Front Door Defense

ICYMI - A new Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Autonomy solicitation posted this morning! Nearly every day, I field the question - "How do I get involved with DIU?" The answer - Submitting your 15 page deck or 5 page white paper with a compelling solution to an applicable Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) is the best way to get involved. Check out the Autonomous Collaborative Teaming Area of Interest (AOI) Statement here - https://lnkd.in/gHm_5wAf Responses due by 2359 EDT on 19 July 2024 If you have questions - submit them via the "Contact Us" button at the bottom of the solicitation page. While you're at it also take a look at the Opportunistic, Resilient & Innovative Expeditionary Network Topology AOI - https://lnkd.in/gn5kwjGK More on best practices for DIU Solution briefs can be found here - https://lnkd.in/gXTCrGm7

Vannevar Labs is aiming for $1 billion in revenue by 2030. 💰 They are one of the fastest-to-profitability defense tech stratups... ever. 🚀 And their founders, Brett Granberg and Nini Hamrick, are two of the most candid, caring, and driven in the industry. This week's #CrossingTheValley is an absolute masterclass in what separates innovation theater from mission-impact. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts, and read on for some top takeaways 👇 1. Peers are the real support network of a business school… not (necessarily) the professors. Outside of the Hacking for Defense ecosystem, Brett got an icy reception from professors when he spoke about dropping out of Stanford. One went so far as to say, “if you drop out, I’m not going to help you.” 2. You can fundraise with problems and users… you don't (necessarily) need product. The world was different in 2018… but the Vannevar team didn't have a prototype. They had a deep background and extensive network of end users because they chose to solve a problem that they had experienced personally their previous lives. This made it easy for them to pick up the phone and get together with users who understood the problem deeply. 3. The best "first" deal is the first (real) deal you can get. “Whatever you can get, the fastest you can possibly get it, is what you should go after.” But crucially (and this will stand out from the typical deftech startup), they deprioritized SBIR, innovation money, and anything that sounded like innovation money or research funds. If it wasn't real money, it wasn't an important enough problem. 4. "Selling" in defense isn’t about sales… it’s about solving a problem with a customer who lacks existing capability. Many of the areas the team focused on were new to the government; they didn’t have to focus on competitors, and they didn’t have to obsess over a business model - they had to figure out what it would take to make the problem go away, and then deliver. Check out the full case writeup on Frontdoordefense . substack . com for the complete list of lessons and some 🌶 quotes!

How did AeroVironment win the first Replicator announcement? Director of Business Development Kara Kramer joins Crossing the Valley this week to tell her story. She shares some key lessons for defense tech startups: 1. Focus, focus, focus. So many startups begin with a cool product but then have BD folks chasing "bluebirds out of the bush" that take attention. As you start to go and fork your product and going down all of these avenues, make sure you maintain the focus needed to deliver on that core product and original intent. 2. Keep getting feedback from end users and customers, because there's no uniform view on what is needed across the Department of Defense. 3. Work backwards from requirements.  Large companies don't invest unless there's a validated requirement. Most startups create the widget and then try to convince government they need it. If you're going to create new requirements, you need to work that path in parallel... or you're looking at the valley of death for years. Have a listen at ValleyCrossers.com, and check out the full case at https://lnkd.in/e2GQW8Q6