In this episode, we are mixing things up a bit. Instead of the usual suspects of SBA Award winners, former federal contract officers, program managers and fast rising small businesses we decided to feature someone in the (D&I) space... diversity and inclusion. If you have heard this is sort of the new buzz word floating around for what was formerly considered minority contracting. In today’s episode I bring on a company who is leading the regulatory compliance side of minority, women, disadv...
Jul 28, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 141
Michael V. Sanders is the Founder and CEO of Interactive Government Holdings, a global company serving defense and civilian agencies. Michael started IGH as a service-disabled, veteran owned small business in 2006 following his time in the U.S. Marine Corps. He's a graduate from Harvard Business School in 2018 and currently serves on the Veteran Institute for Procurement (VIP) Board to help veterans in the government contracting field. In 2020 and 2021 IGH was recognized with the U.S. Department...
Jul 20, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 140
This week we are excited to bring to you a different type of episode with Marti Hoffer, the Founder and CEO of Lumenomics whom I met at the WBENC conference. I met Marti at WBENC as she was one of the guests on stage speaking discussing financing her small business. Part of her conversation was centered around CDFIs and how they were the first organization to provide her small business with capital. If you are wondering what a CDFI is, let me explain further. Community Development Financial Inst...
Jul 14, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 139
Hey Govcon Giants Family, in this episode, I pulled down some of the speakers from the 8a Conference, which was recently held at Anchorage, Alaska. So we’re going to meet the gentlemen from SBA to discuss their capacity, what their roles are and how they can help and share with us the things they discussed at the conference here in this episode. In this very special episode, we have Mr. Steven Brown, the Director of the Alaska District office for the U.S. Small Business Administration. He overse...
Jun 29, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 138
Today we are going to take it back, in this episode, we are going to re-introduce an amazing podcast guest that we had back in September we featured in Episode 69 Carol Craig from Craig Technologies. If you guys don’t remember, this was a force that you had to know. Listening to this episode was an amazing experience, Carol Craig is the founder and CEO of Craig Technologies and Craig Technologies Aerospace Solutions, which is headquartered in Merritt Island, Florida. Just a few things about Caro...
Jun 23, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 137
Prior to doing the podcast, I met Travis at dinner in Las Olas through a mutual friend Patrick Cohen. Travis recently arrived here in S. Florida and had plans for connecting good people in business together. He wanted a community in S. Florida that would connect finance, developers and entrepreneurs in the same room. A few months later I attended the event sponsored by his company and since that time we’ve exchanged numerous texts, calls and emails back and forth discussing various business deal...
Jun 10, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 136
Today’s guest Mr. Peter C. Gibbs of Foundation Surety out Maryland is the former Director, Office of Surety Guarantees for the SBA. He served in that capacity for more than 15 years. When he retired last year he went out on his own and started a bonding company. “Any company who is interested in participating in the infrastructure and jobs act must have Bonding.” In today’s episode we discuss what it takes to get bonding? Is credit necessary? What about capital? How much capital is needed? What ...
Jun 02, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 135
Today’s guest was awarded as Oklahoma’s Small Business of the Year by the SBA, he is Adam Oglesbee, the President and CEO of Warfeather, LLC. As the leader of a nation-wide construction services firm, Adam Oglesbee has built a reputation on the safety, quality, and schedule adherence their client projects rely on around the country. Adam utilizes consistent tools, systems, and standards to safely deliver superior results even in the most challenging environments. Under Adam’s leadership, Warfeat...
May 25, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 134
Today’s guest Russell Teter blew us away on the last episode. If you missed part 1 go back to episode 132 and listen closely. We covered pitfalls to small businesses, where SMB should focus their energy, why are you working so hard, and building a business that works without the owner. In this episode we discussed really valuable tips for your business like Mapquest: where you are now versus where you want to go, getting your business valuation up to $10M, knowing math or know money, WIT - wildl...
May 11, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 133
Today’s guest is a special person from SBDC. Russell C. Teter III is an Internationally Certified Executive Coach / Director of Training for SBDC at University Of Maryland. He has been with the SBDC for 14 years as of this July. He was promoted to Director of the Northern Maryland Small Business Development Center Network in 2003. Russell has personally aided over 13,000 entrepreneurs in improving their economic situation; his assistance has led to the acquisition of tens of millions in equity/d...
