About Greer
Greer Carper is a strategic mastermind who jumped ship from the corporate finance world at Boeing to navigate the uncharted waters of corporate development and strategy at Fortem Technologies. With a knack for number-crunching and a serious love for all things defense and aerospace, Greer's 15-year journey has taken him on a wild ride through the realms of strategy, M&A, partnerships, and financial planning. His time at Boeing taught him two crucial lessons: defense contracts are a long game, and knowing your customer is everything.
From Delivering Packages to Defending Airspace
Fortem Technologies isn't your average drone company. These guys are focused on taking down hostile drones using a lethal combination of radar, AI, and the DroneHunter system. But before they were saving the day from rogue drones, Fortem was busy developing lightweight radars for run-of-the-mill stuff like package delivery and air taxis. When the commercial drone world hit some turbulence (thanks to regulatory muck), Fortem pulled a 180 and set its sights on the defense market.
Fast forward through some SBIRs and OTAs with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and boom: the DroneHunter was born. The system can catch hostile drones with a net like it's no big deal. Now, Fortem's systems are deployed all over the world.
Key Takeaways
SBIRs are for testing the waters, not building a business. Fortem learned the hard way that SBIRs are great for making sure your tech actually works, but they won't give you a finished product. The end of an SBIR is just the beginning of the customer discovery journey.
Prototype OTAs are the secret sauce for field testing. Fortem's prototype OTA with DTRA was a game-changer. By moving beyond R&D and design work to limited fielding and sending field service representatives forward to support evaluation of the system, the team learned how DroneHunter needed to be deployed and maintained in real-world scenarios.
Selling overseas? Pack your patience and your bags. Fortem quickly realized that selling the DroneHunter internationally was no walk in the park. We're talking 18-24 month sales cycles, local partners, and more live demos than a traveling circus. Customers needed a crash course in counter-UAS solutions and often had to integrate the DroneHunter with their existing (and often inferior) systems. In-country partners and live demonstrations were a major unlock.
In the counter-UAS world, you snooze, you lose. The cat-and-mouse nature of drone warfare means that counter-UAS solutions can become obsolete quickly. Fortem sees an emerging trend towards "counter-UAS-as-a-service," where system integrators provide equipment, updates, spares, and logistics to enable faster deployment and more agility in the face of evolving threats. They handle all the heavy lifting so their customers can stay one step ahead of the bad guys.
If you can't show it, you can't sell it. Fortem learned that to make it in the counter-UAS biz, you need to be able to put on a killer live demo, anytime, anywhere. Fortem invested heavily in their own ability to demonstrate their solutions live, both domestically and internationally — today they have a dedicated team of a dozen people focused solely on professional services and customer demos. They don’t just fly DroneHunter, they also fly the target drones themselves.
Greer's journey with Fortem Technologies offers valuable insights for defense tech startups looking to cross the valley of death and achieve scale in the defense market. By staying close to customers, investing in organic capabilities, and remaining agile in the face of evolving threats, Fortem has positioned itself as a leader in the rapidly growing counter-UAS space.
To learn more about Fortem, check out their website: https://fortemtech.com/
And you can connect with Greer on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greercarper/
Season 2 Episode 6: From Commercial Radar to Counter-Drone Leader