Second Front CEO Tyler Sweatt on Innovating in GovTech Alongside Salesforce Ventures

“We were not planning to do a formal round this year, but the opportunity to partner with Salesforce Ventures and its parent company Salesforce made this an opportunity we were not going to miss.”

Kevin Wu and Rob Keith

September 25, 2024

After leading Second Front’s $70M Series C round, Salesforce Ventures investors Kevin Wu and Rob Keith sat down with CEO Tyler Sweatt to discuss Second Front’s origins, why he decided to partner with Salesforce Ventures, his vision for the future of the business, and much more. The following is a transcript of their conversation, lightly edited for clarity and style.

Kevin Wu: What inspired the team to start Second Front?

Tyler Sweatt: The initial vision, which still rings true today, was to make it easier for commercial technologies to impact national security positively. When Enrique Oti and I joined following the seed round, we thought about a few different ways to get at the problem. As Enrique was retiring from the Air Force and bringing his knowledge from Kessel Run and DIU, the software approach seemed like the best bet. This idea turned into Game Warden, our flagship product. Coming to Second Front to launch Game Warden was a no-brainer once we got a wrangle on the impact we could have if we got it even close to right. Ultimately, our vision focused on helping to remove barriers between commercial software companies and the Department of Defense (DoD), helping the DoD to make their innovation dollars go further and to get better capabilities into experiments and programs.

Kevin Wu: How has the vision for the business evolved over time, if at all?

Tyler Sweatt: As we’ve continued to scale the impact we are making across DoD and moved into helping deploy workloads to classified, international, air-gapped, and commercial-regulated environments, the vision has expanded in an exciting way. Our vision today is to provide a design pattern for software to conform to. Once deployed through and running, we want this design pattern to be consumed across global national security. That means one pattern to ensure your software can be deployed and consumed in everything from autonomous vessels to satellites, government networks, commercially regulated environments, and everything in between. The impact this would have on global national security would be unbelievable. Ultimately, it would mean we’re powering software for the free world.

Rob Keith: Can you think of any key milestones that helped the business get to where it is today?

Tyler Sweatt: We spent the first year gaining support from senior U.S. government leadership to try something that had not been done before, securing support from the (at the time) Deputy CIO of the Department of Defense and the CIO of the USAF. Our first government contract to prove this was possible came from Cyberworx out of the Air Force. We were off to the races and quickly able to prove that moving software securely into government networks could be productized. We then launched commercially and started onboarding commercial applications. Organizations like OpsLab, Productable, Collaboration AI, and ULTRA were early adopters of Game Warden and helped us accelerate development. As we started to expand the team things really started to take shape and some of our early customers and partners drove us forward. Additionally, as we progressed through Series A and B funding rounds, our new investors and partners helped to accelerate rapid market expansion, leading to organizations like NATO and UK MoD working with 2F and Game Warden.

Kevin Wu: Tell us about your executive team. Why is this the right team to execute on your mission?

Tyler Sweatt: Our leadership team is amazing. We’ve got a mix of experience from commercial and government and a group of some of the most passionate folks in the game. Peter Dixon, our founder and now Executive Chairman of our Board sets a strong example of what strategic vision is and continues to reinforce that from the board. Michael Neumann (Chief Product Officer) brings experience from his time as a Chief Data Scientist at the CIA. Enrique (Chief Strategy Officer) helped to launch both the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and Kessel Run in the DoD. Add Matt Conner (CISO), who brings expertise gleaned from his time as the CISO at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and Westinghouse Electric and you can see the type of technical expertise and strategic vision our team has. Plus our new CTO Josh Bosquez and our product/technical leadership has never been stronger. Also, TJ Rowe was my first sales hire at 2F and now leads the GTM team as our CRO. I would challenge anyone to find me someone more passionate about the mission we are on than TJ. The only person I know who comes close is Mamie Cruse, who leads partnerships and alliances for us across the globe.

Rob Keith: Why did you decide to partner with Salesforce Ventures on your Series C fundraise?

Tyler Sweatt: We were blown away by how informed Salesforce Ventures was about the problem(s) we were solving when they approached us. We were not planning to do a formal round this year, but the opportunity to partner with the team across Salesforce Ventures and its parent company Salesforce made this an opportunity we were not going to miss. The rigor that Salesforce Ventures put in before coming to talk to us for the first time was impressive. The cold intro email itself was so thoughtful and well-written that it was impossible to not respond. The entire process was focused, thoughtful, and respectful of the time and energy we have on the startup side of the house.

Rob Keith: How do you foresee Second Front leveraging its partnership with Salesforce Ventures?

Tyler Sweatt: There are countless opportunities across both GTM and product for us to partner, and Salesforce Ventures provides a depth of experience and insight into many of the industries we support, setting the stage for a 10x “better together” outcome.

Kevin Wu: Any lessons learned from your fundraising journey?

Tyler Sweatt: You get out what you put in, so if you’re looking for an easy button, they still don’t exist. If you are looking to invest in and build a strong, patient, and committed relationship, then an investor like Salesforce Ventures might be the path for you. Private capital has allowed us to scale ahead of the market, investing in products and features to address market challenges sometimes before they are well-known in the market.

Rob Keith: How do you see the industry evolving, and what role will Second Front play in that evolution?

Tyler Sweatt: I think the relationship between commercial software and national security is sometimes overlooked and under-invested in. I’m excited about transforming that relationship by continuing to remove barriers and connect users and builders.

–

If you’re a founder building across AI, enterprise SaaS, or impact, we’d love to talk. To get in with Rob Keith, email him at rob@salesforceventures.com. To get in touch with Kevin Wu, email him at kwu@salesforceventures.com .

The Long Game: How Salesforce Ventures is Reimagining VC

Read Article

15 Years of Salesforce Ventures

Read Article