01.27.2026 • Valarian Team
Valarian on ETN: Fighting to Keep Deep Tech British
Valarian CEO Max Buchan made the case for keeping deep tech British on the ETN podcast. Here's why cultural risk aversion is a sovereignty problem — not just a business one.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW —>
Building a deep tech company in Britain means swimming against the current. The path of least resistance runs straight to Silicon Valley -- better funding, bigger markets, more risk appetite.
Max's diagnosis of the UK's tech problem is blunt: a cultural aversion to risk has convinced British institutions they can't build their own technology — so they don't try. "Here in the UK we are super anti-risk, so there's an idea that we can't build our own tech, and need to rely on US companies. This is built up in our culture."
Max joins ETN at the 1:35:45 mark to discus why that dependency isn't just an economic problem, it's a sovereignty one.
To discuss Valarian's sovereign digital infrastructure solutions, contact our team.
