Get a product to the soldier who has the problem but not the budget

What the people stuck here are trying to get done

When the operator who would use my product does not hold the budget and the procurement chain is long, I want a way to reach frontline units and test with them directly, so I can learn what works before a top-down order ships something soldiers rip apart.

Who needs it solved

Dual-use founders whose product soldiers would use, and the Canadian forces who otherwise receive equipment nobody tested with the people who carry it.

What makes it hard

Canadian procurement runs top down, so kit reaches soldiers untested by them: Matt's examples are the rucksack with metal stays that soldiers pulled out, and the armoured vehicle that slowed the advance (RG-31). He says the procurement system will not be fixed right away.

“How do you approach the operator? The operator usually doesn't have the budget, like doesn't hold the money, the purse to do so. Right. This is, this is tricky. So you have to get right to the very front, right to the people who want to use it, who have these problems.”

“in procurement in Canada, it's pretty much going top down. This is how you can end up with a rucksack that you pull the metal beams out of or an RG31 [a mine-protected armoured vehicle] that is, you know, should never leave the road.”

“No, not right away.”

What exists today

Partial paths Matt names today: the IDEaS program, Minerva and Area X.O, which give founders access to Canadian units for field testing. The 27:52 line answers the host's question whether Canada's procurement is going to be fixed.