I am presenting "How to Pitch to a General: Presenting to a Military Audience" at the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon, 11 am 7 February 2026, UNSW Canberra. This is intended to be a short informal session, with plenty of participation from the members of hackerthon teams. Here is a preview, and some notes to start the discussion:
You can learn to pitch at a local innovation center. These are located within many universities, with others in cities and towns. An example are the Canberra Innovation Network's pitching courses. No special presentation techniques are needed for a military audience. Use the usual pitch techniques. It is important to keep to time and don’t be surprised if the time provided is shortened over that promised. Expect interruptions and blunt questions. As always, have a call to action: what do you want the audience to do?
If you have the time and the talent, consider an interview approach, where you, as the promoter of the product, talk to a military user of the product.
Offer something new, but not too new: Say this is what our allies are doing. Entrepreneurs often make the mistake of claiming their invention is completely radically new. But military operations, particularly Australian ones, are about cooperating with other countries. If you can say the military of a respected ally is using your product, or another product using your approach, that will be appreciated.
Like all of us, generals are subject to FOMO: Fear of Missing Out. If you can show that their counterparts in other countries are embracing your product, then they will want it as well.
In 1997 I wanted to convince the Australian Defence Force that Internet technology was usable. So I visited the flag ship of the US 7th Fleet on exercise off Queensland. On my return I was able to say how I saw US military personnel using the Internet and the web for planning.
Major defence companies have former senior military personnel and government officials on staff to help get to senior decision makers. Startups do not have those resources, but can approach the decision makers via their staff. These staff are exposed to new concepts and products at the usual trade shows and during training.
The military train staff at their own facilities and universities. The educators are always keen to expose their students to new concepts and techniques. You can have the students try your product, or even help develop it.
For several years students of the Australian National University assisted with test software for the CEA Phased Array Radar. The Australian Government liked the product so much that in 2023, they purchased the company.
