Saying the 2025 version of the DoW PEO Listing. On-line right here.
Consider this PEO Listing as a “Who buys within the authorities?” cellphone e book.
Discovering a buyer to your product within the Division of Conflict is tough: Who do you have to speak to? How do you get their consideration? What’s the proper Go-To-Market Technique? What’s a PEO and why ought to I care?
Ever since I co-founded Hacking for Protection, my college students would ask, “Who ought to we name within the DoW to allow them to know what downside we solved? How can we present them the answer we constructed?” In the previous couple of years that query saved coming, from new protection startups and their traders.
On the similar time, I’d get questions from the brand new wave of Protection Traders asking, “What’s the most effective “Go-To-Market (GTM)” technique for our startups?
PEOs, PMs, PIAs, PoRs, Consortia, SBIRs, OTAs, CSOs, FAR, CUI, SAM, CRADAs, Primes, Mid-tier Integrators, Tribal/ANC Corporations, Direct-to-Operator, Direct-to-Discipline Models, Labs, DD-254… For a startup it’s a wholly new language, new buzzwords, new companions, new guidelines and it requires a brand new “Go-To-Market (GTM)” technique.
The way to Work With the DoW
Under are simplified diagrams of two of the various paths for the way a startup can get funding and income from the Division of Conflict. The primary instance, the Affected person Capital Path, illustrates a startup with no working product. They journey the normal new firm journey by way of the DoW processes.
The second instance, the Impatient Capital Path, illustrates a startup with an MVP and/or working product. They ignore the normal journey by way of the DoW course of and go on to the warfighter within the subject. With the rise of Protection Enterprise Capital, this “swing-for-the fences” full-speed forward strategy is a Lean Startup strategy to turn into a subsequent era Prime.
(Word that in 2025 promoting to the DoW is more likely to change – for the higher.)
Promoting to the DoW takes time, however a well-executed protection technique can result in billion-dollar contracts, sustained income, and technological influence at a nationwide scale. Present protection contractors know who these DoW organizations are and have groups of individuals monitoring budgets and contracts. They know the trail to getting an order from the Division of Conflict. However startups?
Why Write the PEO Listing?
Most startups don’t have a clue the place to start out. And promoting to the Division of Conflict is not like any enterprise or B-to-B gross sales course of founders and their traders could also be accustomed to. In comparison with the industrial world, the language is completely different, the organizations are completely different, the tradition of danger taking (in acquisition) is completely different, and most significantly the go-to-market technique is totally completely different.
Amazingly, till final yr’s first version of the PEO listing there wasn’t a DoW-wide cellphone e book accessible to startups to determine who to name within the Conflict Division. This ignorance made sense in a world the place the DoW and its suppliers have been a carefully knit group who knew one another and know-how innovation was taking place at a sedate decades-long tempo. (And assumed our adversaries didn’t have entry to our DoW net pages, LinkedIn and ChatGPT.)
That’s now not true. Given the speedy tempo of innovation outdoors the DoW, and new distributors in UAS, counter UAS, autonomy, AI, quantum, biotech, et al, this lack of transparency is now an impediment to a whole-of-nation strategy to delivering innovation to the warfighter.
(This ignorance even extends internally to the DoW. I’ve began receiving requests from employees at a number of Combatant Instructions for entry to the PEO Listing. Why? As a result of “…it could be highly effective to incorporate a database of PEOs to hyperlink to our database of Necessities, Gaps, and Tracked Applied sciences to particular PEOs to name.”)
It is a traditional case of data asymmetry, and it’s not wholesome for both the more and more pressing wants of the Division of Conflict or the nascent startup protection ecosystem.
Our adversaries have had a whole-of-nation strategy to delivering innovation to the warfighter in place for many years. That is our contribution to assist the DoW compete.
2025 PEO Listing Version Notes
The primary version of this doc began solely as a PEO listing. Its emphasis was (and is) the worth of a startup speaking to PEOs early is to get indicators on what warfighter issues to resolve and whether or not the DoW will purchase their product now or sooner or later. These early conversations reply the questions of “Is there a necessity?” and “Is there a market?”
This 2025 version of the PEO Listing makes an attempt to seize the most important adjustments which might be occurring within the DoW – in organizations, in processes and in folks. (For instance, the PEO places of work of the three largest new protection acquisition packages — Golden Dome, Sentinel and Columbia – will report on to the Deputy Secretary of Conflict, fairly than to their respective Providers. And the SecWar killed the cumbersome JCIDIS necessities course of.)
What this implies is that in 2025 the DoW will develop a brand new necessities and acquisition course of that may determine probably the most pressing operational issues going through the U.S. navy, work with business earlier within the course of, then quickly flip these into fielded options. (That additionally means the Go-to-market description, folks and organizations on this doc might be old-fashioned, and why we plan to replace it commonly.)
What’s New?
This 2025 version now consists of as an introduction, a 30-page tutorial for startups on how the DoW buys and the varied acquisition and funding processes and packages that exist for startups. It offers particulars on tips on how to promote to the DoW and the place the Program Govt Workplaces (PEOs) match into that course of.
The Listing now additionally consists of details about the elements of the federal government and the rules that affect how the DoW buys – the White Home Workplace of Administration and Price range (OMB), and the Federal Acquisition Rules (FAR). It added new places of work similar to Golden Dome Direct Reporting Program, DIU, AFRL, DARPA, MDA, CDAO, OSC, IQT, Military Transformation and Coaching Command, SOCOM, and others.
To assist startups perceive the DoW, for every service we added hyperlinks to the group, construction, and language, in addition to a listing of every Service’s Common Officers/Flag Officers.
Appendix B has a linked spreadsheet with the names on this doc.
Appendix C has a listing of Enterprise Capital corporations, Company Traders, Non-public Fairness corporations and Authorities businesses who spend money on Protection. As well as, the Appendix consists of particulars in regards to the varied DoW SBIR packages, a listing of OTA Consortia, Partnership Middleman Settlement (PIA) Organizations, and Tribal/Alaska Native Company (ANC) Firms.
Appendix D now lists and hyperlinks to the navy and state FFRDC check facilities the place startups can conduct demos and check gear.
Appendix E added a listing and hyperlinks of Protection Publications and Protection Commerce Exhibits.
Appendix F has a listing of all Military system contractors.
A couple of reminders:
- That is not an official publication of the U.S. authorities
- Don’t depend upon this doc for accuracy, completeness or enterprise recommendation.
- All information is from DoW web sites and publicly accessible data.
Due to this yr’s companions serving to to take care of and host the Listing: Stanford Gordian Knot Middle for Nationwide Safety Innovation, America’s Frontier Fund and BMNT.
This version of the PEO Listing is on-line so it may be up to date as the newest adjustments turn into accessible.
Ship updates and corrections to [email protected]
You may entry and obtain the complete doc right here.
Filed underneath: Company/Gov’t Innovation, Gordian Knot Middle for Nationwide Safety Innovation, Hacking For Protection, Nationwide Safety, Know-how Innovation and Nice Energy Competitors, Enterprise Capital |
