Pentagon names Microsoft and Amazon as $10B cloud contract finalists
I tried to build a VC backed startup that sold a SaaS product to state and federal governments. The procurement process for the government is so horrible and broken that it blew me away. From first conversation to signed contract will take 2 years minimum. It's filled with legal challenges, back room deals, inefficiencies, a ridiculous RFP process. You run out of money before you even get your first contract signed.It was so strange to me to sit in meetings and talk about how we could make them so much more efficient and they would talk about having the problem solved in 5 or 10 year timelines. Having spent most of my career at Microsoft and Netflix where a year feels like an eternity, it's just a completely different world.