Co-Founder & CEO — GovernmentGPT, Inc.

Co-Founder & CEO - GovernmentGPT, Inc.

Location:
Mountain View, CA (hybrid)

Backed by:
PatentVC / Trademarkia

Structure:
Co-founder, majority operating equity, seed raise is the first job

About GovernmentGPT

GovernmentGPT builds AI software and hardware for municipal police, fire, and military use. It grew out of years of direct research with law enforcement and a founding team with a real track record: our lead backer founded the predecessor to Nextdoor (NASDAQ: KIND), raised venture capital, sold to Google, and holds patents still licensed today. We come with hundreds of existing relationships with police chiefs, fire chiefs, and municipal leaders across the country.

We hold 14 U.S. and 8 international patent applications and a portfolio of products developed by inventors who worked directly in these sectors. That portfolio includes Dragonfly (an AI-enabled tactical vest and body camera), CivicVoice (public input gathering for municipalities), and Firefly (inference-assisted coordination for fire departments).

Why This Role Exists

We have proven demand. In 2024, ran 22 in-person buyer meetings with agencies including the Secret Service, DoD, and SOCOM. Our Dragonfly vest won TechCrunch Early Stage and was a top-selected startup at Web Summit and TechCrunch Disrupt. We reached a $1.5M State of Ohio contract with the Governor's approval. We reached final-decision-maker meetings at Founders Fund, a16z, IQT, Shield Capital, and Bessemer.

We also learned two hard lessons.

First, Dragonfly drew the most interest, but hardware is expensive and slow to build, certify, and ship. Getting a mission-critical vest production-ready meant raising well beyond what we could self-fund, and it exposed us to incumbent lock-in in public-safety procurement, where buyers on long-term Axon contracts and closed evidence systems struggle to adopt a new entrant.

Second, we spread ourselves across too many products. We have real IP and real signal, but no single line with a paying customer yet.

The takeaway is simple. We need to pick one lane and win it. That is the job.

The Reality

You should know the terms up front, because the right co-founder will respect the honesty and the wrong one will screen themselves out.

We are not hiring an employee. PatentVC and Trademarkia contribute the IP portfolio, initial capital, and a Sand Hill Road network. You bring the operating leadership, the sales, and the fundraise.

There is roughly six months of runway in the company today. Your first job is to raise a seed round that extends it. The cash below is deliberately modest and meant to keep you stable while you close that round. Once the round is in, your salary steps up as part of the raise. The equity, not the cash, is the real offer.

If you need market-rate cash from day one, this is not your role. If you want a real ownership stake in a company you can build from IP, demand, and a network that already exist, keep reading.

What You Will Do

Pick the lane. Evaluate Dragonfly, CivicVoice, Firefly, and other concepts against real buyer demand, sales cycle, capital required, and time to revenue. Weigh the pull of hardware against the speed and margin of software. Choose one bet. Shelve the rest. Focus is the whole game.

Raise the seed round. This is the clock. Use the IP portfolio, early customer signal, and our network to close capital before runway runs out. Your salary step-up and everything else depends on it.

Sell. Personally run the first sales cycles into police, fire, municipal, or defense buyers and convert pilots into paid contracts. Government procurement is slow and relationship-driven. You either know how to navigate it or you learn fast.

Reach product-market fit. Shape the product around what a paying customer will actually sign for, not what is technically interesting.

Build the company. Stand up the spinout as an independent entity, recruit a lean early team, and set the operating cadence.

Who You Are

You have sold into government, public safety, defense, or a comparably slow and regulated market, and you have closed real contracts. You have raised venture capital or are ready to own a raise end to end. You have taken something from zero to first revenue, ideally as a founder or founding executive. You are comfortable being the lead salesperson and the lead fundraiser at the same time. You can operate on scarce capital with urgency. You are decisive about focus, and you have the discipline to kill a beloved product to win with a better one. Security clearance, prior military or first-responder experience, or an existing government network is a strong plus.

Compensation

Cash: $80,000 to $110,000 base during the initial runway period, with a defined step-up to market rate upon closing the seed round.

Equity: Up to 30% co-founder equity, restricted stock vesting over four years with a one-year cliff. A portion may be tied to milestones such as first paying customer and first institutional round.

Runway: The company currently holds roughly six months of runway. Extending it through a seed raise is the central near-term objective and the biggest driver of your upside.