A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide

Much of the start-up ecosystem in this field is focused on city and county governments. This is a substantial market, as there are about three thousand counties and some twenty thousand cities and towns in the United States. Many cities and counties have procurement authorities that allow them to engage with (relatively) small companies for (relatively) small engagements, via request for proposal (RFP) processes that are relatively informal. You don’t necessarily need an entire department to win government business at these levels, but you do need someone in your company to become expert at it, and you need to be able to work with a slower sales cycle.