Despite the high barrier to entry in serving the military and intelligence agencies of the U.S. federal government, a three year-old start-up is doing quite well. Markon, which began operations in 2007, almost doubled its revenue and headcount in 2009 and is on pace for significant growth in 2010. "We're positioned really well. We've set ourselves up well to be cost competitive. And we think we're also better than the next guy," says President Matthew Dean.
The firm's positioning is, in part, a result of a desire to diversify across the federal government space. The firm is currently serving six different federal agencies. And the majority of the work is still "relatively small contracts, foot-in-the-door work," Dean says.
The firm may be small, but it is comprised of consultants with long histories serving the public sector. The firm is made of consultants that have worked for much larger public sector consulting firms, as well as professionals who have worked inside the agencies they are now supporting. Dean is a former BearingPoint consultant. Others at the firm previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM or are former military or intelligence officers. "It's a pretty good mix," he says.
