Engineering Federal Platforms That Scale, Endure, and Exit
Our system transforms federal contractors into acquisition-grade platforms.
ABOUT GRAVITON>
Graviton builds federal growth platforms designed to expand enterprise value and prepare companies for acquisition.
When private equity firms, venture investors, and founder-led companies engage us to build a federal platform capable of scaling, the work begins the same way: by installing the architecture required for scale.
Federal contractors do not mature through activity. They mature through structure.
Graviton installs that structure—moving from diagnostic truth, into engineered platform design, through operating execution, and ultimately into enterprise value creation.
Each stage builds on the last. Together, they form the operating system behind every federal platform we engineer.
Explore the Federal Platform Diagnostic →
Delta-4 ➝ Ascent-5 ➝ Accelerate90
➝ Ignite48 ➝ Platform M&A
Each stage is designed to remove structural risk, expand optionality, and compound enterprise value.
This is where architecture becomes operating rhythm >
The operating principle behind Graviton’s federal platform model
Our Process for Building a Platform >
A federal platform is not built through effort. It is built through architecture.
Our work follows a five-stage sequence that installs the structure required for scale—moving from diagnostic truth, into engineered platform design, through operating execution, and ultimately into enterprise value creation.
Each stage builds on the last. Together, they form the operating system behind every federal platform we engineer.
THE FIVE STAGES
1
STAGE 1
DELTA-4: ESTABLISHING STRUCTURAL TRUTH
Delta-4 is the diagnostic foundation of every federal platform. It reveals what revenue alone cannot: which buying offices truly drive awards, where demand is repeatable, which procurement paths can scale, and how much growth still depends on founder effort rather than institutional systems.
This stage exposes concentration risk, separates structural advantage from incidental wins, and surfaces the real constraints limiting momentum.
Outcome: A clear understanding of the structure you have—and the risks embedded within it.
2
STAGE 2
ASCENT-5: YOUR FIVE-YEAR PLATFORM ARCHITECTURE
Ascent-5 translates structural truth into a deliberate growth architecture. It defines where the platform will scale, which agencies and buyers matter, and how expansion should compound over time rather than fragment.
This stage establishes the five-year operating horizon: target agencies, contract vehicles, service lines, and sequencing logic. It clarifies what not to pursue, eliminating opportunistic growth that dilutes focus and enterprise value.
By the end of Ascent-5, growth is no longer reactive. The platform has a defined destination—and a disciplined path to reach it.
Outcome: A five-year platform design aligned to scalable buyers, procurement lanes, and enterprise value creation.
3
STAGE 3
ACCELERATE90: INSTALLING THE PLATFORM ENGINE
Accelerate90 converts architecture into motion. This is where strategy becomes execution discipline.
Over a focused 90-day sprint, the platform installs the core operating rhythms required for repeatable growth: buyer engagement cadence, capture workflows, proposal execution, and accountability loops. The objective is not volume—it is consistency.
Accelerate90 creates momentum that is intentional and measurable. Wins are no longer isolated events; they are the byproduct of a system that is now running.
Outcome: A functioning platform engine capable of producing predictable federal momentum.
4
STAGE 4
IGNITE-48: SCALING INTO A PLATFORM
Ignite48 is the multi-year phase where the platform engine built in Accelerate90 is scaled into an acquisition-grade business. In this stage, Graviton operates as an embedded partner — executing structural moves most firms never build: expanding architected agency adjacencies, securing scalable vehicle positions, engineering buyer influence through account-plan governance, and converting demand into predictable task-order flow. Across forty-eight months, the company advances from episodic performance to platform maturity.
The mandate of Ignite48 is unequivocal: create the structural conditions that expand valuation multiples. By the end of this horizon, the business exhibits the attributes every acquirer underwrites — durable revenue, efficient motion, and transferable operations — signaling a platform ready for a premium transaction.
Outcome: The company operates as a scalable federal platform—execution is standardized, growth is intentional, and performance no longer depends on founder-driven effort.
5
STAGE 5
PLATFORM M&A: WHERE THE ARCHITECTURE PAYS OFF
Platform M&A is the outcome of disciplined architecture.
By this stage, the business exhibits the traits strategic acquirers and private capital require: predictable revenue, diversified buyer relationships, repeatable execution systems, and operating clarity that survives leadership transition.
The company is no longer valued on promise. Its growth logic is visible, defensible, and transferable—creating optionality across acquisition, recapitalization, or strategic partnership.
Outcome: A transferable federal platform positioned for acquisition, recapitalization, or strategic partnership.
Not Every Contractor Should Build a Platform >
Graviton works with a small number of founder-led and investor-backed companies where scale is structurally achievable—not aspirational.
The first step is not growth. It is truth.
Before platforms are built, architecture must be understood.
Schedule a 30-minute platform architecture conversation >
“Most companies chase growth.
The enduring ones engineer the structure that allows growth to compound.”
Theodore Stearns / Founder, Graviton
The operating principle behind Graviton’s federal platform model