I have a if I remember right uh
isn't your your spouse speak
in Spanish or yes my my most
recent uh ex she does only
speak Spanish. Okay. So, my
daughter is bilingual leaning
towards Spanish um and so it
gives me a lot of motivation
to master as much as I can
every day. Awesome. Awesome.
Yeah. How many kids do you have
in your family? Yeah, one year
old, three year old, five year
old. Oh yeah. Same exact track
too. Bless your heart. You're
you know, man. You're in the
thick of it. Yes, I I had the
same exact age levels. The nice
thing was at certain time of
the year, it was very easy to
remember their ages. Um right
now, minor at the awkward stage
of twelve, nine, and seven, and
almost three, almost eight. So,
it's a little bit hard to remember
the ages. Yeah. Oh man. Uh no,
especially time for sleep. Be
ultra, ultra patient with each
other. as as parents and
spouses. You guys are in the,
you are in the thick of it. I
can think of no harder stage.
No, it's fun. It's uh they're
only every this age once. So,
it uh we're we're certainly
appreciate it. Actually, what
you know, this is totally off
topic but one of the things we
do is we get rid of our
smartphones and move to these
old dumb phones because we want
to spend more time like focus
on the kids and what they're
doing in the living room, you
know, rather than looking down
and scrolling. So, I I set up
all those things to like stop
myself from you know, wasting
time on my smartphone and I
would always get around those
things like whether it's hiding
an app or setting a screen time
limit, I'd always break my own
rules. So, I just got a dumb
phone and I don't know if I
have anything else. Yeah. That's
a great life hack. Uh what's
that? What's the outcome feel
like? How you doing that for?
Yeah, you know, we've been
doing it for two and a half
months now. So, the first month
was a huge transition. It was
it was like breaking habits
and then uh uh but now, like I
don't miss it at all. You know,
the only thing I noticed is the
other day we were driving
through town. I'm like, wow, I
wonder why all the flags are at
the same time. Uh other than
that, like no impact really.
Well, except that, you know, I
don't. Yeah, I have like four
hours of my day. I feel like
days are longer because I've
gotten so much time back now.
Um you know, that what that I
will not spend it on a phone.
There's a lot of like benefits
you don't really, I never
thought about it. Yeah, I'm I'm
definitely a safer driver than
I used to be. Yeah. That's a
great question. So, what about
startup financing options
through government contracts
with the Department of Defense
and how to get those? Um you
know, we've talked about this a
couple times over the last
several years and uh I guess as
far as startups goes, um you
know, tech startups
specifically, what defines a
tech startup? Yeah, so uh I
mean, it's going to be it can
be all the things like we've
got uh companies in so many
different ways. Uh no
products, hardware, um and
services, no no products at
all. Uh but it's really it's a
it's a new company founded um
you know, by entrepreneurs who
are looking to disrupt uh uh an
industry. Uh they're trying to
bring in innovation to a uh you
know, new new category and
that that I think is how I
define a tech startup is one
that you know is it's a it's a
company that's not trying to
you know sell pizzas and you
know or mow lawns but they're
trying to like uh actually you
know, change an industry or and
and bring something new to
market. Alright, awesome. Um
and is there any uh minimum
minimum funding goal that that
has to be in place for them.
Alright, so, we're going to be
doing some of the most amazing
interviews for Vision Pros live
with Jackson Calame. I'm your
show host. We'll be doing
interviews for visionary
entrepreneurs and guest leaders
who are building fantastic
visions out there.
Hey, welcome in Vision Pros. Uh
I'm your show host, Jackson
Calame, founder and CEO of
First Class Business. I'm
excited to be hosting Sam
and what he does with SBIR and
how he helps with these
government contracts and
getting you funding to work
with the Department of Defense
and just a little bit. We're
going to be talking about a
podcast episode we did years
ago but before we do that, uh
quick mention and shout out to
the sponsors. Coldclick is what
we use, the tool we use for
LinkedIn Automation. Um we
combine that by the way with uh
you link and and octopus. Um
there's and and Coldclick
is what we use as well, making
sure that we're compliant as we
reach out to as many people as
we can so that we're gathering
the relationships that are kind
of ready to go today. Um you
may have heard the stat that uh
at any given time, 5% of the
market is kind of ready to go
with whatever it is that you're
selling. Now, that's different
for luxury real estate. Um you
know, or commercial real estate
as it is for uh a pair of socks
for instance. People tend to be
more likely to buy a pair of
socks than they are for a
higher ticket item but it's
just something that you should
be aware of as you're going out
and approaching people uh
anticipate the word no more
often and realize that what
they're really saying is not
now a lot of the times and
your overreactions or if
you've ever heard the term term
of ghosting, people don't
typically ghost you unless you
do something awful or unethical.
Um so, I would also break the
habit of calling it that and
I would say that's the cycle
um that they're usually waiting
for or need to pass through in
order to move forward. Moving
on to simply fast websites over
here. Um if I was starting a
new brand today, um I need to
start from scratch. Um I was
just impressed with the fact
that Shane has websites
starting at $179 and I would
push them to that limit.
