David Blackburn’s Post

View profile for David Blackburn

CEO/Founder of OrangeSlices AI 🍊; Former CEO/Founder of G2Xchange; 🚫Not a GovCon Influencer

#CGO #Fired - I knew it was just a matter of time. I heard from a Chief Growth Officer friend over the weekend that they were let go late last week. The reason: their CEO just found out that they they have been using a "GovCon AI tool" that is owned and operated by two of their primary competitors and the CGO did not know it. Never asked the question. Never did the research. They were embarrassed that they did not know, but they reviewed and recommended the tool and knew it was on them. Dozens of new tools have entered the GovCon space in the last 24 months and other established players now have equity backing by current GovCon IT services providers (some of whom may be direct competitors), who can (not saying they do) access key data about any organization (content, clicks, likes, shares, key employee information, IP addresses, what opps you are looking at/clicking on, etc). Do you need to move away from a tool that you have come to know and love if you find out this is the case? Absolutely not, but this is a good reminder that it is the responsibility of the growth leaders to know this information and do the research. Some have gone as far as to ban the use of these tools ( to include blocking access to certain sites) from all employees, while others proceed as is, but they do so with their eyes wide open and a plan.

Christian Ferreira

CEO @ Procurement Sciences AI | Transforming How Businesses Find, Win, and Deliver Government Contracts with AI | USMC Veteran

11mo

Absolutely crucial. It's essential for people to dig deeper and examine the details. Currently, nearly half of the GovCon AI tools are owned or operated by parent companies that compete in the same NAICS codes and are likely bidding on the same contracts.

Sean Doherty

CEO at GovDash - AI platform for winning government contracts

11mo

Wow, that's crazy. Reminded me of our conversation about this exact topic https://lnkd.in/eDA2dDTx

Nicolas M. Chaillan

Founder of Ask Sage, Bringing Generative AI to Gov | Former U.S. Air Force and Space Force Chief Software Officer (CSO) | Pilot

11mo

Since we was probably using Ask Sage, Inc. As we got 90+% of the market, tell him we are hiring 30 folks.

Alexander Cohen

Specialized AI for writing Federal RFPs

11mo

Spot on and sorry to hear about your friend! In this space, security and trust are the most important. Foundationally, companies trust us to protect their information because every word, every sentence, can make the difference in winning or losing a bid. To provide this security, we create secure, containerized instances for each customer to ensure that their data and trade secrets are protected at all times.

Laura Bennett

Business Development and Capture Expert | Certified Executive Leadership Coach

11mo

Timely reminder!

Lori Faye Fischler

Growth Strategist - Pipeline Build & Maturity - Capture Connector - GWAC&IDIQ Evangelist

11mo

Good reminder - thanks for sharing this story and insights.

Avery Hart

SAM/USA Spending/FPDS GovCon Data Nerd

11mo

Good insight!

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Jane Hite-Syed

Chief Operating Officer

11mo

Thanks for sharing David. So important in the world of the unknown.

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Nilson Ivano

Founder at Linkmate | Effortless LinkedIn Leads | 7x More Visitors to Your Profile

11mo

Valuable insights! Continuous research is crucial for growth leaders.

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Lawrence Arnett

Enterprise Solution Architect | Enterprise Architect | IT Strategist

11mo

A timely reminder of the importance doing thourogh research. Insightful.

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