If you're looking to win federal contract work for your SMB, here's a starting point: 1. Register on SAM 2. Get your certs from SBA 3. Create a capability statement 4. Pitch to 5 strong companies w/ federal contracts that need your service nearby 4a. You prob have partners in

Up against 4 other bidders on a 7-figure govt contract, it can come down to these factors Some are so simple — beyond of course past performance, approach, price - strict page limitations - distracting grammatical errors - incomplete attachments - late submission - missing

99% of businesses fail to enter federal contracts because they don't know where to start. Here's the very first step I always recommend. Simple, but so important -- Find out which NAICS codes you fall under. Government uses codes to buy their services. Let’s paint a

But what if you have a service that is a tiny subset of a NAICS, or falls across many NAICS? GREAT. Then you should be targeting the many partners needing your specialized service for larger federal contracts. Example: You have a painting business. There’s direct opportunities

If every trade service SMB had these things, I bet more owners would go after federal govt contracts: - customized search terms to find opportunities - off-the-shelf, foundational proposal docs they can rinse and repeat - list of 30 govt agency POCs and partners in highest

We're building this turnkey solution at Serellium. The demand is high but SMBs don't know where to start or what service to even look for. Critical to our work is raising awareness that yes, your SMB does have a place in this $700B market.

This reminds me of that movie The Money Pit. When SMBs hire a proposal writer for a random federal contract. "Let's just go for it!" Waste of $$. Unless you know this without a doubt: 1. Exactly what federal contracting market you're targeting & why 2. Probability of

First proposal for an SMB totally new to federal contracts takes 40-60 hours. Maybe more. This is a general estimate for a 6-figure trade service RFP w/ a 5-page technical narrative, pricing sheet, SFs, and past performance. SMB is learning the requirements, establishing a

I've heard this 2x in the past 72 hrs (from both VC and PE) & it's problematic. There's a serious misconception that businesses can only get federal contracts if they "know someone." It's simply not true. Yes, your connections may get your capabilities in front of some

Unpopular opinion: too many VC investments are made without either 1) Understanding the full government market potential of the capability’s application (spoiler alert, there’s usually massive govt market potential beyond dept of defense) 2) The actionable steps and strategy

Perfect moment for creative partnership. Where private sector innovation meets seasoned Navy shipbuilding expertise. I'm rooting for the scrappy entrepreneurs who are rapidly getting smart on the federal market, have already pitched to major partners, and have figured out how to

If the owner plans to expand the business into federal contracts, the objective answer is C. This year alone, federal govt awarded more than: - 800 contracts for roofing valued at $200M - 3500 contracts for HVAC valued at $430M - 4500 contracts for cleaning services valued

If I just started bidding on federal government contracts and lost 0 out of 5 bids, these are the four steps I would take: 1. I'd review the winning bids' price points, compared to mine 2. I'd ask govt for feedback, then go back and see if my RFP actually answered all the

Buyers & investors for SMBs w/ a federal contracting footprint: here's your cheat sheet.

Lots of businesses got spooked by DOGE earlier this year. Particularly in February — investors and buyers had the same question: is this a bad time to start pursuing federal contracts? For some very specific services, yes, govt absolutely slowed down. But for the trades,

Most of the AI startups that now hold millions in federal government contracts didn’t start with an 8-figure bid. They started with 1-off, $20-50k jobs in tiny offices of sub-agencies. The ones that made it used those incremental case studies to expand: selling to more

States like Virginia, Texas, and California generally lead in federal contracting spending. SMBs based in or serving these regions have extra high volume of opportunity. What's crazy is that there are many out-of-state companies who win federal contracts in these states, from

Partnerships and subcontracting are often the fastest way into federal contracts. A market assessment will identify the right primes in your industry and vicinity, who most likely to need your capabilities. Building these relationships will clarify which partners are an