Terry Gerton: I want to talk in big pictures about your company, Prescient Edge. You went from startup to winning program of the year for naval AI work. What’s been the biggest driver behind that kind of growth and impact?
Alexander Granados: I would say you always start with the people, having good members within your team that are always thinking ahead, that are thinking, ‘OK, what is that client going to need to ensure that they meet mission success?’ And from Day 1, that has been at the cornerstone of who we are and what we do every day, and we’ve evolved from there. The program that we won on is called Task Force 59, the Navy’s Task Force 59. It was a task force that was created to integrate AI unmanned platforms in an environment where it was quasi-hostile. So it was headquartered out of Bahrain. The way we got there, we’ve done many other programs within the Navy that have dealt with unmanned platforms. We’ve done a bunch of programs within the Navy, within the Coast Guard, within the intel community that deal with AI. And so understanding that entire gamut allowed us to get to that point and be able to deliver something to the government that actually worked and it was helpful to the mission itself.
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Terry Gerton: Sounds like you span a wide variety of skill sets and disciplines in your company. What’s maybe one technology or approach that’s really changed the game for how you support these critical Navy missions?
Alexander Granados: It’s integrating best-in-class technology within the government ecosystem with government-owned products. You could bring in the best tech you want, talk about AI, talk about unmanned platforms, talk about a plane, talk about a ship. But if you can’t really integrate it within the government ecosystem, then you fail. A lot of people try to say, ‘OK, well, yeah, I built a beautiful car, and I know that’s going to add value to the government.’ But if you cannot integrate it, then, you can’t. So that’s really what we do really well. One, scouting that technology, I mean, I would be lying if I told you that we’re building the unmanned platforms, we’re not. But we’re scouting out there. OK, what is that technology that is not currently within the government and that it’s not being used within the government? Second is scouting away, can it actually integrate within the government? And then third, bringing it at a reasonable price and making sure that we are agile enough to be able to integrate it within the government ecosystem. It comes back to the integration of it. And then we build different platforms around it to, for example, AI platforms to streamline the data feeds that are coming in and out of these platforms and intake and being intaken by government products as well. So that end user, so it’s not just data that’s coming in, but it’s actionable data that can actually be utilized.
Terry Gerton: You mentioned there a couple of times integrating within the government ecosystem and I read between the lines to even say the defense ecosystem.
Alexander Granados: That’s correct.
Terry Gerton: Those are really complicated spaces. So as you’ve scaled your company, what’s been the most important decision that you’ve made to keep your innovation mindset inside that really complex procurement contracting space?
Alexander Granados: So I would say, and I’m pretty sure you hear this often, but it starts with people and technology, right? So it starts, what do you have in your back office? From Day 1, making sure we hire the best of the best, people that are innovative, people that care about the mission, they care about our national security. And I do have three things that I ask everybody who joins our company that they need to have. And I tell my kids the exact same thing, ‘Hey, everyday, if you are going to join the Prescient Edge family, you have to have these four things squared away.’ You have to be happy, you have to be positive, you have to work hard and you have to hustle. And if you have those four characteristics, you will succeed, and that has been part of our cornerstone of how we’ve been able to scale forward. Also heavily investing in our back office, both the program management of the people, but also the tech that they utilize to be able to skill. And that comes a lot to your question. So how do we keep that innovation moving forward? If we have all the basics squared away, then people could worry on innovating, integrating and really focusing on the mission. So when we were 20 people, we had a system that a thousand-person organization would do that. Was it costly? Very much. Was there a lot more than what we needed? Yes. Did it cost me a lot of money? It sure did. But you know what? It pays off because today, it has allowed us to scale in a way that most organizations would not be able to. Also, it’s all the partners that you have. So it’s not just our own people and it’s not just the technology, but it’s the partners that we surround ourselves with. So everything from banking, a banking institution that allows us to use Treasury correctly, right? To be able to scale when you go from 25 people to over 800 individuals, right? So you get the cash flow of that. So we use JP Morgan, making sure we have a good accounting firm. A lot of our plus contracts where we need to make sure that we’re following the government directives. We’re not going to be able to do that work and then back to the people, making sure we partner up with a benefits organization that lets us one scale but it’s giving our team the best benefits that are out there so that again, people are here to work, people are here and focused on the mission, but they also have families and we always have to look at that.
