Program offices now ask an assistant what is out there before they write a solicitation. So do primes looking for a partner and officers making the case for a pilot.
The answer names software it can describe. What mission it serves, where it can run, what it is approved for and how a government buyer can buy it.
Throughline reads what the assistants tell defense buyers each week, and which pages they lean on. A growth strategist sets the plan, and we draft the public pages that are missing.
This page is for seed to growth stage software companies that sell to defense and national-security buyers. Many are dual-use, with a commercial product and a version for government.
You might build mission planning, coordination, sensor fusion, counter-drone or autonomy software. Or logistics, readiness, training or AI tools for staff work.
Your buyer is a program manager, an innovation officer at DIU, AFWERX or UK Defence Innovation, a contracting officer or a prime’s capture team. The person who pulls for the pilot is often an operator in a unit.
They trust people who have served and programs that have shipped. Before they take a meeting, they ask an assistant.
A young company is often named when the question asks for startups. When the question asks for a fix to the buyer’s own problem, the answers name the incumbents whose pages say what is approved.
Named as a startup, or named as the answer?
A buyer rarely asks for a startup. They ask for a fix to a problem, on the networks they run. Here is one week of answers for a young defense software company.
What does Throughline read for a defense software company?
Once you connect them, your own tools come first. The CRM shows every pilot, who asked for it and where it stalled. Product data shows which pilot users came back in the second week.
Search Console compares mission and accreditation searches with branded ones. LinkedIn shows which posts officers, program staff and primes engaged with.
Then come the questions. Each week the watch asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity what a defense buyer asks before a pilot.
Which software helps a staff plan faster? Which tools are approved for IL5 or IL6 work? What runs at the tactical edge with no link back? What could a DIU program office pilot this quarter?
Most of it runs in English, for US, UK and NATO buyers. Some runs in Swedish, such as “Vilka svenska bolag levererar programvara för ledning och samverkan?”
Each answer is saved with who it named and which pages it used.
Then the market. A new solicitation or a change to the rules changes what buyers ask. The scouts watch solicitations, trade press and rival launches, so a page is ready the week the question starts.
What do we find when program offices ask an assistant?
The findings follow the path a defense buyer takes. First the question, then the accreditation check, the pilot and the step to production. Each one says where it was read and what could make it wrong.
The company is named when buyers ask for startups. It goes missing when they ask for a fix to their own problem, and the answers name incumbents instead.
Buyers ask about their problem, not about startups. A page that names the problem and the unit it serves gives the assistants something to quote.
Answers about approved or accredited tools name the large cloud suites. The company has no page that says where it runs and what it holds.
Buyers check where software can run before they read anything else. Saying plainly what you hold, and what you do not hold yet, is what the answers quote.
Pilot requests moved with the weeks a founder talk or a trade-press piece went out, not with the product page.
Defense buyers trust people who have served and programs that shipped. The founder’s own words, in public, travel further than the product page.
What do we draft for defense buyers?
We draft the public pages a defense buyer checks. We write for operators and program staff.
A mission page per problem says what the software does, for which unit, and what it replaces.
An accreditation page says where the software runs, which Impact Level it is built for and where its ATO stands. It covers FedRAMP, CMMC, ITAR and edge or air-gapped use, as far as each is true.
A buying page says how a government buyer can buy it, through a CSO, an OTA, SBIR, Tradewinds or a prime. Integration pages cover TAK, CJADC2, NATO standards and the systems a unit already runs.
A facts page puts your founders, backers and base in one place, so the answers stop guessing.
Short clips show the product on test or synthetic data. No operational, classified or controlled detail appears in any draft.
A growth strategist on our team plans each piece, directs our agents through your own material and edits every line. Each draft arrives in your site’s own format, ready to publish.
Your security officer and export-control lead check anything sensitive, and you approve. You decide what is public. Nothing goes live without that yes.
Every page is tested against the questions defense buyers ask before it goes live. A week later it is read again.
- PageMission page for one problem, in the operator’s words$6.40
- PageAccreditation and deployment, only what is public$6.40
- PageHow to buy us, from a CSO to a prime’s contract$6.40
- BriefBriefing notes for a trade-press article$2.60
- Video45s from a demo on synthetic data$10.80
- SocialThree posts for the founders, from the talk$0.90
The amounts are the machine cost of each draft, made under your growth strategist’s direction. Your approval comes after. If a draft takes more runs to get right, those runs are on us.
Which numbers move, and by how much?
Defense buyers look for software that has shipped and is accredited to run. A young company with a strong product gets named on the startup lists.
It goes missing for the questions a program office asks. Those answers move when each mission and each accreditation has a page that answers it.
They move faster when the company’s own facts agree everywhere. How fast depends on what you can say in public.
We check the answers every week. They move month over month, not week to week, so your receipt reads them by the month.
| The number | How it moves | What the size of the move depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Problem questions where the company is named | From the startup lists to the missions it serves best | How many missions it can describe in public |
| Answers that quote the company’s own pages | From rarely to the questions it answers best | How much of its accreditation is public |
| Pilot requests that name an assistant or a search | Recorded at the request, and rising with the pages | Whether the request form asks |
| Answers that get the company’s facts right | From guesses to one set of facts | Whether the profiles elsewhere are corrected too |
| Time from a new solicitation to the page that answers it | From months to the same week | How quickly the team can review a draft |
The incumbents are named because their accreditation pages are everywhere. A clear page on one mission, written with people who have done the job, is open to any company that can write it.
What happens in the first thirty days?
- Week 1The weekly watch of what defense buyers are told begins from your public pages. No access is needed. The CRM, product data and search connect when you choose.
- Week 2Your Visibility Plan arrives. It shows each buyer question, who is named, which pages the answers use, and which gaps to close first. It also shows which facts about you the answers get wrong.
- Week 3The first mission page, the accreditation page and the facts page are drafted. Your security officer checks them and you approve.
- Week 4The first receipt arrives. It shows what shipped, what it cost and what moved.
Questions people ask
Can you write about defense work without touching anything sensitive?
Yes. We work only from what you can say in public. Your security officer and export-control lead check every draft, and you decide what goes out.
We are dual-use. Do we need two sets of pages?
Often, yes. A commercial buyer and a program office ask different questions. The watch reads both, and the pages share one set of facts.
Our ATO is still in progress. What can we publish?
What is true today. The page says where you run now and what is under way. It changes the week your status does.
Who on our team approves the work?
Usually a founder. Your security officer checks anything sensitive. Every approval happens in one queue.
Where do we start?
With the AI visibility check. A growth strategist reviews how AI assistants see your company and replies within two business days. A call then sets the scope.