May 05, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 132
Jackson Dalton and I met at the VIB Conference in San Diego California last year. During that time he was being celebrated as the VIB Advocate for winning the John K. Lopez Award! Jackson Dalton, a Marine Veteran and owner of Black Box Safety, was providing PPE to government agencies before the Pandemic. As fate would have it when Covid19 struck, his company was in line for the huge tailwind of opportunity coming his way. But that is not how he started. Jackson a former 3M Corporate Safety Engin...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 30 min
Likia Hawkins is President and CEO of Steel Point Solutions, LLC, an Information Technology and Business Solutions provider that specializes in delivering digital transformation, cybersecurity, and professional services. Ms. Hawkins possesses a wealth of business ownership, technology, analytics, policy, an economic insight central to positioning the company as a boutique business disrupter in the public sector space. She represents an award-winning small business that is recognized in the publi...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 130
For the last 7 days I've been at conferences here in Miami as it is Miami Tech Month beginning with Miami NFT week. Followed by Solana Miami, NFT CON in the Metaverse, Bitcoin Miami, and we even had time for a Cybersecurity Summit by DarkTrace. While I did not personally attend Miami Bitcoin I did get a chance to speak at Miami NFT and NFT CON. So you're probably imagining what Eric is doing at an NFT conference? If you haven’t already heard, I announced the mint (that is bought in Web3 world) o...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 129
Today I want to introduce you to a company that I admire greatly, End to End Computing. The company amongst a host of other things specializes in Application Development (DevSecOps), Cybersecurity (continuous defense detection and responses, Cloud & IT (engineering, integration & modernization) as well as Emerging Tech. Leading the company at the C suite are two amazing founders, Esteve mede and Carlton Harris. Esteve is a former Federal Chief Information Security Officer with over 17 ye...
Apr 01, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 128
Today’s guest, Nichelle Early of Breakforth solutions previously episode #44 was recently awarded the coveted 8(a) STARS III contract after being in business for just a 8 years. We decided to bring back her episode because we thought it super important to honor women during this time but also showcase the journey of an entrepreneur as they progress in their business. For those who are not aware, 8(a) STARS III GWAC (Government Wide Acquisition Contract). This fourth-generation IT solutions GWAC ...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 127
Today’s guest Mr. Austin Tsosie is the CEO of Diné Development Corporation, a firm that advances the missions of government agencies and commercial firms by delivering IT, professional, and environmental solutions to elevate the Navajo Nation and its People. The corporation comprises 4 subsidiaries that specialize in IT (Nova, BRIC, Dine Source, DDC IT), 2 environmental companies (DDC 4C, BRIC) , an Aerospace company (Red Canyon) and R&D company (Seventh Emergence). Austin is an accomplished...
Mar 18, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 126
Today’s guest, Ronnette Meyers president/CEO of JLAN solutions was recently awarded the coveted 8(a) STARS III contract. On 2/23/22 GSA issue the notice to proceed for the second cohort of 8(a) STARS III GWAC (government wide acquisition contract). This fourth-generation IT solutions GWAC includes a focus on emerging technologies as well as performance outside of the continental United States (OCONUS). The STARS III contract has a ceiling of $50 billion. According to GSA Office of Small and Disa...
Mar 11, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 125
Just a few days before this recording Russia invades Ukraine. Within moments I was scouring my contacts to search for someone to discuss the story. All of my experts who worked previously overseas were activated to help provide expertise to our Government on the matter. Fortunately for me I met a charismatic guy at the 8a conference who knew a few of my podcast guests had some great stories of Ransomware cases and wanted to talk about Cyber security. Unbeknownst to me he was the former DoD Cyber...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 124
Welcome to the Govcon giants podcast. I am your host, Eric Coffie and in today’s podcast episode we cover a lot of territory; bid no bid decision framework, sources sought, capability briefing debriefing, how i won an IDIQ from another firm and why they lost it - PLUS two must know FAR clauses. This entire 90 minute episode is centered around two FAR clauses: FAR 15.201 Exchanges with industry before receipt of proposals and FAR Part 10 - Market Research. FAR 15.201 Exchanges with industry befor...
Feb 24, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 123
Today’s guest, Chrissy Farrington is a military spouse and senior proposal specialist at H2L solutions. For those who may remember back to episode #40 H2L solutions CEO Jonathan Hard came on to our show and shed light on CMMC and NIST requirements. She is also the Co-Founder of Spouse 360, a non-profit organization dedicated to reigniting the traditions of the past while building the Military Family's future. In our show today, Chrissy brings her own unique voice to the show discussing the role ...
