Defense / GovTech
JUNTO
A Navy-funded software program that started as a product idea and became a $1M+ program — built and pitched from the Naval Academy.
A Navy-funded software program that started as a product idea and became a $1M+ program — built and pitched from the Naval Academy.
JUNTO started as a product idea while I was a midshipman at the Naval Academy. I built the application, pitched it to senior Navy leadership — including the Undersecretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations in 2020 — and secured $569K in initial funding.
The project grew into a million-dollar program with a software team based out of Georgia Tech. It was my first real education in navigating government procurement: the legal constraints, funding gaps, and the pace at which bureaucratic institutions actually move.
"I was almost kicked out of the Naval Academy for it. That's how I knew it was worth doing."
When the program ran out of money, the team was legally prohibited from working on the app until new funding cleared — sometimes a month or more. The project was eventually transferred to another team. I walked away with a hard-won understanding of what the private sector offers that government never can: speed, ownership, and compounding leverage.
Government procurement rules aren't just red tape — they're a moat that makes private-sector speed feel like a superpower. The next company I build will be in the private sector, where ownership compounds.