Welcome to a special Tuesday-edition of Valley of Depth, powered by Integrate.
John Conafay spent years inside the space and defense worlds, from Spire to Astranis to the U.S. Air Force, and saw the same problem everywhere: complex programs were managed with spreadsheets, slide decks, and…crossed fingers.
So in 2022, he founded Integrate to fix it. What started as a scrappy startup with five engineers has since landed what he describes as one of the largest software contracts in Space Force history. We discuss:
- Why defense programs are still run on outdated, fragmented tools
- What Integrate actually does and how it’s different from Smartsheet or Microsoft Project
- How Conafay won a $25M Space Force contract
- The architecture choices behind real-time collaboration in classified environments
- Why internal tools and status quo software can’t scale with complexity
And much, much more…
• Chapters •
00:00 – Intro
01:57 – John's background
02:59 – What is Integrate?
04:02 – Pain points in complex project management
06:08 – John's interest in aerospace
10:01 – Core product at Integrate
11:20 – Why tools weren't implemented before
12:50 – DoD project management & efficiency loss
14:29 – Multiplayer coordination approach
16:19 – Hardest integration problem
17:40 – Security architecture
20:17 – Go-to-market & government entry
22:18 – $25M Space Force contract
26:14 – Future Space Force goals
27:59 – Government vs commercial customers
29:16 – Pricing
30:13 – Profitability, team, funding, scaling
32:23 – Ideal investor
33:20 – Competitors
34:50 – Competing with internal tools
36:01 – 10-year product vision
37:36 – Strategic risks in the next decade
39:42 – Hardest part of building Integrate
41:34 – Misconceptions about working with the DoD
42:55 – Advice for founders & younger self
43:53 – John in another life
• Show notes •
John’s socials — https://x.com/jconafay
Integrate’s socials —https://x.com/Integrate_co
Integrate’s website — https://integrate.co/
Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam
Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace
Ignition’s socials — https://twitter.com/ignitionnuclear /
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/
Tectonic’s socials — https://twitter.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/
Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/
• About us •
Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies.
- Payload: www.payloadspace.com
- Ignition: www.ignition-news.com
- Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com
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