Simply put, xTechSearch gives me renewed faith in the Army and DoD.

The program makes me think that future startups with bold new ideas will be treated as productive US Citizens rather than as nearly Terrorists from some non-friendly country to the US.

Because, that’s how I felt when I applied to an SBIR: http://www.zipintothefuture.com/on-the-offensive-against-the-dept-of-defense/

That’s how Wes Schneider (inventor of what is now called the Camelbak) felt when he realized Natick was using his technology and not paying him as they’d given it to primes: https://jgpis.org/the-story-of-the-wesleyan-company/ (Read the FBI exhibits)

That’s how Jonathan Walkenstein of CANVS Corp. feels as he battled the Army in the Federal Court of Claims over misappropriation of his nightvision technology: https://www.law360.com/articles/837898/us-pays-14m-to-settle-night-vision-ip-fight-with-contractor.

That’s how all of the entrepreneurs in this article felt: https://jgpis.org/current-stories/u-s-government-competition-is-not-an-isolated-problem-the-time-for-action-has-come/.

I even made a post to give other startups advice about what to look out for: http://www.zipintothefuture.com/small-business-sbir-advice/.

We, the entrepreneurs with standards breaking technology, felt utterly BETRAYED by our government.

The government typically wants a prime to have our tech because we’re new and no one trusts us.
Never mind what we’ve sacrificed to produce the tech. Wes Schneider bankrupted himself to get his hydration technology fielded. Natick just waited him out…with soldiers’ lives at stake.
The government puts out solicitations for tech asking the public for help and then can turn around and take it from the original inventor and hand it off to someone else that it prefers.

My Generation, the Angry Millennials

We Millennials haven’t known a government that we’ve liked.
Thus, we’re really not as patriotic as older citizens…especially for those of us born after the ’80s and the Iran-Contra scandal.
We know the deceit. We were born into it. We’re not going to act like we don’t understand…we’re angry and we’re intelligent.

The Internet has made all wars nearly transparent. We don’t just have to believe what leaders say. We can Whatsapp our friends and families in war zones and ask, “Yo, r u under attack rn?”
So many people have immigrated here from those zones and integrated themselves into our lives as our fellow Americans.

So many of us believe that the American Dream is dead.
For me, personally, I found out through meeting older people suing the government, that often the government kills people’s American Dream to advance an already filthy rich corporation.

SpaceX and Palantir sued their way to fair treatment.
Some of us without that kind of money lobby (with sound arguments) and blog.

We know personally how angry we are at this country and our government. And, we know how to travel. The amount of US Expats is growing. Everything is global.
We don’t want to have to fight our government in order to help it.

What SpaceX and Palantir were forced to do is just the beginning.
There will be national security issues and economic disaster if the government does not work with its startups and small businesses to disrupt the incumbents.
That will range from citizens leaving the country with great tech concepts to citizens staying in the US but not submitting any more ideas for tech.

I’m glad the government is realizing that private and public sector competition is not sustainable.

Garage researchers like Wes Schneider and now like me cannot be expected to hand over tech to NSRDEC and keep quiet.
I can, have, and will continue to put all of my experiences online. I have personally received over 50 emails from entrepreneurs thanking me for this blog. I am inspiring other bloggers as well.

Things are moving faster and technologies are more deadly.
So, NSRDEC can’t so easily sit on technological advances to screw over people like Wes… and inadvertently cause Gulf War syndrome (https://jgpis.org/the-story-of-the-wesleyan-company/a-thought-for-an-unsung-hero-on-thanksgiving-day-2015/.)
The next chem/bio threat will likely need to be handled immediately or it could wipe us out.

We Millennials and/or our Millennial creations (recent ventures) have undertaken the effort to modernize our government mostly through adversarial pursuits (lawsuits, lobbying.)

So glad to see that our government is finally working with us and not against us.

I enjoyed my time at xTechSearch immensely. Whether or not I advance further will not change my opinions here.
I’m so happy that we are all moving forward to acting like we’re on the same team!
I feel as if my government is accepting my startup’s potential to help it…which is not what my comrades (like Wes and Jon) before me felt at all.
I would like to see xTechSearch continue and blossom and will do anything I can to help.
I don’t want there to be any more startups suing the government over what the Army calls ‘misunderstandings’ and the inventors call ‘misappropriation.’