Building a public sector product pipeline requires understanding priorities in the short and long term, said Barry Duplantis, public sector general manager at collaboration platform Mattermost.
In an interview on the Sales Game Changers Podcast, Duplantis explained the importance of security and other challenges in selling novel technology to government customers.
He discussed the shift in the company’s cybersecurity approach transitioning from commercial to government clients, where IT defenses such as HackerOne are placed in multiple layers.
Duplantis also emphasized the benefits of collaborations and partnerships with competitors, or what he calls “co-opetition,” to startups like Mattermost.
“I think the challenge sometimes is, where people get hung up is, do they build, do they buy, and do they partner? Those three things happen, and it’s a matter of who wants to do either of those three options,” he said. “A lot of the things that I see is really about building those relationships and understanding the dynamics of the build, partner, or buy. Those all have a different workflow and different tasks associated with it.”