •Product selection criteria: 3-5 year adoption timeline, technical edge, government readiness to buy
• •Natural progression from small drones to autonomous fighter jets and cruise missiles
• •Every product must align with future autonomous, disconnected battlefield vision

Schimpf explains Anduril's unique manufacturing approach designed for high product variety at relatively low volumes, unlike consumer tech companies. They've built a reusable toolkit of sensors, compute, networking, and the Lattice software platform that enables rapid deployment of new capabilities without reinventing components for each product.

• •Defense requires high-mix, low-volume production unlike Tesla/Apple's high-rate manufacturing
• •Built reusable software platform (Lattice) and hardware components (sensors, compute, networking) as toolkit
• •Strategy enables rapid fielding of new products without starting from scratch each time
• •Focus on flexibility and speed over optimizing for single product at scale
• •Products designed to be fraction of cost of alternatives using COTS components

Schimpf breaks down the nearly $1 trillion defense budget, revealing that over half goes to personnel, facilities, and military construction, with significant additional costs for sustaining legacy systems. Procurement budget as percentage of GDP is at historic lows. He argues for 2x efficiency gains through different capability mix while acknowledging transition costs.

• •More than 50% of defense budget goes to personnel costs, facilities, and military construction—not new tech
• •Sustainment of legacy aircraft and ships costs significantly more than procurement budget
• •Procurement budget as percentage of GDP is lowest it's ever been historically
• •Could achieve ~2x efficiency on weapons/aircraft through different capability mix
• •Transition period will cost more as old systems phase out and new ones ramp up

Discussion of the fundamental shift in defense strategy from decades-long technological superiority to rapid production capability and software innovation. Schimpf explains how the ability to produce at scale affordably and adapt quickly through software is becoming the determinative characteristic, as evidenced in Ukraine.

• •Historical strategy of decades-long tech edge shifting to production speed and scale
• •Ability to innovate fast on software and rapidly adapt capabilities now determinative
• •Ukraine conflict demonstrates importance of affordable, producible systems
• •Focus on industry performance, speed-based incentives, not just most expensive capabilities
• •Mix will include legacy systems but balance shifting toward new autonomous capabilities

Schimpf details the geopolitically unstable world (land war in Europe, Red Sea conflicts, South China Sea aggression) driving nations to increase defense spending. Australia's GhostShark autonomous underwater vehicle program exemplifies their international model: 50/50 development split, local engineering and production, delivered first production unit 30 days after contract signing.

• •Current period marked by multiple active conflicts: Europe, Red Sea, Israel-Iran, South China Sea, India-Pakistan
• •Australia faced decade-long gap between French submarine cancellation and 2035 US nuclear sub delivery
• •GhostShark program: 50/50 development cost split, Australian engineering team and production facility
• •First production unit delivered 30 days after signing production contract
• •Europe to spend 4x US procurement budget over next 5 years—massive opportunity for new capabilities

Schimpf argues US manufacturing capacity is solvable by designing weapons for existing industrial base (automotive, general manufacturing) rather than treating defense as isolated 'Galapagos island.' Critical bottlenecks are national policy issues: rare earths, magnets, semiconductors requiring commercially viable solutions, not defense-specific factories.

• •US has substantial manufacturing capacity in automotive and industrial production
• •Defense industry wrongly evolved as isolated 'Galapagos island' separate from commercial learnings
• •WWII approach: designed weapons that could be produced with existing capacity, not Swiss watches
• •Sufficient capacity exists for composites, PCBs, CNC—but rare earths, magnets, semiconductors are national policy problems
• •China created supply chain dependence through state power, hampering US ability to act independently

Schimpf shares the most important lesson from Palantir: genuine focus on talent means empowering brilliant, opinionated, aggressive people who challenge you. He contrasts this with companies that optimize for system stability, crushing creative talent. Anduril's constant invention of new products and navigation of geopolitical complexity requires this creative approach.

• •Real talent focus means accepting opinionated, aggressive people who tell you you're wrong—feels chaotic but works
• •Middle management at scale often optimizes existing systems, crushing creative talent needed for adaptation
• •Anduril constantly invents new products and navigates complex geopolitical questions requiring creativity
• •Brilliant people need space and empowerment to have right ideas and execute
• •Most companies get this wrong by prioritizing stability over creative problem-solving

Schimpf addresses the $30.5B valuation, fake SPVs trading Anduril stock, and IPO rumors. He positions Anduril as one of few high-growth private companies in a massive market with proven track record, creating intense demand. His view: if the world needs more of what Anduril does (likely), they're undervalued; if reverting to old defense paradigm (unlikely), they're overvalued.

• •Fake SPVs trading Anduril stock that doesn't exist due to intense demand for private growth companies
• •One of handful of high-growth private companies in massive market with strong track record
• •Unlimited capital availability enables growth at needed pace—'good problem to have'
• •Valuation depends on belief world needs more autonomous defense capabilities vs. reverting to old paradigm
• •Schimpf's conviction: world needs more, making Anduril undervalued at current $30.5B