Feb 17, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 122
Today’s interview, we feature Mr. Austin G. Johnson also known as AJ who is the Deputy Associate Director of the Marine Corps Systems Command out of the infamous Quantico, Virginia. This episode is a little bit different than our traditional podcast guests because we are interviewing the associate director of the small businesses, Mr. AJ himself and he is going to describe to us what his command does, what they buy, how they buy and also how you can participate in supporting their particular sub...
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 121
Today’s podcast episode was a Youtube live that I recorded a few years back that was widely popular. It was entitled how to use SDVOSB, 8a, EDWOSB, HUBZone all the small business certs. This episode is very strategic in that I discuss a plan of attack for small businesses who want to make the most of their certifications. We teach you how to make a plan. How to become prepared and what is a plan of attack that I use in order to scale, grow and create duplicatable results in the federal marketpla...
Feb 03, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 120
In this episode, we have the current Chief Executive Officer of Powder River Industries, Yolanda Clarke. She is responsible for all aspects of the firm. She began operations in June of 2016. After just 9 weeks PRI broke even and became profitable – nearly unheard of for a start-up in any industry and continues to experience growth year over year. PRI offers devsecops and infrastructure-as-code to US Government customers. Prior to leading PRI to early growth success, Yolanda worked as an enterpri...
Jan 27, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 119
With all the buzz circling the universe around crypto NFT’s Web3 and Defi I thought it fitting that we make a video detailing my ventures into the crypto space. It was not long ago 2017 that I was hearing the buzz about bitcoin. A new type of currency being traded amongst really smart tech people or friends of tech people in this underground type of manner. Without having any prior knowledge I realized that this was going to be the next big deal and I wanted in. Today’s podcast highlights some u...
Jan 21, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 118
Our guest for this week’s podcast, Rebecca Wilson Pselos, the President of Kite Tail Strategy. She began her career auditing Departments of Defense (DOD) and Homeland Security (DHS) major acquisitions. She then worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Inspector General, reviewing the agency’s approaches to leasing underutilized property, requirements development for Earth Science programs, and contracting services. More recently, she served as the Deputy Asso...
Jan 12, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 117
For our inaugural January episode. We bring you Jackie Santisteban. Maria Martinez the host of Making a Giant podcast met Jackie at a Miami SAME event where she led the training session for contractors. Of course in typical Giant form she invited her to be on our show. Ms. Santisteban's held sales and management positions with major medical technology companies such as Abbott Laboratories and Somanetics. As the Military/Government Business Development Director for a major physical security compa...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 116
My guest in this week’s podcast, Martha Daniel whom I had the pleasure to meet at the VIB Conference San Diego transformed Information Management Resources, Inc. (IMRI) into an award winning service disabled veteran business. She originally founded the company with a partner and after they separated she had to buy the company back from the original partner. With no money, she had to find a creative way to pull it off. Learn how she was able to raise the capital necessary to buy her ex partner ou...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 115
In this episode, my guest John Bowen is the President of Maintenance Services 360. Maintenance Services 360 LLC is an SBA HUB-Zone, FDOT DBE & Minority-Owned Economically Disadvantaged Small Business. John’s company is an established distributor for national manufacturers in industrial electrical parts, low voltage applications used for electric power transmission and OEM equipment solutions for rail automation and rail electrification. They also offer a comprehensive range of digital produc...
Dec 17, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 114
My guest for this week’s podcast episode is Talia Fox, the CEO of KUSI Global, Inc. A leadership strategist and a legacy builder, she has transformed thousands of executives over the last two decades in every sector, including major corporations in health, higher education, technology, and government. Talia has assisted leaders in the development of innovative strategies for some of the most critical and complex missions globally, including defense, wealth inequalities, racial and social justice...
Dec 08, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 113
In today’s episode, a previous Youtube Live video of me talking about the SBIC Program. An SBIC or Small Business Investment Company is a privately owned and managed investment fund that’s licensed and regulated by the SBA. So I have discussed some of the leading providers of the SBIC Funds and if you’ve never heard of a fund, you'll probably recognize some of the household names who have benefitted from these programs. The SBIC program is one of the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) fi...
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 112
