VC 101 for Senior Government Leaders

In this tactical session, Dcode CRO and Dcode Capital General Partner Meg Vorland and Dcode Capital Managing Partner Rebecca Gevalt break down the fundamentals of venture capital - and explain how private-sector financing directly shapes which technologies the federal government can realistically adopt.

For government teams engaging with commercial innovators - whether through formal acquisitions, prototype programs, or partnerships - understanding how VC-backed companies operate is essential to making “commercial-first” work in practice. This session helps demystify how venture-backed incentives influence company decisions, how startups assess federal opportunities, and what government teams can do to engage credibly and avoid common missteps that cause private capital to walk away.

In this video, we cover:

• How Venture Capital Works – What venture funds are, how they raise and deploy capital, and how incentives shape decision-making across the tech ecosystem.

• Startup Growth and Risk Dynamics – How companies mature across funding stages, and why that affects timelines, product readiness, and the ability to work with government.

• What This Means for Government Engagement – How venture-backed priorities like growth, repeatable revenue, and market traction influence whether companies pursue federal opportunities, and how understanding investor incentives early can reduce transition failure.

Viewers will come away with a clearer picture of how venture-backed companies operate—and how government leaders can engage them more effectively to support national missions and modern acquisition objectives.