Eighteen months versus two years

That’s the gap founders are working with. Eighteen months is roughly how long most startups have before their funding runway runs out. The MOD, their biggest potential customer, can take up to two years to close a deal, though this is something the MOD is actively working to improve through its own programmes, such as Office for Small Business Growth and UK Defence Innovation (UKDI).

One of the fastest ways to close that gap is to partner with a company already established in the space. Startups typically have deep technical expertise but limited routes into MOD. For Hadean, partnering with a company like Palantir, which already has established channels, complementary data platforms and experience navigating procurement, opened doors that would otherwise take years to reach alone.

Hardware, software, and why they sell differently

Physical equipment costs more upfront and takes longer to test, particularly for things like autonomous surface vessels. But MOD buyers tend to understand what they’re looking at. Software is quicker to build and iterate. It’s historically harder to sell, since decision makers are more used to buying something tangible than an intangible capability.

Procurement is its own skill

MOD contracting is uniquely burdensome, largely down to compliance and security requirements. The advice from the room was direct: bring in a dedicated contracting or capture specialist who has navigated MOD procurement at your specific growth stage before. It’s a distinct skill, not an extension of general commercial sales experience.

Grants get you started. They don’t get you far.

Small government grants are useful early on. They help prove your technology works, reaching what’s often called a specific technology readiness level and buy some credibility with early customers and partners. But they’re one off, policy-driven and come with a fair amount of bureaucracy attached.

Venture capital tends to do more over the long run, not just through the money itself but through the relationships, sector expertise and strategic connections investors bring with them.

One pattern worth watching for: companies that have just closed their first proper funding round often spend too much on sales and marketing at the expense of continued product development. In a market where buyers are technically demanding that trade off can cost more than it saves.

Don’t put all your eggs in one MOD

Sales cycles here can stretch well beyond two years, compared to a matter of weeks in commercial tech. Looking to other allied markets, such as the US, NATO members and wider Europe, or even non-defence customers like healthcare and emergency simulation, can help keep cash flowing while bigger contracts move through their own pipeline.

What makes an advisor useful

A senior name with a big network sounds valuable. It isn’t always what moves a company forward. What tends to help more is an advisor who has directly built a company at your specific stage, understands the operational gap you’re trying to solve and can speak the language of the sector you’re selling into.

Resilience matters just as much as strategy here. Managing cash flow while waiting on delayed contracts takes a real toll, and keeping a team aligned is harder still when some of them didn’t originally sign up to work in defence.

A few mistakes came up repeatedly: underestimating how long procurement, security clearances and testing take, presenting broad technology capability rather than the one specific problem being solved and underestimating how fragmented the market really is.

It’s worth working out the total addressable market for each individual contract, rather than assuming the sector is your market.

Getting started

Founders were encouraged to use established access points such as the Office for Small Business and Growth, UKDI and regional defence clusters, rather than trying to find a way in cold.

Appointing advisors who’ve directly walked the path at your specific company stage matters more than a senior name. So does knowing your own strengths and weaknesses clearly enough to identify where you need domain expertise around you. The last piece of advice was simple: read widely, talk to people who’ve worked in and around defence and the military and keep learning from founders who’ve already scaled through the stage you’re at.

When asked about the most effective route from an interesting piece of technology to a properly funded defence pilot, the advice was to start with online innovation grant programmes and small technology readiness level grants, for example through UKDI, NATO DIANA or Innovate UK, to establish proof of concept. From there, connect directly with regional defence clusters to find strategic partners, primes or university networks tackling specific, pre-funded problem statements.

For founders just starting out, the easiest routes to early concept funding are usually partnering with a university or an already accredited organisation, or applying for small proof of concept grants, such as targeted £60K challenge grants, aimed at one specific technical problem.

Small steps like these add up to something bigger. Defence has its own timelines, its own buyers and its own rules, and most founders only learn that once they’re already in it. Ross and Rodney’s advice, more than anything, was to learn those rules early rather than the hard way, and to find people around you who already know them.