Honestly, I would just say,
hey, I'll do $179 website. Let
me know what I need to fill out
and then I would go full steam
because as a business owner,
you don't really have time to
waste. You need to be
productive and profitable and
tinkering around with a website
that's going to evolve, that's
going to need to change is one
of the last things that you
need to be doing with your
time. Um so, I would consider
him in my lineup uh as you
probably build out on Wix or
Squarespace to get an idea as
well as you perhaps contact
people on Fiverr or Upwork.
He's just another option that I
thought was really cool. It's
like, hey, um if I was starting
out, I'm the person that I
would turn to um and definitely
interview further. Then,
there's the water project. The
water, I always look down because
I'm looking for my water bottle
and I don't have it right here.
It's in the other room though
and that's why I highlight the
water project to talk about it
every single episode because
there's a lot of people in in
life that have to walk miles
and miles just to get to a
source of water that may or may
not be safe for their family.
I'm sure that the levels of
anxiety and stress that they've
had to go through are probably
something incomprehensible to
most of us. Uh in addition to
that, these kids are going to
getting water and missing
school time. The the parents or
the grandparents, you know, it
takes away from their ability
to provide for their families
too. Uh we all have the
opportunity to give back
whether that means sharing this
message with somebody else who
can give back. You never know.
You might share it with one
person who goes ahead and gives
a $1000 which could fund um you
know, one of these projects by
itself in some cases. Uh and
then the distribution looks
like if you give a dollar, if
you give $10000, whatever it is,
you get to see exactly what
they're going to build. You get
to see the process of them
putting their work to do it and
then you get to see the outcome
um of what their their lives
look like after they have their
borehole well as it's often
called or their sand dam and
learning about those
experiences. Um to me, it just
it just adds a little bit of
joy and a little bit of peace
and um I don't know. It's just
an extra perk of of being able
to do something good and and
the business world, I've often
heard this called clean energy.
Um dirty energy, clean energy,
one final concept. Uh something
I learned from Taylor Welch
talked about dirty energy being
like when you listen to hype
music before you you go and you
go on stage or you you go to a
trade show and and speak there
or um you know, I guess soda
and soda is something that gets
you going in the adrenaline in
the moment. It's like you're
not push forward um but it only
lasts for for a few minutes or
a few hours. Then, there's
clean energy which are the
things that help you sustain
the success over a long period.
Think about like the marathon
runners that need to sustain
their energy for a long time or
like we've talked about those
who need to sustain that over
months at a time serving other
people is a great way to build
your energy um you know, per
day drinking, I'm sorry, getting
a walk um and and getting some
sunshine in. Those are all
clean energy activities,
calling a friend and and
expressing gratitude or you
know, just sharing a memory of
how much they mean to you from
the past and walking up to a
stranger and giving them a
dollar and walking away whether
they need it or not, just doing
it. Those are all elements of
clean energy that can boost you
and as a visionary entrepreneur,
you're going to need a lot of
things to boost your energy um
for the the long term. So, with
that said, I'm going to bring
Sam Rain on. Let me pull up
here a little bit about Sam. I
just had an image open. What
did I do with it? Uh
Santiago, please,
Compartir la Imagen con con
Sam. Um so, Sam and I met a
long time ago. I was, I think I
just moved back to San Antonio
and I related to the the
business world in San Antonio
and I learned about this event
for this launch of this
podcast called the Startup Club
in San Antonio. Um so, I go to
the event, I meet Sam and Ricky
and got to know some people at
their their little cool event
and they decided they were
going to put me on their
podcast. Um this is probably
like my third, second or third
podcast interview. So, here we
are, episode thirteen sitting
in San Antonio munching on on
on appetizers at the same time
and they presented it. We don't
have a yeah, we have a geeked
them in San Antonio. It's like
the little startup incubator
and they do startup week San
Antonio. That's right and they
were hosting the podcast during
startup week as well and it was
like the coolest thing ever for
me. It's really it's one of the
things that inspired me to
launch this show and Sam has
been helping people helping
entrepreneurs get government
involved in the business of
events. Uh former military
himself and we'll be bringing
up more about uh his bio while
we talk but Sam's become a good
friend and I moved away and
then I thought he moved away
didn't. So, now, we're going to
be hanging out a lot more in
person but without further ado,
Sam, welcome to Vision Pros
Live, man. Thanks for being
here. Hey, yeah. Thanks for
having me and despite, you know,
I'm still in San Antonio and
it's under 60 degrees and so,
it's a little bit chilly. Yeah,
absolutely and I got my my
heater uh turned way up for all
of you northerners who are like,
what are y'all talking about?
We don't do cold here. So, no,
yeah, it's a it's a crisis.
Yeah. Absolutely. So, Sam, who
who should be listening today?
