8 ms·

For anyone who has experience in selling to Govs (successfully or not), I'd love to hear about it.

by joshmn 11y ago

RonnieB 11y ago
Our 7 startups here at the Govtech Fund (@GovtechFund) have an average sales cycle of 86 days to 12K gov't agencies this past year.
- josemando 11y ago
  Ron, do you invest in companies outside U.S.? I founded a govtech company in Brazil, we have over 100 gov clients and we would love to talk to you!
  - RonnieB 11y ago
    I wish we could! Unfortunately Govtech Fund I is focused exclusively on US-based startups. This is purely a function of scale today -- as a $23M Seed/Series A fund, we just can't spread ourselves too thinly. But there WILL be a Govtech Fund II, III, IV, etc. down the road and I'd love for Brazil will be top of the list! In any case, if you find yourself in the Bay Area, please drop us a line -- happy to grab coffee. In the interim, if we can ever be helpful, don't hesitate to ping! @GovtechFund on Twitter always a good way to reach us.
    - josemando 11y ago
      Great! Thanks for the response :) We go to NY and Bay Area every 4-5 months to stay in touch with investors and potential partners. I just ping you guys at Twitter so we meet for coffee next time. Cheers ;)
      - RonnieB 11y ago
        Great!
godzillabrennus 11y ago
Sure, email me hn at strapr dot com if you want to chat.
USNetizen 11y ago
About 70% of our revenue comes from the federal government, including cleared work. We specialize in this space and have customers across a half-dozen or more agencies. The sales cycles can still be pretty long, but mostly for IDIQ's with $30M+ ceilings. We've received small $500k contracts that took over 9 months to award and, on the other hand, $3M+ contracts that took just a month. A lot depends on the department/agency, and even organizations within the department/agency. It varies so widely but the key is getting to know your customer and anticipating the cycle. Relationships are absolutely crucial to getting government sales - the boilerplate they put out as RFP's hardly ever tell the full story of what the customer needs. Also, leverage your set-asides and find reputable partners to team with. Can't stress this enough - it's the only way to compete against the behemoths in the market who have far more name recognition amongst contracting officers (who can be extremely risk averse). If the government isn't your target market, you can start winning work as a subcontractor and working your way up the ladder, getting to know your program manager customers who make the purchase decisions. Two books I recommend as well - http://www.apress.com/9781430244974 http://www.apress.com/9781430244974 and http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Billion-Entrepreneurs-Government-Contracting/dp/1940013046 http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Billion-Entrepreneurs-Government-...
- hudibras 11y ago
  >Also, leverage your set-asides and find reputable partners to team with. This is something that I've always wondered about. Contracting officers and large contractors are desperate to team up with start-ups (otherwise known outside Silicon Valley as "small businesses") so why don't more start-ups use government contracts as a no-strings-attached method of raising cash or bootstrapping? Maybe it just doesn't sound cool or sexy to say that you're basically working for Uncle Sugar...
  - USNetizen 11y ago
    I think too few of them realize how powerful (yet easy) SBIR and CRADA programs are - free funding to develop a product, courtesy of DoD, HHS, etc. Up to $750k per year. I know entire $50M+ companies that specialize in SBIR R&D alone even, then license their product patents. Heck, Oracle started out as a DBMS for the CIA. Almost all of the founding semiconductor companies of Silicon Valley were funded in large part by defense work (missile guidance). People forget this, but I think the realization of its potential coming back around. (https://www.sbir.gov/about/about-sbir https://www.sbir.gov/about/about-sbir) What's cooler than developing products used instantly by up to millions of customers all at once? Once you overcome the stereotypes of working with the government, you realize how truly amazing and transformative it can be if you do it right.
dkyc 11y ago
Check out this awesome interview with Marc Ende of SeamlessGov ( http://www.seamlessgov.com http://www.seamlessgov.com ) that was released just last month: http://blog.close.io/how-to-sell-to-governments http://blog.close.io/how-to-sell-to-governments Specifically about B2G sales.
- RonnieB 11y ago
  +1 to that. Marc and the entire team at SeamlessDocs are killing it. We're so proud to be investors there -- amazing company with tremendous impact. What more can we ask for?
- raminassemi 11y ago
  Thanks for sharing!

