I'll throw my hat in with all the other people who aren't being negative, they are speaking truth. Even if it is equipped to produce a better product, a startu

I'll throw my hat in with all the other people who aren't being negative, they are speaking truth. Even if it is equipped to produce a better product, a startup is unlikely to win any government contracts for a few reasons. First, one of the things that contract selections are based off of are a history of performance. A startup has no history, so they better get some civilian projects under their belt before they start competing for government work. Second, the government is accountable to its people, and the way that government acquisitions proves that it is being good stewards of the people's money is by hiring companies that can "prove" they aren't going to waste it. That means that your company has to meet several ISO XXXX standards, your company must be certified lean, you must be at least level 3 in the capability maturity model (CMM, which again requires a history of performance), you have to have six sigma black belts on hand, and a whole host of other crappy certifications that you have no choice to go out and get. Plus, you have to employ a certain percentage of minority races, women, and handicapped people, or you won't get the contract -- while this sounds like it isn't a big deal, look around the startup space and you'll see that it is made up overwhelmingly of white males. By the time you meet all these requirements (and there are a whole host of nitpicky other things to think about like the contracting process and myriad laws) and still have enough talent on hand to actually make a product, you are no longer a startup. Competing for government contracts is not the way to go for a startup. It is not a system set up to give the little guys a shot. Source: I am a mid-level certified government (military) acquisitions professional (if you want details I am lvl I in program management and science and technology management, and lvl II in test and evaluation-- certified by the "Defense Acquisition University" which isn't a real university and required by DAWIA -- a congressional act that regulates a lot of this stuff). I am 26 and have taken over 400 hours of acquisitions training in addition to my master's degree. And I'm just the one doing the math/stats work when we test new stuff. The program managers have to navigate a minefield of bureaucracy every day, trying to prove to the taxpayer that we aren't wasting their money. Ironically we end up wasting a lot of money trying to prove that we aren't wasting it.