Um and and tell me more about
what qualifies you for this
process because in an all, you
know, full disclaimer, I've
worked with a company who did
um but I I didn't get to learn
as much about that process I
wanted to and I've never worked
with the Department of Defense.
I'm not military and you know,
it's so these finance options
are quite foreign to me. Um you
know, and so tell us everything
you can about about why you on
this. Yeah, sure. So, as far as
uh you know, who who should be
listening, I think any any
entrepreneur or any small
business owner who is
interested in the Department of
Defense or the government um
and making them a customer uh
this this podcast can be for
you at this discussion. I'm
I'm looking forward to and and
really like the the DOD, you
know, to the outside seems like
a giant black box. It's like uh
oh, well, I don't sell weapons
so I can't sell the DOD and
that's not true. Like, you look
at the Department of Defense or
the government in general and
it is a it is almost a clone of
the commercial market and that
is why you have these
institutions. You have large
medical facilities. You have
schools. You have uh
infrastructure with with uh
neighborhoods that are on base
and you know, office buildings
and everything that you could
sell to a a enterprise customer
on the on that commercial in
this private industry side that
that same market exists on the
government DOD side and they
have really stable long term,
long term customers and so
that's why the government is
really a great customer to be
considering because uh as we
kind of go into some unstable
uh market conditions uh you
know, everyone looking for uh a
long term customer uh that that
could be the government. I
mean, they are uh there's a
large moat but if you get over
that uh that moat and get into
that moat, you know, uh diving
into uh a little bit of a fear
there. Um what if your product
falls short in the eyes of the
government? I mean, do you find
yourself in Guantanamo? Um you
know, and like, oh man, uh his
shoes were late. Um you know,
that that he ordered and now
they're going to arrest me,
throw me in prison forever and
my name is going to be white
from the record. Is that a
fear or what does that look
like? I love that question. I've
never been asked that question
but I've never thought of it
but I'm glad I did. Yeah, I've
never but that is uh um it's
amazing because you're you're
right. Like the government puts
out a lot of you see all the
news stories of like, you know,
people going to jail for you
know, or or or worse get fined
a lot of money. Not worse but
like some companies uh you know,
getting a lot of trouble
because they got their pricing
wrong or they they were price
gouging the government or
something and they were trying
to get into that mess and uh
you know, cross a red tape that
I didn't know existed uh and
get in trouble with the
government. So, that's a great
question but the reality is
like uh it's it's much easier
than people think. There's a
lot less risk of that. If
you're if you're trying to do
business the right way, the
government has a lot of uh
flexibility for you and for
small business. Um they're not
trying to get you, you know,
and so uh if if you're
trying to deliver or or making
an honest effort to then you
know, you're going to be fine
and uh especially with research
and development contracts which
are the ones we we focus on and
uh primarily go after which is
called Small Business
Innovation Research Program or
Small Business Technology
Transfer Program. The acronym
for those are SBIR and STTR.
These are R and D contracts
meaning they don't expect uh an
immediate delivery of something.
It's funding to conduct research
and development to try
hypothesis to figure out will
this work? Is this feasible?
And you know, sometimes the
answer is no and you get to the
end of that contract and you
say, you know, we we tried our
best but weren't able to
deliver on what we thought we
were going to and that's okay.
Like government accepts that
risk with R and D and uh grant
and so forth. Um yeah. So, I
I think that that that's not a
big uh a big fear if you're if
you're trying to do things the
right way, you're not going to
run into issues and and
certainly, there are a lot of
people uh to help and you know,
the SBA, uh Small Business
Administration, uh they have
local offices to help with that
stuff too to make sure you're
not getting any kind of um
stepping in any potholes. Right.
It makes sense. I mean, at the
end of the day, it's uh the
government, you know, it's it's
been around for decades um and
if they know their goal was to
to squash everybody who came
through those doors, um I think
people would would be more aware
of that. Um you know, now, I do
want to, I do want to learn
about some of these success
stories that you've had. Um
but as we dive into the success
stories, let's combine that
with what your vision looks like
for those that you serve. Um
let's talk about it from the
beginning. What is their path
look like and how many years
have you been doing this now,
Sam? Yeah. So, I got out in
2019 and that's when I got out
of the uh uh government or I
was an Air Force procurement uh
officer. We call them
contracting officers in the DOD.
Um I got out in 2019 after
being in since 2009 and uh so
did about 10 years in and then
got out and and we've been
working with tech startups,
helping them do business with
DOD ever since but uh hold on.
Let's talk about that though.
Because 2019. We met in one
year. Uh so, I think it was
2016, 2017. Yeah, when we we
first met. So, I was at, I was
here at uh offensive cyber
acquisitions in San Antonio.
So, that's what that was my
career as a Air Force
contracting officer as I was
writing contracts for
defensive offensive cyber
capabilities and uh I was. You
know, I was a volunteer at
school. Uh I was a volunteer at
score uh which is a uh uh
nonprofit organization for it's
like consulting for other small
business entrepreneurs and I
was also founded uh startup
club which was another 501 C3
non-profit uh to help small
business and entrepreneurs uh
starting their business, setting
up companies, and working with
the government and so, you
know, that's how I met. Yeah.
