Taking a Defense Technology Firm From Services to a Scalable Platform Business
From a time-and-materials engineering shop with a differentiated secure platform to a product-led company with a repeatable commercial engine across defense, intelligence, and regulated commercial markets.
Leadership
Growth
Partnerships
Scale
Executive Summary
Joined a veteran-owned defense technology company in 2023 as Chief Commercial and Operating Officer, investor, and board member to lead its shift from a project-based engineering services subcontractor to a product and subscription business. At its core is a platform that provides security, compliance, and infrastructure orchestration, enabling DevSecOps, AI, ML, modeling, simulation, and autonomy, with access to HPC on premise and in the cloud across all classification levels. Created the company's growth, product, and pricing strategy. Established the partner channel, productized and rebranded the platform, and put in place the operating discipline needed to scale delivery across defense, intelligence, and regulated commercial customers.
The Challenge
The company had rare technical capability: a platform serving thousands of users across the Department of Defense that was not yet productized or monetized. Growth was constrained by a time-and-materials revenue model and concentration in a small number of programs. There was no marketing or sales motion; it depended on the founder. There was no documented, repeatable way to describe or package the platform for new buyers. The business needed to productize, document use cases, get onto government contract vehicles, become a prime contractor, and build a demand engine without disrupting mission delivery.
The platform was not yet accredited in production, but it had R&D users at the highest national security levels, deep HPC and AI engineering talent, and a loyal base of DoD and military users.
My Role & Strategy
As COO and CCO, I owned commercial strategy, marketing, sales, business development, partnerships, FP&A, and operations, with a mandate to double revenue and convert the company to a product-led model.
- Set the transformation strategy from T&M services to platform subscriptions and consumption, with a target to establish 20% and grow to 70% of revenue from the platform. Productized the platform: usage, packaging, pricing, and bundled services. Created new products and offers, including a marketplace and compliance and security as a service.
- Repositioned and rebranded the platform as a multi-level secure infrastructure product with a plugin marketplace tailored to AI and autonomy, DevSecOps, ML, MS&A, HPC, digital engineering, analytics, and supply chain.
- Built the partner channel, including a hyperscaler public sector co-sell motion and technology partnerships with a leading DevSecOps platform, two engineering and simulation software leaders, two frontier model companies, the leading AI compute provider, and open source software and model communities.
- Established a shared-cost partner conference strategy.
- Installed a sales system: MEDDPICC qualification, CRM pipeline stages, and account-based marketing.
- Built the operating cadence: FP&A, forecasting, budgeting, resource planning, deal reviews, customer success, and account management.
Execution
Aligned product packaging and pricing to how government and commercial buyers actually procure: a compliance-first value proposition that distinguishes what the platform delivers on day one (compliant with NIST 800-171 and 800-53) from the ATO the customer still owns. Launched a software and services marketplace so partners could bring applications into accredited environments and co-market. Expanded presence through targeted industry events and executive outreach alongside the partner ecosystem. Built the internal infrastructure, from contracts to delivery, with no incremental headcount or outside capital.
Results & Business Impact
Leadership Insight
“A differentiated product and an addressable market are table stakes. What follows is the strategy to build repeatable offers, and the systems to fulfill them, not one-off wins.”
