Discovering a buyer to your product within the Division of Protection is tough: Who do you have to speak to? How do you get their consideration?
Searching for DoD prospects
How have you learnt if they’ve cash to spend in your product?
It virtually all the time begins with a Program Govt Workplace.
The Division of Protection (DoD) now not owns all of the applied sciences, services to discourage or win a battle – e.g. AI, autonomy, drones, biotech, entry to house, cyber, semiconductors, new supplies, and many others.
As we speak, a brand new class of startups try to promote these merchandise to the Protection Division. Amazingly, there is no such thing as a single DoD-wide telephone e-book obtainable to startups of who to name within the Protection Division.
So I wrote one.
Consider the PEO Listing linked beneath as a “Who buys within the authorities?” telephone e-book.
The DoD buys lots of of billions of {dollars} of services per yr, and almost all of those purchases are managed by Program Govt Workplaces. A Program Govt Workplace could also be chargeable for a particular program (e.g., the Joint Strike Fighter) or for a complete portfolio of comparable packages (e.g., the Navy Program Govt Workplace for Digital and Enterprise Companies). PEOs outline necessities and their Contracting Officers purchase issues (dealing with the formal buying, issuing requests for proposals (RFPs), and signing contracts with distributors.) Program Managers (PMs) work with the PEO and handle subsets of the bigger program.
Present protection contractors know who these organizations are and have groups of individuals monitoring budgets and contracts. However startups? Most startups don’t have a clue the place to begin.
It is a traditional case of data asymmetry and it’s not wholesome for the Division of Protection or the nascent startup protection ecosystem.
That’s why I put this PEO Listing collectively.
This primary model of the listing lists 75 Program Govt Workplaces and their Program Govt Officers and Program/Venture Managers.
Every Program Govt Workplace is headed by a Program Govt Officer who’s a excessive rating official – both a member of the army or a excessive rating civilian – chargeable for the associated fee, schedule, and efficiency of a significant system, or portfolio of methods, some value billions of {dollars}.
Under is a abstract of 75 Program Govt Workplaces within the Division of Protection.
You’ll be able to obtain the complete 64-page doc of Program Govt Workplaces and Officers with all 602 names right here.
Caveats
Don’t rely upon this doc for accuracy or completeness.
It’s doubtless incomplete and incorporates errors.
Army officers usually change jobs each few years.
Program Workplaces get closed and new ones opened as wanted.
This implies this doc was outdated the day it was written. Nonetheless it represents a useful place to begin for startups seeking to work with DoD.
How you can Use The PEO Listing As A part of A Go-To-Market Technique
Whereas it’s useful to know what Program Govt Workplaces exist and who staffs them, it’s even higher to know the place the cash is, what it’s being spent on, and whether or not the funds is growing, reducing, or remaining the identical.
The perfect place to begin is by trying by means of an outline of the whole protection funds right here. Then seek for these packages within the linked PEO Listing. You may get an concept whether or not that program has $ Billions, or $ Hundreds of thousands.
Subsequent, check out the funds paperwork launched by the DoD Comptroller –
significantly the P-1 (Procurement) and R-1 (R&D) funds paperwork.
Combining the funds doc with this PEO listing helps you slim down which of the 75 Program Govt Workplaces and 500+ program managers to name on.
With some follow you possibly can translate the topline, account, or Program Aspect (PE) Line adjustments right into a gross sales Go-To-Market technique, or not less than a speculation of who to name on.
Armed with this system description (it’s filled with jargon and 9-12 months outdated) and the Excel obtain right here and the Appendix right here –– you possibly can determine targets for gross sales calls with DoD the place your product has the very best likelihood of becoming in.
The folks and organizations on this checklist change extra steadily than the cash.
Figuring out the folks is useful solely after you perceive their priorities — and cash is the very best proxy for that.
Future Work
Finally we need to give startups not solely who to name on, and who has the cash, however which Program Workplaces are receptive to new entrants. And which have transformed to portfolio administration, which have tried OTA contracts, in addition to highlighting those that are doing one thing novel with metrics or outcomes.
Going ahead this mission will probably be saved up to date by the Stanford Gordian Knot Middle for Nationwide Safety Innovation.
Within the meantime ship updates, corrections and feedback to sblank@stanford.edu
Credit score The place Credit score Is Due
Clearly, the U.S. authorities intends to speak this data. They’ve printed hyperlinks to DoD organizations right here, even itemizing DoD social media accounts. However the checklist is fragmented and irregularly up to date. Consequently, any such listing has not existed in a usable format – till now.
Filed below: Air Power, Gordian Knot Middle for Nationwide Safety Innovation, Hacking For Protection, Nationwide Safety, Navy |
