Small Business Set Aside
Firebird CEO Randy Lange leads a conversation with small business owners, leaders, and influencers in GovCon to discuss the issues of the day and discover the strategies that lead to sustained success in the market. www.firebirdast.com
Episodes
22 episodes
Shauna Weatherly: A former Contracting Officer Dishes the Goods
The best way to understand how contracting officers think and how they approach working with small businesses is go to the source. Shauna Weatherly has more than 30 years working in federal procurement and now brings that expertise to the...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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33:04
Eileen Kent the Federal Sales Sherpa
Eileen joins Randy to talk about how to come up with methodical roadmap to building your federal business. She talks about wandering in the “wilderness” of the federal sales landscape as she sought to sell to government customers all arou...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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36:45
Neil McDonnell: Government Contracting is not a secret, its just a process
GovCon Guru Neil McDonnell has been working in and around government contracting for twenty five years since leaving the Army. He was an airborne Ranger, Machine Gunner during his military service and he brings his approach of focusing on...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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41:25
Brendan Huff and Anomaly Six: The Answer is out there…you just have to know where to find it.
Army Veteran and long-time intel analyst Brendan Huff joins the show to discuss how his company helps to make sense of disparate data, offers his views on the trends in intelligence analysis tradecraft and its ever increasing velocity. Fi...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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35:26
Devon Hewitt: GovCon Legal Eagle
Devon Hewitt from Potomac Law joins Randy to help small business leaders understand how to protect themselves in negotiations with big firms, key pitfalls to avoid, and reminder that everyone is going to get knocked down at some point, so...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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40:39
A2 Federal: Young and Hungry
Carlos Salvat and Gabriel Cosentino join Randy to discuss their path as government contracting entrepreneurs. Like any good friendship, it started with one trolling the other and the rest is history. They speak to the power of their...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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37:32
Serial Entrepreneur and Wolf Den Co-Founder, Kevin Robbins, on how to find purpose and create value—in life and in business
Kevin is one of the busiest guys around the Beltway and Randy managed to pin him down for an hour to learn about how he “finally got a real job” in Government Contracting. Kevin talks about his journey from finance and onto foundin...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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52:15
Richard Phillips from Crossroads Capital
Longtime Beltway financial guru, Richard joins Randy to talk Private Equity and explain how it is deployed in the GovCon space and the ways in which owners might be able to leverage it to create value and build scale. If you’ve always won...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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43:57
Mark Amtower: Govcon Guru and Marketing Maven
Mark joins Randy on this episode and shares nuggets from nearly four decades of experience selling and marketing products and services in the government contracting market. He has literally “written the book” on how to drive brand awarene...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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46:33
Carol Monroe and Red Sky: Mission Focus Beyond the Horizon
Carol Monroe, the CEO and founder of Red Sky, joins Randy to talk about her journey from Ecuador to the US as a child, learning program management and government contracting from the ground up, and founding Red Sky to help her government client...
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36:40
Lori Larsen and Celestar Corporation: Succeeding in life and business through experiences, choices, and people.
Lori Larsen, Chief Strategy Officer of Celestar, kicks off season two of Small Business Set Aside. She joins Randy to talk about her journey from an uber-competitive family of high-achievers through ROTC in college and into Military Intelligenc...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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36:44
Learning to let go in order to maintain control as a leader: Dr. John Grinnell
In the final episode of season 1, John Grinnell—founder of Grinnell Leadership Group—sits down with Randy and discusses how he and his team use behavioral science, psychology, and the study of leadership to help organizations optimize their pot...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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40:23
Jason Miller from FNN: Reporting on, and covering the largest business market in the world—the Federal Government
In this episode, Jason Miller, Executive Editor of Federal News Network drops by the show and shares his insights into the issues he’s following in the federal contracting market. He reveals the three most influential—but little known—age...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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39:31
Joy Shanaberger and the Boone Group: “Nothing humbles you more than getting punched in the face”
In this episode, Joy joins Randy to share her company’s story and the inspiration of her great-grandmother who was the real-life Rosie the Riveter. She brings small business lessons from the boxing ring to include: “timing beats speed and...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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52:41
Brian Lindholm and FedSavvy Strategies: Avoiding the dumb stuff, doing your homework, and sticking with it so you can keep on winning
Brian joins Randy on this episode of Small Business Set Aside to talk about the value of market intelligence and making “savvy” investments to help your small govcon business grow. He also articulates some of the “sins” of proposal develo...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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35:44
From Courts to Sports to GovCon: Ross Wilkers, Sr. Staff Reporter from Washington Technology
In episode 6, Ross Wilkers from Washington Technology joins Randy to talk about the direction of the federal budget, current industry trends and the state of the M & A market in government contracting. As a born and raised DMV native,...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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52:58
Keeping a finger on the Pulse of GovCon: Amber Hart and Lisa Shea Mundt
In episode 5, Amber and Lisa sit down with Randy to talk about their business development support company, the Pulse of GovCon, and attempt to make sense of the craziness of trying to win work in government contracting. Their story of wha...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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56:27
Brian Meadows and the Alliance Group: Playing the Long Game
Brian Meadows joins Randy to talk about the importance of trial and error in his career path, the value of being patience in business and in life, and how a painful personal loss inspires him to help others.
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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37:28
Keeping Federal IT Simple: Adrian Rich and Simple Technology Solutions
In episode three, self-described “Chief Simpleton”, Adrian Rich joins Randy to talk about his journey as an entrepreneur and making technology simple and easy to understand for his Federal clients. Adrian shares how he knew it was time fo...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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44:35
The Aminad Consulting Story: The power of legacy, family, and heart in business
In this episode, Randy sits down with Lido Ramadan: Founder, President and CEO of Aminad Consulting to explore his journey as a highly successful entrepreneur in government contracting. Lido shares how the legacy and values of his parents...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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33:52
The Firebird Origin Story
In the inaugural edition of “Small Business Set Aside”, Firebird CEO Randy Lange interviews his partner and Firebird founder, Bruce MacNair, to explore the company’s founding, early days, and decade long journey to become an established small b...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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34:36