For anyone who has experience in selling to Govs (successfully or not), I'd love to hear about it.

by joshmn 11y ago

For anyone who has experience in selling to Govs (successfully or not), I'd love to hear about it.

Our 7 startups here at the Govtech Fund (@GovtechFund) have an average sales cycle of 86 days to 12K gov't agencies this past year.

josemando 11y ago
Ron, do you invest in companies outside U.S.? I founded a govtech company in Brazil, we have over 100 gov clients and we would love to talk to you!
- RonnieB 11y ago
  I wish we could! Unfortunately Govtech Fund I is focused exclusively on US-based startups. This is purely a function of scale today -- as a $23M Seed/Series A fund, we just can't spread ourselves too thinly. But there WILL be a Govtech Fund II, III, IV, etc. down the road and I'd love for Brazil will be top of the list! In any case, if you find yourself in the Bay Area, please drop us a line -- happy to grab coffee. In the interim, if we can ever be helpful, don't hesitate to ping! @GovtechFund on Twitter always a good way to reach us.
  - josemando 11y ago
    Great! Thanks for the response :) We go to NY and Bay Area every 4-5 months to stay in touch with investors and potential partners. I just ping you guys at Twitter so we meet for coffee next time. Cheers ;)
    - RonnieB 11y ago
      Great!

godzillabrennus 11y ago

Sure, email me hn at strapr dot com if you want to chat.

USNetizen 11y ago

About 70% of our revenue comes from the federal government, including cleared work. We specialize in this space and have customers across a half-dozen or more agencies. The sales cycles can still be pretty long, but mostly for IDIQ's with $30M+ ceilings. We've received small $500k contracts that took over 9 months to award and, on the other hand, $3M+ contracts that took just a month. A lot depends on the department/agency, and even organizations within the department/agency. It varies so widely but the key is getting to know your customer and anticipating the cycle. Relationships are absolutely crucial to getting government sales - the boilerplate they put out as RFP's hardly ever tell the full story of what the customer needs. Also, leverage your set-asides and find reputable partners to team with. Can't stress this enough - it's the only way to compete against the behemoths in the market who have far more name recognition amongst contracting officers (who can be extremely risk averse). If the government isn't your target market, you can start winning work as a subcontractor and working your way up the ladder, getting to know your program manager customers who make the purchase decisions. Two books I recommend as well - http://www.apress.com/9781430244974 http://www.apress.com/9781430244974 and http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Billion-Entrepreneurs-Government-Contracting/dp/1940013046 http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Billion-Entrepreneurs-Government-...

hudibras 11y ago
>Also, leverage your set-asides and find reputable partners to team with. This is something that I've always wondered about. Contracting officers and large contractors are desperate to team up with start-ups (otherwise known outside Silicon Valley as "small businesses") so why don't more start-ups use government contracts as a no-strings-attached method of raising cash or bootstrapping? Maybe it just doesn't sound cool or sexy to say that you're basically working for Uncle Sugar...
- USNetizen 11y ago
  I think too few of them realize how powerful (yet easy) SBIR and CRADA programs are - free funding to develop a product, courtesy of DoD, HHS, etc. Up to $750k per year. I know entire $50M+ companies that specialize in SBIR R&D alone even, then license their product patents. Heck, Oracle started out as a DBMS for the CIA. Almost all of the founding semiconductor companies of Silicon Valley were funded in large part by defense work (missile guidance). People forget this, but I think the realization of its potential coming back around. (https://www.sbir.gov/about/about-sbir https://www.sbir.gov/about/about-sbir) What's cooler than developing products used instantly by up to millions of customers all at once? Once you overcome the stereotypes of working with the government, you realize how truly amazing and transformative it can be if you do it right.

dkyc 11y ago

Check out this awesome interview with Marc Ende of SeamlessGov ( http://www.seamlessgov.com http://www.seamlessgov.com ) that was released just last month: http://blog.close.io/how-to-sell-to-governments http://blog.close.io/how-to-sell-to-governments Specifically about B2G sales.

RonnieB 11y ago
+1 to that. Marc and the entire team at SeamlessDocs are killing it. We're so proud to be investors there -- amazing company with tremendous impact. What more can we ask for?
raminassemi 11y ago
Thanks for sharing!