For our season finale, Max Keenan (Founder, Aurelian) and Scott MacDonald (CEO, GovWorx) join the show to take apart what 911 is, what it's becoming, and what has to stay human.

Two founders. Opposite entry points into public safety. One shared North Star: the person in the chair.

We cover staffing, burnout, AI in non-emergency, NG911, the myth of the "big bang," and what winning actually looks like ten years from now.

They came at 911 from opposite directions.

Scott joined the Air Force at 22 because he needed a job, became a firefighter, got assigned to the alarm room on the 1 AM shift, and realized he got more out of taking the call than riding the engine. He built his first CAD system inside Microsoft Access.

Max was 22, automating phone calls for hair salons, when a salon owner called a non-emergency line about a blocked parking spot, waited 30 minutes, hung up, and dialed 911. He was lying on a friend's apartment floor because he couldn't afford a hotel room. He didn't know the industry existed he thought police officers answered the phone.

Two entry points. Same North Star.

A few moments that stayed with me:

→ "You train your team as Navy SEALs and you use them as mall cops." A 30% staffing shortage sitting on top of 70% non-emergency call volume. Max called it the greatest misallocation of labor he'd ever seen.

→ On why 911 companies fail. Not competition. "It's going to be suicide" — launching things that don't work, selling what doesn't exist. Max told the story of a vendor tapping him on the shoulder at a conference bar after he'd told a prospect "no, it doesn't do that": You should have just said yes.

→ On automation math nobody runs. If you automate 30% of your non-emergency calls, you may have just made the other 70% worse. Be a solution, not a hurdle.

→ On mental health as an existential threat. Maybe 2% of the population can actually do this job. Eleven known telecommunicator suicides this year alone. You can't stop the call from the mother who found her baby in the pool. You can stop the twelve hours of mandatory overtime every three days.

→ On what QA actually costs. One hour and seventeen minutes for a human to review a seven-minute call — covering 2% of calls. Scott's team has evaluated over 12 million.

→ On rigidity. One agency has 550 call types in their CAD. A call taker told Max she picks "physical altercation" over "fight" because she knows it gets a faster response. She knows the outcome. The system doesn't.

→ On the human in the middle. Scott wrote a blog post about being the person seated between two dinner guests who have nothing in common. That's the telecommunicator — translating panic into something real and durable. Machine can talk to machine. Human still needs a human.

→ On what winning looks like. Scott: "If all that's said in ten years is that there's more AI in 911, that's not a win." The win is a stronger profession — better retention, real reclassification, elevated recognition.

And the line I keep coming back to, for every dispatcher listening:

"The future is happening. Not around you, not without you — but with you."

This one runs long and earns it.

#911 #PublicSafety #EmergencyCommunications #NG911 #Dispatch #Telecommunicators #AI #GovTech #BeyondTheLaunch

What if your proposal problem is not really a writing problem?

In Episode 20 of Beyond the Launch, host Ivan Whitaker sits down with Sophie Kather, Managing Partner of Civic North Consulting, to explore why winning government contracts requires much more than writing a strong RFP response.

Sophie brings nearly two decades of experience across Revenue Operations, government contracting, proposals, sales enablement, cooperative purchasing, and public sector strategy. Her message is simple: proposals are an operations problem.

Ivan and Sophie discuss how GovTech companies can build repeatable systems around RFPs, improve go/no-go decisions, strengthen capture strategy, use data more effectively, and turn cooperative contracts into actual revenue.

They also explore the role of AI in proposal management, why organizations should stop chasing every opportunity, how sales enablement supports government contracting, and why data integrity is foundational to a strong RevOps strategy.

If you work in GovTech, public safety technology, government contracting, RevOps, sales, customer success, business development, or procurement, this episode is for you.

