Question
I need some advice on selling IT services to the Gov't, Military.
It looks like it takes 12-24 months to get revenue from the government. Is there a shorter path? JV, subcontract, sole source, SBIR?
Target customer is anyone who needs a better data collection and display in dynamic environment: military, CIA, FBI, state and local law enforcement.
We have a verified product idea: better integration of military command centers, soldiers in the field, and aerial assets using cloud infrastructure, machine learning, and augmented reality. Verified by active duty military.
We have a good network and can contract senior officers and defense contracting executives.
We have a solid team.
Me: US Air Force Academy. US Navy rescue helicopter pilot. Booth MBA. Several startups and Amazon.
Cofounder 2: US Navy Academy. Navy SEAL. Harvard MBA. Startups and Fortune 500 product mgtm.
Cofounder 3: CTO. Microsoft (Bing, maps). Amazon (AWS and Amazon Now global Logistics). Salesforce. Great manager of devs.
Answer
Having worked in government contracting for most of my career, I can understand the appeal (and difficulty) of selling B2G. One of the fastest paths is through competitive solicitations that are posted on sites like FedBizOps (https://www.fbo.gov/). The registration and submission process can seem tedious so give yourself plenty of time to complete those steps. Also, follow the submission guidelines EXACTLY. They will disqualify proposals for technicalities.
But if you're willing to put up with the red tape, this is one of the fastest ways to sell into our government.