- Who is your ideal customer right now (not “in the future”)?
Ideal paying client (right now): A government workforce stakeholder that has (1) a mandate to place veterans into good jobs, (2) budget authority for workforce tools, and (3) pressure to show measurable outcomes (placements, time-to-employment, retention).Ideal “customer” organizations (right now): Utilities and manufacturing employers with high-volume skilled trades/technician hiring and a clear need to convert non-traditional experience into validated job readiness.Ideal end users (right now): Transitioning service members and veterans within 12–18 months of separation (plus recently separated vets) who need their skills recognized without résumé translation.- How did you choose this segment?
Government is the payer because they’re accountable for transitions and workforce outcomes and can fund scalable systems across regions/programs.- What are their top 2–3 pain points?
- Slow/inefficient placement pipelines and uneven outcomes across programs.
- Hard-to-prove ROI (limited visibility into “skills gained” vs “job obtained”).
- Fragmented ecosystem (training providers, employers, case managers, tools that don’t talk).
- How do they currently solve the problem today?
Government: contractors, training grants, job boards, case management, program reporting, and legacy assessments — often disconnected and slow.
- What surprised you or changed your assumptions?
- The buyer is the government, but adoption hinges on employers. If utilities/manufacturing managers don’t trust the signal, placements stall.
- “Translation” isn’t enough — proof is the unlock. Crosswalks help labeling; simulations + cognitive validation create confidence.
- Speed matters as much as accuracy. Governments want outcomes; employers want fill rates; vets want momentum.
- Different stakeholders want different receipts: government = metrics/compliance; employers = readiness + safety; vets = dignity + clarity.
- How do customers describe the value of your product in their own words?
Government: “We need a tool that moves people into jobs faster and gives us measurable outcomes we can defend.”
- What is the #1 feature or benefit they care about?
A trusted, job-relevant “skills proof” signal that produces role-fit evidence and makes military experience immediately actionable for hiring.
- What part of the value would they miss most if you disappeared tomorrow?
Government: a scalable way to convert funding into verified employability + placements, with defensible reporting.
- Is this a must-have or just a “nice-to-have”? How do you know?
As it’s funded from core workforce/transition budgets (not pilots-only), it’s a must-have because the buyer is treating our platform as mission-critical infrastructure, not an experiment. If this tool disappeared, they'll miss a goal they’re graded on.
- One signal metric that best represents whether people truly need your solution
Revenue: +$28K in revenue from the DOL for +8 employers onboarded this week; secured $120K+ per quarter for the next 3 years
- Where traction is strongest
Government stakeholders who are accountable for placement + retention metrics. We frame the platform as throughput + accountability infrastructure
- Where the product is failing
Making the platform suitable for all army departments
- What you will iterate next week
Product iteration