Dan Guido

So, I worked in SBIR space for 8 years. SBIR is a government prrogram designed to fund small businesses to do tech research.

All of that money could have been used to actually protect our digital infrastructure. Instead it's in white dudes' second homes.

SBIR is what Congress did after the Beltway Bandits consolidated and cut their R&D spending to 4%.

It is basically a supplementary R&D budget for these huge, profitable for-profit companies. Which is vacuumed up in predictable ways.

In the rare case that an innovative company stumbles into one the only viable exit strategy is to sell to a Bandit.

Because the DoD Does Not Buy Technology From Startups. No. So you have to sell to a Bandit for a pittance.

Which means the only real players going after an SBIR are either amateurs, connected, or professional scammers.