And that and so, I did get my
uh you know, get started to get
my chops at working with small
business and doing some
consulting while I was still in
the Air Force but it was all
in a in a volunteer non-profit
capacity and uh working for
those organizations which but I
loved it. I had a real passion
for teaching, educating, um and
uh and you know, seeing these
small businesses succeed uh
whether that was it raising
money or working with the
government or you and I met.
So, the startup club was was
that it was a free resource for
um San Antonio started with
San Antonio companies um and
then it kind of grew like we
were kind of nationwide. So,
it used to be called the the
San Antonio Startup Club and we
had to change that to just the
startup club because uh it
wasn't just San Antonio
anymore. So, um but yeah, it
was we we put out a lot of
education. Uh we put out a
lot of resources through a lot
of events and it's still going.
Uh still supporting small
businesses in the area and uh
as a member of a uh a chamber
and things like that. So, cool.
Awesome and I know I I
derailed you with that because
I just got I know we talked
about this in twenty seventeen
or so as well but okay, so
twenty nineteen uh those you
served vision. Let's go right
back to that. Yeah, sure. Sounds
good. So, so what hasn't
changed in in in 2019, who I
still serve is the the
warfighter. The we use that
term in the DOD as to describe
the operational end user. We
call it. So, it's not just the
guys who pull triggers. It's
it's anybody that that um
serves in the military. We
call them war fighters in in
general. So, it's not it's
airmen, soldiers, special
operations. They all fall under
that kind of broader term. Um
so, they support the mission of
national security, national
defense. Um they are uh anyone
from, you know, maintainers of
aircraft, engineers, to actual
trigger pullers and pilots and
and you know, um guys on the
ground and infantry and those
kinds of scenarios but it can
be all the way up to the
supply chain like all the the
entire organization um needs to
be there and that's really
what's given the Department of
Defense their edge, you know,
since the beginning of America
has been like our ability to
innovate and to uh
industrialize, be the first to
to um you know, bring bring
new technologies to uh to bear
and that uh in the last 2030
years, I think has slowed down
quite a bit and so what I saw
when I was in the DOD was
um like how we shared reports
to our supervisors uh to you
know, actual weaponry and
things like everything in
between was outdated and um it
was causing us to fall behind
and and lose our edge uh in a
lot of different ways and I
think that's how there's a
great uh I'll I'll send you the
link after the after the video
but last week actually was a
great uh talk by um Andres and
I think that's where um I I
gotta give a 16 Z a lot of
credit for what they talked
about um about America, the the
DOD losing their edge and how
how you might come to beat
America is by you know uh
changing the culture of uh
from an innovation to more of a
uh you know, zero risk, you
know, don't um don't innovate
uh you know, and and be
comfortable uh kind of status
in the DOD as we've we've been
um fighting, you know, in a war
for a long time. We we started
in 2001 engaging uh other
countries but those those uh
combatants, those enemies were
not um peers. They were, you
know, um uh they were fighting
in caves with rocks and stones
and sticks that stuff and so
like that that enemy though,
you know, they were uh a threat
to us and so we've become um a
little too comfortable with our
technology superiority that we
let it wane quite a bit over
the last 30 years to where now
if we look at oh you know,
threats that are ongoing in
Ukraine and Israel and other
parts of the world that hey, we
might be dragged into a much
more superior uh fighting force
that we've seen that are uh you
know, more our peers than um
previously and when we're in
that fight, do we still have
our edge and are we uh
disrupting that war or are we
catching up and I think what I
saw from where I was sitting
was if we had to fight tonight,
you know, uh we would we were
not the disruptors. We were we
were falling behind our peers
and uh in 2019 cuz uh family
issues and you know, I had a
baby on the way. I didn't want
to uh take another deployment
back to Afghanistan with uh with
some things going on. So, I
decided it's time for me and my
family to get out of the Air
Force but I never stopped the my
mission of trying to help
support the war fighter in that
I'm trying to get great
technology into their hands to
improve their lives, make their
lives better, and get into the
DOD. Yeah. I shifted your
question because yeah, that's
right into it. It was awesome.
You went right into it which is
what is your vision? Feel free
to expand on that. Yeah. So,
so my vision is trying to get
uh uh trying to help from this
side meaning I'm trying to help
tech startups and innovative
companies get their technology
inserted into the DOD uh
infrastructure, get it into
the DOD, and so to make sure
that that we're not disrupting
the next war that we're doing
that disrupting, right? That we
have all the the tech we need
to um to be that that's um
superior because I think you
know, our our generation, my my
kids generation depend on that
that we we maintain that um
that technological superiority
and we maintain that edge and
so uh my way of doing that is
helping to insert that
opportunity into the DOD and
the innovative companies that
are on the outside looking into
the DOD, helping them get their
start and working with the
Department of Defense. I love
that. Now, you talked about um
you know, the you talked about
the distraction. Ultimately,
they can exist. Um you know,
when you're when you kind of
silo in and focus and you
talked about the 30 year war
that's kind of been ongoing and
and it makes a lot of sense.
