OUR MISSION
The Only National Learning Engine for Mission-Driven Innovation
The Common Mission Project is building what America never had but urgently needs: a national learning engine to preserve and protect our greatest asset - American innovation and entrepreneurship. We forge, fund and connect emerging leaders—moving ideas from insight to impact faster than traditional systems can, and turning mission-driven innovation into measurable national advantage.
THE origin & LEGACY THAT BUILT CMP
CMP stands on the shoulders of giants who reshaped how America defends itself.
A New Model for National Security Innovation
The future of national security innovation was seeded decades ago—in war rooms and classrooms by visionary leaders. CMP exists to carry that legacy forward: building a lasting, nationwide engine that transforms national interest into scalable action. We’ve turned that vision into a national learning engine—one that moves with urgency, purpose, and real-world impact.
In 2016, Steve Blank and Pete Newell launched Hacking for Defense (H4D)—a groundbreaking initiative designed to bridge the gap between government, academia, and the private sector. Inspired by Lean Startup principles, H4D put real-world national security challenges into the hands of the people best equipped to solve them: entrepreneurs, engineers, and problem-solvers inside America’s top universities.
This wasn’t just an experiment—it was a direct response to a failing system. Innovation in national security had become too slow, too bureaucratic, and too disconnected from those on the front lines. H4D was the antidote: a method that allowed student teams to move 10x faster than traditional R&D pipelines, discovering solutions that defense leaders didn’t even know they needed.
The results were undeniable. H4D proved that students, when given the right framework, could develop deployable solutions for military and intelligence partners in just weeks. This wasn’t theoretical—it was practical, urgent, and real.
But the mission couldn’t stop at H4D.
CMP was founded to expand and scale that impact. We took a proven classroom methodology and built the ecosystem around it: funding to move ideas beyond the prototype stage, training to multiply delivery, and convening power to embed innovation into the broader defense enterprise. What began as a classroom experiment is now a national movement to address America’s most strategic challenges.
We also stand on the shoulders of Vannevar Bush and Fred Terman, who catalyzed academia-government collaboration during WWII. Bush and Terman understood that the only way to outpace adversaries was to break traditional models, empower problem-solvers, and fuel bold ideas. CMP carries that mission forward—modernizing their approach for today’s defense landscape, and ensuring America stays ahead by building faster, smarter, and together.
Legacy-Driven, Future-Built
CMP's work directly aligns with national priorities to restore America's scientific and technological leadership. Like the efforts laid out in the White House’s call for renewed innovation infrastructure, CMP builds institutional capacity and accelerates solution delivery by operationalizing collaboration across government, academia, and industry. We are modernizing the national security R&D model to meet today’s urgency with execution and scale. CMP brings that legacy into the 21st century by turning classrooms into launchpads, universities into innovation labs, and national interest innovation into a national standard.
We don’t just run programs—we build systems. CMP equips universities to serve as repeatable, scalable engines of national progress.
We reach students and young founders at their most formative moment. Six months before or after graduation is when identity, purpose, and career trajectory are shaped.
We shift culture from passive learning to active building. CMP embeds entrepreneurial thinking, civic duty, and national service into every course and cohort.