E29 – Inside Look on Selling Tech to the Pentagon The Merge

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Mike and Jake host John Ferry to discuss the ins & outs
and the highs & lows of trying to sell tech to the Pentagon, and the US government—how it really works.



Warning: We had a ton of fun—maybe a bit too much. This episode is full of spicy takes and unvarnished thoughts and opinions based on 15+ years of experience and scar tissue. Hang on for a ride deep down the rabbit hole of govcon and fedtech nerdiness, but we make it out ok at the end—discussing the
next AI vs. AI front.



For those interested in #defense #military #business #technology #nationalsecurity



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Show Notes

(01:10) John Ferry

(08:30) coming out of the shell

(10:52) selected not funded (wtf!)

(11:22) confessions of a SBIR scorer

(14:06) GovCon Merit Badges

(17:57) SBIR “consultants”

(19:50) SBIR mills

(21:56) founder horror story

(26:05) John’s creative process

(29:48) PowerPoint Ranger

(32:43) change the industry vs change yourself

(34:17) the same, but also never easier

(43:38) play the game, roll the dice

(44:50) pump those numbers up! (cost plus)

(46:06) recent fixed-price pushback

(50:42) using AI to write government proposals

(54:57) AI vs AI proposal writing/scoring

(1:00:10) outro