That's why a lot of people say
the good is the enemy of great
and the bad is the enemy of
something specific like what's
our focal point in terms of
war? Um you're you're bound to
have some types of blinders on
um you know, and then you're
overly focused and that's what
you mean. It's not that we
didn't care anymore. It's not
that we weren't trying um but
the the shift has been I mean,
if you ask anybody, you know,
who is the last war where I
think a lot of people, you
know, would respond to
countries um and the the focal
point would be very narrow. Um
whereas you're talking about
how the rest of the world um
you know that that hasn't gotten
as much involved with that
reality that there may be
countries in the world that
have been preparing in other
ways for strategic um let's
call them strategic
confrontations for now. Um with
you know, who knows who's
preparing what um and what type
of strategy is going to be
focused on on like you said,
people who are willing to fight
from caves. Um that there there
would definitely be a dramatic
change um and and strategy on
both entities because of the
the variables that exist with
that on the preparation. So,
we'll leave that where it's at.
Um we'll dive right back into
startup finance and and you
know, how how companies may
relate to this. Um let's before
we move into the worst
contract, let's before we move
into that, let's talk about how
to get these contracts. Um you
know, like where where do people
start? Um are there websites for
it? I mean, you kind of blew my
mind with the application
process. So, I'll have uh
Cynthia as well help us with
some of the screen share on
that um and I might pull it up
too but Sam, what what do we do
if we wanted to get a contract
with the government to help
behind the scenes um with with
that what you call the the
process of the contract. What
would that look like? Yeah, for
sure. So, uh the DOD is uh they
have a number of processes and
tools in their tool belt. How
they do business with uh
industry. Uh to oversimplify
millions and millions of pages
of of acquisition uh
regulations. Uh I'm gonna boil
it down to really three tools.
So, uh again for the the
acquisition and procurement
nerds out there, they're they're
they're they're they're
really has three tools at their
um disposal. So, they can go
public. They can reach out to
the public and and ask for uh a
solution to the requirement and
we would do that through a
website called uh Sam.gov. It
used to be called Beta Sam.
Before that, it was called uh
FedBizOpps. Um and so, it's
changed names a couple of times
but Sam.gov is where you would
go to look at what are the open
source uh uh requests for quotes
that are out there. That's where
maybe 10% of government's
budget is spent. Um another 10%
is spent uh going sole source.
So, instead of you know,
publishing my requirements out
there publicly for the whole
world to see and for them to
bid on. Um I can take it sole
source. I can find the uh
company that I wanna work with,
that specific brand, that
company that I wanna work with,
I can get a sole source
contractor them. Now, why is
only 10% of the budget spent
that way in sole source way?
Because you're really not
supposed to. Like the federal
acquisition regulations are set
up that to maximize
competition, to maximize uh
value, and to get the best
price for the government, and
to uh encourage competition uh
for you know, the economy and
the US small business and and
all the businesses. They really
don't want to be in a practical
not pick their favorites and go
sole source. They should
compete it. So, um for that
reason, even though going sole
source is super fast and
usually you can get a contract
done in 30 to 90 days that way.
Um you know, most of the budget
is not spent that way. Uh and
then the other 80% of the
budget, the the biggest piece
of the iceberg is below the
surface and that is spent
through what we call what I
call IDIQs, BPAs, uh
government contract vehicles,
and I'll explain some of those.
So, IDIQ is indefinite
delivery, indefinite quantity,
BPA is blanket purchase
agreement. It's like some of
those contract vehicles uh that
you may have heard of are
they're basically catalogs. So,
you compete to initially get on
the catalog and then once
you're on the catalog, then the
government can order off of
that catalog uh as much as they
want and they don't have to go
through and collect a number of
vendors, the cool kids that are
on those contracts that they
know, okay, this group of
vendors can provide these
services. So, I'll only compete
my requirement among that that
group who are on that hold the
contract vehicle or on that
catalog and that way, it speeds
up my acquisition timeline
because if I go public and you
know, I spend 10% of my budget
that way. Why? Because it takes
so long. If I go public, it's
going to be a 10 to 12 month
process. I'm going to put it
through a lot of small kids,
from small businesses all around
the country and and large
businesses and I'm going to
have to sort through all of
those proposals. I'm going to
have to pick my favorites, the
best, whittle that group down,
finally make a selection, and
then I'm going to get
protested. Everybody's going to
complain that they weren't
picked and it's going to, you
know, there's a formal process
to protest that effectively
freezes that acquisition. I
can't move forward. So, all of
these uh you know, prescribed
by the public purchase means
that it's probably going to
take me 9 to 12 months to buy
something. That's not fast
enough. So, that's why only 10%
of budget is spent that way.
