Greg Berry is the founder of Municibid, a marketplace for government organizations and agencies to sell their stuff, like cars, trucks, police cars, educational equipment, furniture, electronics, lawn and leaf maintenance, engines, electronics… I’m just seeing about everything on their site.

Greg comes from a background in serving in public office. That led him to discover this major problem: gov agencies accumulating a lot of stuff and not getting the full value from it.

We talk about building products for and selling to governments. What it’s like to work inside gov, the mentalities, and the problems they are facing that need to be solved one way or another. We talk about the inefficiencies and, at least, my frustrations with technology and how gov’s approach technology and why they seem to be living in the stone age.

This conversation gave me a lot of insights to think about, I’m sure it will do the same for you. Enjoy!

Episode Notes

[2:29] Where the idea of Municibid comes from. How Greg ended at his city council and what looks like working at a public elected office.

[13:21] Mentality and requirements at governments. How an entrepreneur can fit a business in public spaces.

• “[At the council,] we have a list of problems, and we have to work them with a political agenda beside them.”
• “The biggest challenge was getting governments to try something new.”
• “I’ve got some municipalities to try it and it worked so well that they thought there was something wrong.”
• “The challenge of working with governments is an opportunity for entrepreneurs.”

[24:09] Approaching, marketing, and selling to public agencies.

• “Direct mail still is our number one marketing channel for getting governments on-board.”
• “The proposal process can take from two months to a year.”

[33:10] Insights and opportunities for entrepreneurs in governments.

• “When you are dealing with government you’re going have to plan to be in it for the long haul.”
• “Make sure that they think they came up with your idea, and not that you did.”

Links

• Greg Berry on Twitter
• Greg Berry’s company, Municibid
• Greg Berry on The Tropical MBA