Christian Garrett is a partner at 137 Ventures and co-founder of the Hill & Valley Forum who connects Silicon Valley tech with Washington policy conversations, positioning himself as both a community-builder and investor rather than a purely behind-the-scenes capital allocator. He has built a reputation for early conviction-driven investments in complex companies like Palantir and explicitly connects early-stage company building with national strategy, blending bottoms-up operator insights with top-down geopolitical and industrial policy analysis around AI, defense, and American competitiveness.

• Focused on identifying second order effects when evaluating world changing technologies. Rather than chasing the most obvious initial enablers that get quickly hyped up by the market, there is a distinct strategy of looking deeper for the less obvious downstream investments that offer better long term value.
• A strong preference for rigorous financial literacy and a firm grasp of business fundamentals. Expressed frustration with market commentators who lack basic math skills or have never seen audited financials, noting that true understanding requires knowing management and private market pricing history, much like the dynamic observed with private market speculation surrounding SpaceX.
• Interested in aerospace, defense technology, and the industrial base, often viewing modern companies through a historical lens. Specifically highlighted the historical significance of the 1940 National Defense Advisory Commission alongside modern references to SpaceX and prominent defense tech leaders, indicating a deep appreciation for founders building in national interest categories.
• Attentive to practical enterprise software, developer security, and artificial intelligence integration. Pointed out the value of specific tools pushing these sectors forward, such as Figma integrating artificial intelligence to improve design workflows, Perplexity challenging the search landscape, and Chainguard securing software supply chains.