Terry Gerton: I’m speaking with Alexander Granados. He’s the CEO of Prescient Edge. I love that last answer. It’s really kind of like a hierarchy of needs approach so that your people really feel like everything is taken care of and can then focus on the mission at work.
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Alexander Granados: Yes, ma’am.
Terry Gerton: Speaking of those people, you’re in some of the most sensitive mission areas. How do you find and keep the kind of talent that you need to get clearances and manage the pace and work on these critical missions in this kind of challenging labor market?
Alexander Granados: It is a very challenging game, especially within what we do every day. I would say 98% of our workforce, our family, I don’t call it a workforce, I call it Prescient Edge family. Ninety-eight percent of our Prescient Edge family, they’re all highly cleared individuals because of the work that we actually support. And it all comes back to the culture that we created on Day 1, that the team has created from Day 1. Our values, our mission, and that those values and mission weren’t something that Alex one day said, ‘Hey, this is what.’ I set the initial team together and I said, ‘Hey, what do we create, what’s that mission and those values that we want to create together so that they help us continue to grow?’ And that has really helped us attract very good people. One of the things that I do as a CEO, for me, I’m a very hands-on approach individual. So I travel to see, we have people all over the world and I’m on a plane all the time. It’s not that much fun at times. But I’m always out there talking to people, talking to our family members and you could say, Well Alex you could be drinking your own kool-aid because they are going to tell you what they what you want to hear.’ But over and over and over again, I hear, ‘Hey, this is an organization that cares about us,’ right? And that culture is pivotal at making sure that we are able to attract other individuals with great talent. And every time I come back to the back office, I state to our people in the back office that work every day to support those individuals that are doing that work is understand why we’re here. We’re here to support them. We’re to continue to flourish within our culture, right? And again, our culture is back to a win-win culture. I tell everybody. You have to win first. When you walk in the door either to a client side or you walk in here at Prescient Edge, you personally have to look inside yourself and say, ‘OK, how am I personally going to win?’ Because if you personally win, then the client wins, national security wins. And at the end, Prescient Edge is going to win. So that culture has really allowed us to go in and bring in and foster growth within our ecosystem.
Terry Gerton: That kind of approach to workforce and culture probably then helps keep you on the leading edge of technology. AI is central to your mission. How do you help the agencies that you support adopt those kinds of high-tech, rapid transformational technologies in a way that is secure, mission-aligned, effective, efficient, smart?
Alexander Granados: Yes, ma’am. So it all starts with focusing on the different client missions. A lot of people, they want to provide something. If it worked for Client A, they want to go and provide it to every single time. So round peg in the square hole, I see that every day. For us, we’re very much focused on our client’s mission. And we actually go and build products that are actually going to help them. And how do we do that? We have the right subject matter expertise that are actually living the mission, not somebody that’s, ‘Oh, I’m a great technologist.’ There’s phenomenal technology. But if you don’t really understand the mission, that doesn’t help. So we actually partner up the technologists and the mission leaders together to be able to go provide a great product that actually is going to help. Same thing with technology. We talked about bringing outside technology to the customer as well. The exact same thing. How do we bring technology that is actually going to help them and help their mission? And then finally, set this multiple times, integration. How do truly integrate it within the system? Because you could have the best system in the world and it’s just going to sit on the side, but if you can’t integrate it and actually utilize it for what the government is paying, what we, you and I are paying because we’re taxpayers, then there’s no need. So that’s how we go bring that technology. That’s how we continue to be at the forefront of being a good short one of our government dollars, but also making sure that our national security is at the forefront.
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