Dual Use Tech with Ari Schuler and Andrea Garrity

Village Global's Solarpunk

Ari Schuler, CEO of goTenna, and Andrea Garrity, Chief Growth Officer of goTenna, join Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon join us on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:
- goTenna was founded after Hurricane Sandy when a brother and sister didn’t know if the other was safe because the cell network weren’t working. It has since grown into the company that it is today, selling to government as well as consumers.
- Ari and Andrea suggest that startups refrain from complaining or dwelling on how tough the procurement system is to navigate in the US government. They say “pass the test, don’t fight the test.”
- Andrea says that much of innovation is personality driven — finding the right people who will run through walls when everyone else gives up.
- There is plenty that they would change about the government procurement system. If one agency has found a tech useful, other agencies should be able to also use that tech without going through all the paperwork and bureaucracy over again.
- The fact that US doesn’t manufacture much at home and would be stranded if a major war started tomorrow is of concern to them.
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