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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