Always follow the money. The government is concerned about "cyber-security type things" and there will be no end of shady and less-shady firms willing to charge millions of dollars for providing whatever the government thinks it wants (which is probably not what it needs).
And as you pointed out these firms don't operate in a vacuum, they form networks. They compete with each other but also look for a possible strategic partnership if one comes along.
The real key is to recruit someone who retired from the military or from one of the 3-letter-agencies. (At least ask them to serve on the board). Just that right there nets you an enormous amount of projects. You thought big enterprise runs on golf-ware, but big government projects also run on friend-ware and friend-of-a-friend-ware. It is very much an incestuous family.
Case-in-point:
"For eight years, government officials turned to Dennis Montgomery, a California computer programmer, for eye-popping technology that he said could catch terrorists. Now, federal officials want nothing to do with him and are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that his dealings with Washington stay secret."
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/us/politics/20data.html?_...
Always follow the money. The government is concerned about "cyber-security type things" and there will be no end of shady and less-shady firms willing to charge millions of dollars for providing whatever the government thinks it wants (which is probably not what it needs).
And as you pointed out these firms don't operate in a vacuum, they form networks. They compete with each other but also look for a possible strategic partnership if one comes along.
The real key is to recruit someone who retired from the military or from one of the 3-letter-agencies. (At least ask them to serve on the board). Just that right there nets you an enormous amount of projects. You thought big enterprise runs on golf-ware, but big government projects also run on friend-ware and friend-of-a-friend-ware. It is very much an incestuous family.