Most of it is tried. We try to
spend it on something that's
much faster. We either spend it
on a private solicitation or or
reduce whole source but 80% of
the budget is probably spent
and requirements are spent on
these on those private
solicitations on these GSA
schedules, BPAs, IDIQ, catalog
and so on. I can get a contract
out in 90 days to maybe 6
months at the uh you know, on
the long end and the reason is
so much faster is because I'm
only I'm only competing in
against maybe 20 companies,
maybe 100 companies at most and
I have way fewer proposals to
evaluate. I can set the rules
of that catalog. I can say,
hey, if it if the requirement
is uh less than 100 million
dollar contract and you're not
allowed to protest and you
can't get on the contract. So,
I can kind of set the rules of
my own catalog uh which allow
me to go a lot faster. The
problem with this, the problem
with these three tools is small
business as an entrepreneur,
startup, you know, today, I can
only see 10% of the
requirements and 10% of the
budget that are being published
because the only thing I can go
out and Google and find a
requirement to work with the
other ones but I'm not seeing
the rest of that iceberg
beneath the surface of all
those requirements, all that
budget I'm missing out on um
because it's going through, you
know, non public meet. So, the
way as a small business, I I
have to go about that is either
a, I can I can wait around for
a catalog to be competed. I can
bid on it. Um you know, and
they come out about every 5
years and I can get on the next
one and I can be one of the
people that I have to partner
with someone who's already on
the catalog and so I find those
businesses that hold that
contract and I have to sub
underneath them and um you
know, those those small
businesses or those companies
that own that catalog, they
know how valuable it is and
they tend to use that as
leverage and so you you know,
end up giving a ton of margin
away uh uh which is very
important to a small business
survival. If you're giving away
something to be able to work
with this company, your prime
will start to squeeze you as a
subcontractor. It's very
difficult uh to work under the
under the budgets that the
primes are giving you and things
like that and so um so it's not
ideal. Um the other way is to
do it sole source but that
requires this huge BD effort. I
have to go out and find the
engineers, the program managers,
the project guys and make them
aware that the product exists
that I'm here and that I can be
sole source and and that
requires a lot of business
development to go out and find
those those buyers, those
requirement um holders, owners
that that's a better word for
requirement owners. I have to
go find those people, make them
aware that I exist that I can
solve their problems and so for
a small business, who's just
getting started, that's a lot
of time and money spent on
business development that they
can go to the public and go,
you know, private and sell to uh
B to B much faster with way
less spin on sales and and BD
and so uh that's that's often
you know, the route to go is
we'll just avoid doing business
with the government because it's
not not worth it and so um that
that's the problem with those
that that setup how my company
helps out, you know, what we've
identified as a need here is
that we're in the DOD as one
giant black box and not knowing
where to begin. Who do I talk
to? Who who should be my
customers? My requirement uh
who has requirements that I can
solve? That's where we come in.
Um you know, we're a business
development as a service and so
we're helping you connect to
these customers, find the
buyers or requirement owners
and have those conversations.
Ideally, to go sole source if
they have money, we want to go
on contract. We want to not
compete for it. We want to go
on contract. We want to go on
contract. But um and of course,
we're looking for public stuff
too. We're going after
everything and we see that that
is a fit um on the public side
but we're really going after
the beneath the surface
opportunities and trying to
find the the the requirement
owners that maybe maybe they
have a problem. They don't know
a solution is out there. They
don't even know one exists. So
they're not asking for it
publicly because they don't they
don't even identify their own
problem and so what we're there
to do is we're going to go to
the customers who have missions
who have requirements that meet
uh the small businesses
capabilities, their solutions
and get them talking and when
we get them talking, that
usually leads to uh the next
problem, right? Is you know,
nine times out of ten, you're
talking to the government uh
in a in your, you know, we've
did all the work to set up this
meeting, facilitate the
conversation, you're sitting on
the other side of the the desk
and you're like, you've got a
really cool technology or
solution. I'd love to use it.
This would help my life be a
lot easier. The next thing they
say though is, oh but I I don't
have any money. Um you hear
that a lot with government and
of course, you're like, yeah,
a lot in the world, my friend.
That's just. Yeah. That's the
universal lingo of. Yeah. I'm
it's so frustrating because
you're like, I have a
customer. I have a willing
champion but they just don't
have any money. They can't can't
have any problems if you can
just get that contract and so
uh what when we run into that
issue here, we've got a
customer who doesn't have money
and there's good reasons why
that they as a government, they
have to think very long term.
They're forecasting, you know,
two years out what they're
going to spend their money on
and so they're they have to
think about what their
requirements are in 2025,
twenty-four to pay for that and
so when you're talking to them,
you know, they're not saying I
don't have money. They have
money. Uh they just don't they
don't. It's all spoken for all
that money has a name already.
That every dollar has a name
and so they're saying, hey,
come back to me next fiscal
year. I might have money for
you then. You you weren't on my
radar two years ago when I
wrote my budget. Um so come
back to me two years from now
and I'll write you into my
email. That's not an answer.
