Moran: Lockheed Martin Ventures measures success by engagement with companies

As a strategic venture fund, Lockheed Martin Ventures uses "level of engagement" within the contractor to assess whether a technology it has invested in is a success, according to the venture arm's general manager.

Speaking at a Washington Technology event this morning, Chris Moran said Lockheed Martin Ventures didn't set the bar that the technology must be incorporated onto a platform because that could take years.

"The main thing is, do we get engagement, do we create a collaboration agreement with the company or are we buying their product from them?" he said. "We're looking at that level of engagement, so Lockheed as a customer user of the tech is our biggest measure."

Moran said he spends about half of his time advocating within Lockheed for technology the venture arm is backing.

"We constantly, constantly promote their technology inside the company,” he said. “My team meets every single month with all the business-area leaders, technology leaders. We talk about the portfolio, we talk about the companies that we've invested in."

Moran said there is also an annual meeting for all of Lockheed Martin Ventures' portfolio companies to meet with Lockheed business-area executives and technology executives.

"We're constantly trying to make sure there's a flow and a dialogue between them," he said.