Feeding the Beast: Preparing Your Product for Pentagon Consumption
Building relationships and having a team behind you are key to getting to market
There is a famous story (and it might be just that, a story) from the time when President John F. Kennedy visited the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1962. During his visit, the president noticed a janitor sweeping the floor. In his typical charismatic way, JFK interrupted the tour, walked over to the man, and introduced himself.
“Hi, I’m Jack Kennedy,” he said. “What do you do here?”
“Well, Mr. President, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.”
In the janitor’s view, the seemingly minor tasks of sweeping floors and maintaining hallways directly contributed to helping the U.S. win the Space Race against the USSR.
And they did.
His work removed distractions from scientists, engineers, and astronauts, enabling them to focus fully on their duties. Beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, the countless small tasks performed by both blue- and white-collar American workers at NASA culminated in Neil Armstrong’s “one small step” on the moon in 1969. Put differently, this janitor knew something that most deftech entrepreneurs don’t: that adding small-scale but critical value contributes to a distant, large-scale goal.
This story reinforces the truth that the U.S. government and Department of Defense achieve their national security goals not only through those at the top setting policies. They achieve it through the actions of thousands of people, from generals to janitors and everyone in between, all working in concert.
That’s the inspiring part of the story.
Alas, there’s also a more practical reality. While it’s true that the Pentagon’s (and NASA’s) successes are indeed a large group effort, the flipside is that this “group” contains millions of people and layers upon layers of bureaucracy. So if you think you have a product or service that can help the Pentagon meet its goals, you must understand how it’s organized if you want to have any chance of selling to it.
Helping entrepreneurs navigate this labyrinth is the focus of my upcoming book, Selling to Defense. Over the next few months I’ll be offering excerpts and insights from it on this blog.
While there is a significant learning curve, those who are willing to educate themselves about why and how the Pentagon actually purchases things will be in a far better position to establish meaningful relationships with buyers and, ultimately, bring their products to market. And you probably won’t even have to pick up a broom.
Stay tuned for more insights from my forthcoming book Selling to Defense, to be published in late 2026.