Like, you gotta report to your
investor. Water now. Right. You
you have to meet quarterly uh
sales targets or else, you
know, you're laying off uh
people and so uh you can't wait
a year for a contract. Maybe
Boeing and Lockheed can, you
know, but a small business can't
wait a year and and so now we
got, you know, there's problem
number two. I've got this
customer. They just need money
to come in. Uh these are these
are uh programs that were
created back in the 80s by by
Congress that said, hey, you
know, every every uh federal
entity who has an R and D
budget has to set aside a
portion of that to go to small
business and so for the
Department of Defense, it's
three billion dollars a year uh
which is only three. It's
three point 2% of the DOD's
total R and D budget uh but
it's a lot of money. It's three
billion dollars a year. So,
you know, you can go to small
business and say, hey, you have
to spend this on on small
business. So, as a as an
entrepreneur, as a startup, you
can say to that customer, hey,
it's okay. You don't have
money, you know, and you want
to work with me and you don't
have budget. That's okay. We're
going to go use other people's
money. We're going to go tap
into the SBIR STTR budgets and
we're going to use that money
to start working with you now
and uh bridge the gap between
today and next fiscal year when
you're a customer, this is huge
because you're telling them,
wait, I can get my hands on
commercial tech that can help
me today on a really fast
contract and it's zero risk to
me like no, you know, it's no
risk to my budget or my
schedule like it's huge. So,
they they're very supportive of
it um and so it's a win win for
everybody. It's win for the
small, win for the government
customer, you know, why not? So,
so that's what we do. We've got
a lot of people interested in
the product. We've helped find
uh and they just need money.
Then, we'll go get money using
the SBIR STTR program and then
if that government customer by
the way does have money, they
say, hey, you're in luck. I had
a, you know, a project cancel.
I've got extra funds. Then, we
know how to get that on
contract and a full source way
too. So, we'll help help go
that way but really, you know,
as a way to get in there, build
a relationship, build a beach
head with each of these
customers, a a paid pilot if
you will to get in there and
have them adopt the technology,
provide feedback, you get a
little funding to do
adaptation, integration work
that you need to do to to get
that product into the
customer's hands. Um but you
know, it's all uh it's all in
an effort to make sure that
next year, you're
going to be able to do a real
contract and do a real contract
using um you know, non-SBIR
money but you're using it to
build a relationship with these
customers and you can use as
many as you want. So, like,
you're not limited to how many
phase twos or SBIR contracts
that you have. So, you're just,
it's just a matter of how many
customers can I find that want
to use my product that need
funding. I can go use SBIR as a
mechanism as a tool uh to
start working with those
customers now and start
working with them to become the
incumbent so that, you know,
next year when they do have
money, of course, they're going
to go with you. Right, right,
right. That makes sense. Um it
makes a lot of sense. In fact,
uh there's a lot of this that
didn't make sense for me for
those who are listening. So, I
wrote down a ton of acronyms
and took a lot of notes. Um you
know, and and anybody who's
listening, that's you know, 6
years ago, Sam and we talked
about this. I'm when we talked
about this actually, I may or
may not have peed my pants a
little bit of of foreign
language that exists in that.
But um since then, you know, I
I I had a contract with a
company in Canada. Um I'm a
very very small equity owner of
that company now but what we
were doing is we're working
with um we had a loan, not a
loan, we had a grant writing
company that you know, may or
may not have been associated
with our entity. Um that and I
don't know how that worked but
we would get these grants for
$9000 or whatever it was up
front that was required for
this grant process and within
72 hours, they would end up
with $36000 and marketing
budget that would all come to
us. We'd return the $9000 um
and the you know, they were
able to move forward with these
massive marketing budgets that
they couldn't otherwise access.
It sounds very similar. Um and
I've been looking for this on
you know, in the United States.
It's like, alright, what's the
equivalent to what the heck
they were doing because this
dramatically changed the game
for these entrepreneurs to be
able to compete and and finally
have a budget to do something
with. So, um I'm going to be
talking to you more offline
about this because um I think
there's there's ways that this
applies to first class business
too. Yeah, there's a lot of uh
there's other there's other
barriers that we haven't talked
about that that uh that this
solves and so like why should
you care about small business
like this? Why should you care
about the art program? Well, for
one, it's because you don't have
to have any past performance.
And so, like normally, if you
want to work with the
government, if you wanted to go
compete and win a catalog
contract that I talked about
earlier, you have to have this
positive Yelp review with the
government. They have to, you
have to earn your your, you
know, five star review uh by
working as a subcontractor for
a long time and gaining that uh
that they call CPARS. So, it's
not a Yelp. Um it's not Yelp but
it's I got you. I got what you
meant. Right. So, you have to
earn that past performance to be
able to go and compete and win
a a prime contract uh direct
with the government. Um well,
under SBIR, that's not required.