00:45 Welcome and introduction to Sophie Kather
02:53 Recognizing the broken pattern in government proposals
04:49 Navigating public sector procurement
06:58 How RevOps shaped Sophie's approach
08:45 What Revenue Operations actually does
09:27 The chaos before an RFP deadline
10:57 How to differentiate your proposal
12:42 Building a strong go/no-go process
14:22 When companies should walk away from an RFP
15:07 The top proposal improvement GovTech founders should make
16:36 Building a customized go/no-go scorecard
17:54 Grant strategy for nonprofits
19:33 How AI should be used in proposal management
21:17 AI writing versus authentic human connection
22:14 Why Sophie built Civic North Consulting
23:29 Turning NASPO, GSA, and cooperative contracts into revenue
25:59 Sales enablement in GovTech and public safety
27:36 What a strong RevOps team looks like
29:09 Why data integrity matters
31:16 Managing long public sector sales cycles
32:36 What GovTech founders need to know before writing
33:23 How to connect with Sophie
33:59 Closing thoughts

Sophie Kather is the Managing Partner of Civic North Consulting, helping GovTech companies, nonprofits, and public sector suppliers simplify grants, RFPs, contracts, and cooperative purchasing.

Learn more at CivicNorthConsulting.com.

Beyond the Launch, Ivan Whitaker, Sophie Kather, Civic North Consulting, RevOps, Revenue Operations, GovTech, government contracting, government procurement, RFP strategy, RFP response, proposal management, proposal strategy, capture strategy, go no go process, public sector sales, cooperative purchasing, NASPO, GSA Schedule, sales enablement, GovCon, public safety technology, customer success, AI proposals, artificial intelligence, business development, CRM data, procurement strategy

#BeyondTheLaunch #GovTech #RevOps #RevenueOperations #GovernmentContracting #GovCon #RFP #Procurement #SalesEnablement #PublicSector #PublicSafety #CustomerSuccess #AI #NASPO

What happens when a 911 center invests in the latest technology but forgets about the people expected to use it?

In Episode 19 of Beyond the Launch, host Ivan Whitaker sits down with Adam Timm, President and Founder of The Healthy Dispatcher, for a powerful conversation about why successful transformation in emergency communications starts with people, culture, trust, and leadership, not technology alone.

Adam brings a perspective forged from more than two decades in public safety. After beginning his career as a dispatcher with the Los Angeles Police Department, experiencing burnout firsthand, and ultimately transforming his own approach to the profession, he dedicated his career to helping 911 professionals and communication centers become healthier, stronger, and more resilient.

Adam explains why successful technology implementation begins long before go-live, why employees need to be involved early in the process, and how poor communication can create resistance before a new system ever reaches the floor.

They also explore the difference between simply deploying technology and achieving real adoption. Login numbers and system uptime may tell part of the story, but the real measure of success is whether dispatchers and supervisors trust the technology, understand its purpose, and believe it makes their work better.

03:08: Adam’s journey from LAPD dispatcher to creating a larger impact in 911

05:41: How “The Healthy Dispatcher” was born and why organizational health matters

08:13: What people-driven leadership looks like during major change

10:09: Why leaders must communicate early, often, and transparently

12:49: Why communication professionals can struggle to communicate with each other

13:11: How working the console shapes communication habits on and off duty

17:16: The biggest leadership mistake during a 911 technology go-live

17:36: Why employees must be involved before technology is selected

19:24: Creating a better blueprint for technology implementation and change management

21:09: Rethinking customer success in public safety technology

21:26: Adoption vs. utilization: Are people actually using and trusting the technology?

24:28: Why dispatcher satisfaction should become a measurable implementation metric

25:17: How better questions produce better employee feedback

25:47: Three signs that a 911 center’s culture survived a major technology change

29:16: Agency vs. vendor accountability when implementations struggle

30:19: Why the human side of change should be built into the project plan

32:46: The one leadership principle Adam wants every 911 director to embrace

34:18: Why genuinely knowing and caring about your people changes culture

36:02: The Healthy Dispatcher: training, consulting, culture assessments, and leadership development

38:08: Closing thoughts with Adam Timm

🎧 Listen, watch, subscribe, and share this episode with a 911 leader, dispatcher, supervisor, or public safety professional who believes the future of emergency communications starts with its people.

Featured Guest: Adam Timm
President & Founder: The Healthy Dispatcher
Host: Ivan Whitaker
Podcast: Beyond the Launch