Join host Rod Loges and guest Guy Timberlake as he shares nearly four decades in federal contracting, how he and his wife built The American Small Business Coalition from a membership organization into an education and training ecosystem, and why he believes government contracting is a marketplace you bring your industry to, not an industry itself.
- How Guy’s wife’s idea to leave corporate America became the American Small Business Coalition in 2004, starting as a membership organization before evolving into an education and training model built around a framework named after an Air Force command
- The 2004 phone call Guy made to a 15-person company led by a service-disabled, retired Green Beret, asking him to meet on a street corner in Arlington for a federal opportunity he couldn’t name, which led to a $3 million contract in the Green Zone in Iraq and a company now doing upwards of $700 million a year
- Why Guy tells founders not to start a company for government contracting, but to start a company around their expertise and then see if the applicability is there in the federal marketplace
- The marketing wall that word-of-mouth businesses eventually hit, and how ASBC worked through it after years of relying on reputation alone
- Working with combat veterans who take risks that would scare most civilian founders because fear has “a whole different look and feel” for people who have served in combat
- Guy’s new book “Making It to Base Camp: Mt. Enimacaldo,” a business fable about three entrepreneurs trying to crack the code on government contracting, which one reviewer called “not a book, but a mirror”
- What Guy sees in military founders that sets them apart: discipline, process-driven problem solving, and a willingness to punch up against larger companies in unrestricted opportunities
- His advice to every founder entering federal contracting: give yourself grace, because nobody was born knowing how to do this
- Government contracting is not an industry. It is a marketplace. Bring your industry to it rather than building a company around it
- Positioning yourself in the right places while being prepared to act when you get there is what separates companies that grow from companies that stall
- Word of mouth will carry a business for years, but at some point the need to grow beyond what that well provides becomes real, and if you don’t know actual marketing, you will hit a wall
- Give yourself grace when entering federal contracting. You are allowed to not know things, and learning the fundamentals before chasing contracts is not falling behind
- Being a military veteran is a superpower in this space because of the discipline, training, and problem-solving instincts that come with service
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guytimberlake/
- Website: https://theasbc.org
Guy “Go-To-Guy” Timberlake doesn’t teach theory. He teaches what he tested himself, over 38 years in and around federal contracting. Today he is Chief Visionary Officer, CEO, and Co-Founder of The American Small Business Coalition (The ASBC). People, companies, and agencies have looked to The ASBC as a trusted resource since 2004, because getting sh!t done, and done well, in government contracting is what The ASBC has always been about.
In 2009, Guy created the Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors® methodologies and operating system, the flagship doctrine behind everything The ASBC teaches. Built on ground truth-based intelligence, strategic market positioning, and risk understood from the perspective of contracting officers and their customers, it was never theoretical. Guy tested it in the field, refined it through repetition, and documented it only after it proved itself. That work now reaches a wider audience through the GettingFED™ with Go-To-Guy Blog, Live, Livestream, and On-Demand content, and, in book form, through GettingFED™ KitchenWERX™, The ASBC’s imprint for publishing.
Guy leads The ASBC’s delivery of that doctrine through the AETC framework, Awareness, Education, Training, and Coaching. The results speak for themselves: over $8 billion in documented contract and subcontract revenues for companies competing on major federal procurements including DoD DLITE, DIA SIA, and a host of other agency-specific and multi-agency contracts and contract vehicles.
He earned his “Go-To-Guy” call sign in the 1990s, when Air Force and Navy acquisition professionals consistently directed colleagues his way: “go to Guy to ensure the job is done right.” That reputation for delivering results is why results over rhetoric, intelligence over guesswork, and evidence over assumptions define how he works.
Looking ahead: Guy recently published Making It to Basecamp: Mt. Enimacaldo, a business fable and practical guide for founders entering or restarting in federal contracting, available through GettingFED™ KitchenWERX™. The ASBC continues expanding its education and training reach through the AETC framework, with over $8 billion in documented contract results behind the methodology Guy built and tested over nearly four decades.
The MilCom Founders Podcast champions and celebrates military community business founders. Each episode brings practical insights from successful veteran entrepreneurs.
Sponsored by One Degree Financial: www.onedegreefinancial.com
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