You can come off the street, be
the first time you're working
with the government and you can
be a direct uh contractor. You
have a direct contract with the
government and then you use
that to start to build your
own reviews and so uh then when
you go and compete with uh
competitive contracts, you know,
that are not SBIR that that
you're finding out on the
street, you have that that
background of experience and um
and good reviews to to allow
you to be competitive on those
other awards but the second
thing is is like you get soul
source rights and this is
really powerful and this is why
a lot of large businesses still
have a SBIR. If you win a small
business innovation research uh
contract, then every federal
entity is mandated by statute
that if they have a
requirement that matches a
solution that a small business
has won an SBIR for, they're
mandated by statute. They have
to go sole source to you to the
maximum extent practical. Uh so
that means if you if you win an
SBIR for your product uh for
your novel solution, then every
federal entity um now, it's on
the it's it's on the onus is on
the small business to make the
government aware that, hey, I've
got a sole source contract
vehicle. You're supposed to go
with me but uh it's a very
powerful tool that uh a lot of
larges keep an eye on because
they look for products that can
be sole source that they can
integrate into their systems to
make their whole, you know, if
it's a component of one of their
larger systems, they make their
whole system sole source and
then they get a sole source
contract. Um and then also they
they look at uh acquiring
companies with that kind of uh
sole source rights and so we
see uh that you know, even if a
company is acquired or they
sell the product rights to
somebody else, that sole
source ability goes with the
product. It's not tied to the
small business uh to the name
of the company. It's tied to
the product um and then finally
you get IP and data rights. So
normally if you win a
government contract and they pay
you a hundred percent of the
things you develop. Uh right.
But in this case, whether it's
developed at your expense or
the government's expense,
anything that's that's created
in an SBIR uh contract is your
IP. It's 100% Oh, wow. Your
data rights and so uh for 20
years after the life of the
last uh CYBR contracts. So,
that's very powerful tool. Um
that, hey, I can go get non
diluted funding to develop my
own IP and uh um I you still
own 100% of the IP. Uh that's
important if you want to go
out and raise money from VC.
They want to know that you
know that uh you you have all
the data rights and uh uh rights
to the IP that you own um and
what they're investing into and
so yeah, it's uh that there's
three good reasons, right? So,
no, no path performance, keep
the data rights, and you have
that sole source tool which is
the IP. So, I'm going to call
us um I'm going to call us a
two-part episode now. I hope
you're okay with that, Sam. I'm
I'm committing you. Um so, I'd
love to I'd love to have you
back sooner than later. Um I
also, I want to take this
conversation offline, do my own
research with this process. Um
you know, and and ultimately
consult with you on on what does
this look like for first class
business? You talked about a
solution to a problem people
don't know they have. Um I
think it's so awkward and
ironic that you and I know that
we have a four percent success
rate in a school, right? You
would never send your child to
school with a four percent
success rate and we have a four
percent survival rate in
business. Get entrepreneurs are
accepting that. They they they
don't hear that. They don't
want to hear it. Um you know, I
get it but it's not you're not
you're not a statistic. However,
in order to overcome the
statistics, we have to make
moves that are different than
what we're accustomed to making
and that's ultimately what we
need to do is to make a
difference in business to help
with that process. So, anyway,
we've gotta we gotta talk
offline about it. I'll be
bringing Sam back as long as
he's willing to. Um we'll dive
deeper into some of the
specifics of this. We'll also
cover at that time, worst
leadership experience, best
leadership experience, and and
his powerful lessons but I
think this was far more
powerful for those of you who
um you know, are in a position
where you need funding. Um you
need a source to go to that is
a venture capitalist and you
know, you're you're willing to
explore what opportunities you
have. I I showed earlier uh
that Sam.gov and I want to
point out a few. That's not
Sam rain.gov by the way. Yeah.
It's just am.gov. He just
happens to be named same same
same name. Anyway, um some of
the questions on there just
drive me nuts. So, you can see
how bad this process is and and
why you need some guidance. It
says, how do you know if you
have a registration is on on
their site tells you what a what
a crap show the process is and
then it says um what why isn't
my registration active yet and
what happens if my
registration fails validation.
If those are your warnings on
your home page, you know it's a
difficult process. Um you can
certainly use these resources
to try to go about it on your
own but if you want to get a
hold of Sam, he's on LinkedIn.
He's on Twitter and he's on
social media and he's on
Instagram and he's on all of
those other things. So, you
can go check him out. I'll get
you running for our next
episode, Sam but I'd love to
have you back. Are you cool
with that? Yeah, I'd love to.
Okay, my friend. We'll we'll
definitely do that and uh uh
how can how can I book with
you? Yeah. So, just uh you can
have use my calendar link. So,
it's uh Calendly.com slash Sam
dash SBIR. I'm going to drop
that in the comments in so
people have it um and I will be
happy to have you back.
Everybody take care. Thank you
for being here today. I'm
really happy that you tuned in
to Vision Pros Live. I'm
looking forward to seeing your
reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This
is going to get more and more
fun. We'll have more and more
engagement as well. We'll
bring our next episode of