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Shiraz Ahmad
GovTech GTM & Product Leader

Breaking AI into Government.

A govtech founder and consultant with 10+ years of experience helping technology companies break into government — opening new lines of revenue through powerful pilots, partner agency networks, and go-to-market strategies that move deals from discovery to contract.

$0M+

Pipeline Opened

0+

Gov Agencies Served

0+

Years in GovTech

0%

Customer Footprint Growth

Deal Track Record

Deals That Move Government Forward

From pilot to contract — a track record of opening doors at agencies that don't open easily.

Port Authority of NY & NJ
Transportation · Aviation · Security

Client: Spot AI

Port Authority of NY & NJ

~$10M

Designed and executed an anchor-agency GTM strategy for AI video intelligence, translating operational pain points into a concrete pilot scope and deployment pathway — opening nearly $10M in opportunity.

AI Video IntelligencePilot ProgramProcurement Navigation
50+ Municipal & County Agencies
Data · Compliance · Workflow

Client: Govbox (Co-founded)

50+ Municipal & County Agencies

300% Growth

Co-founded and scaled a GovTech SaaS platform enabling secure data sharing and compliance automation across 50+ government agencies, growing customer footprint by ~300% over 18 months.

SaaS PlatformLand-and-Expand0→1 Product
Infrastructure · Construction · Security Ops

Client: ESI · PulsePulse

State DOTs · Turnpike Authorities · Port Stakeholders

Multi-Agency

Built and activated a public-sector partner ecosystem across transportation and infrastructure agencies, developing co-sell strategies with SIs and resellers and mapping procurement pathways including RFI/RFP, cooperative purchasing, and GSA vehicles.

Partner EcosystemSI Co-SellSLED Markets
Professional Experience

10+ Years of GovTech Execution

Consulting

Public Sector GTM & Partnerships Consultant

Jan 2025 – Present
  • Opened nearly $10M in opportunity with the Port Authority of NY & NJ for an AI video intelligence startup.
  • Designed anchor-agency GTM strategies for mission-critical use cases in transportation, aviation, and infrastructure.
  • Built a public-sector partner ecosystem with SIs and hyperscaler government cloud teams (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government).
  • Mapped procurement pathways including RFI/RFP, GSA vehicles, FedRAMP compliance, and cooperative purchasing across SLED markets.
  • Advised AI startup clients on responsible deployment practices and agency-specific compliance requirements.
Govbox

Product Manager & Co-founder

Dec 2019 – Sept 2024
  • Co-founded a GovTech SaaS platform enabling secure data sharing and compliance automation across 50+ government agencies.
  • Owned product vision, go-to-market packaging, and roadmap prioritization across three product lines — growing from 0 to 50+ agency customers.
  • Delivered a functional MVP in ~5 months; established Agile ceremonies, release governance, and UAT processes.
  • Reduced regression bugs by 52% in 2 months via automated testing; implemented KPI/SLA observability dashboards.
  • Drove ~300% growth in customer footprint over 18 months through land-and-expand trials and upsell motions.
NJ / PA

Political Data & Campaign Strategist

Aug 2016 – Jan 2020
  • Hillary for America (2016): Built voter targeting models from voter-file analytics to maximize GOTV efficiency.
  • Katie McGinty for U.S. Senate (2016): Integrated field, digital, and paid media signals to refine targeting in battleground counties.
  • Bergen County Democrats (2017–18): Built cross-municipal coalitions coordinating messaging, outreach, and fundraising.
  • Passaic County Democrats (2019): Standardized VAN/voter-file operations and training across a distributed team.
  • Marty Small for Mayor (2020): Architected campaign technology infrastructure and real-time performance dashboards.
Capabilities

Skills & Expertise

Go-to-Market & Partnerships

Public Sector GTM StrategyPartner Ecosystem DevelopmentCo-Sell & Channel StrategySI EngagementHyperscaler Gov CloudAnchor-Agency SalesPipeline DevelopmentLand-and-ExpandJoint Account Planning

Government & Procurement

Procurement NavigationRFI/RFP · GSA · GWACsFedRAMP & ComplianceSLED MarketsPilot Program DesignStakeholder EngagementCoalition BuildingQuasi-Public Authorities

Product Management

Product Roadmap & VisionDiscovery & User Research0-to-1 Product LaunchMVP Definition & DeliveryAgile / ScrumJira Backlog PrioritizationKPI/SLA ObservabilityRelease GovernanceUAT

Policy & AI Governance

AI Policy & Responsible DeploymentAdvocacy StrategyCampaign Strategy & ExecutionMulti-Stakeholder CoordinationGovernment RelationsExternal AffairsAI Procurement Advisory

Data & Analytics

Voter-File AnalyticsTargeting Model DevelopmentData-Driven Decision MakingVAN / Voter Database MgmtDashboard DevelopmentReal-Time Performance Reporting

Tools

SQLClaude / AI-Assisted DevRapid PrototypingJiraTableauExcelKeynote / PowerPoint
Education

Northwestern Kellogg School of Management

Chicago, IL

Visiting Student · 2025

  • Audited Dr. Maryam Kouchaki's Leading and Managing Teams course
  • Attended Dr. Tessa Charlesworth's Leadership in Organizations course

Seton Hall University

South Orange, NJ

Computer Science & Finance — Full Academic Scholarship · Aug 2013 – May 2018

Let's Work Together

Ready to Break Into Government?

Whether you're an AI startup looking to land your first anchor agency, a GovTech company scaling SLED adoption, or an organization building public-sector partnerships — let's talk.

New York / New Jersey Metro · +1 (732) 570-7100