Revolutionizing Software Delivery for the Digital Battlefield

In the 21st century, the true battleground extends far beyond physical borders and into the intricate architectures of cyberspace. National security, military advantage, and even citizen services are increasingly reliant on software—software that must be built, deployed, and continuously updated with unprecedented speed, security, and precision. Yet, for decades, government agencies, particularly within the Department of Defense (DoD), have grappled with archaic development processes, slow procurements, and software that often fails to meet the dynamic needs of its users. It is into this critical void that Rise8 emerged, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) on a mission to transform the very fabric of how the U.S. government builds and delivers software.

Rise8 isn’t just an IT consultancy; it is a catalyst for cultural and technological change, driven by a profound belief that “fewer bad things happen because of bad software.” Their story is one of challenging the status quo, championing agile methodologies, and empowering government teams to achieve digital fluency at the speed of relevance.

The Genesis of a Digital Imperative: From Frustration to Transformation

Rise8 was founded in 2019 by Bryon Kroger, a visionary leader whose career experiences forged a deep understanding of the systemic challenges within government software development. Kroger, an Air Force veteran, witnessed firsthand the disconnect between the rapid technological advancements in the commercial sector and the often glacial pace of software delivery in the DoD. His tenure at Kessel Run, a groundbreaking Air Force software factory, was particularly influential. At Kessel Run, Kroger helped scale an organization that embraced DevOps principles, continuously delivering software to warfighters in the field, even on highly classified networks. This experience proved that it was possible to automate security, testing, and compliance, allowing for rapid iteration and deployment – capabilities that small tech companies were demonstrating, but which seemed elusive for large bureaucracies.

This firsthand experience solidified a core conviction: the DoD and other government agencies didn’t just need new tools; they needed a fundamental shift in how they thought about, built, and maintained software. The traditional “project-based” approach, characterized by lengthy planning cycles, rigid requirements, and delayed deployments, was a liability in an era of rapidly evolving threats. The digital imperative was clear: optimize for learning, speed, and continuous delivery. Rise8 was founded to bridge this gap, bringing “Silicon Valley savvy” blended with “defense savvy” to critical government missions.

Core Beliefs: The Rise8 Philosophy of Transformation

Rise8 operates on a set of deeply ingrained core beliefs that guide every engagement. These aren’t just buzzwords but actionable principles designed to tackle the unique complexities of public sector digital transformation:

1. People: Digital transformation starts with the existing workforce. Rise8 believes in empowering government employees with growth mindsets, fostering learning environments where they can thrive, learn, and produce impactful software. They emphasize helping organizations “get out of their own way” to unlock the potential of their talent.
2. Practice: Rise8 champions three main practices: lean product management, user-centered design, and extreme programming. These are not implemented in isolation but balanced to foster a healthy DevSecOps culture. This means understanding user needs deeply, building incrementally, and continuously integrating security and operations from day one. Leadership is seen as a meta-practice, integrated into engagements from the outset.
3. Process: From pre-kickoff to day-two operations, Rise8 helps agencies craft processes that create value and eliminate waste. The focus is on achieving continuous delivery, where changes can be made quickly, safely, and sustainably, ensuring alignment and flow within the system of work. They help agencies test assumptions and measure what truly matters, ensuring measurable progress towards desired outcomes.
4. Platform: Many organizations struggle with the decision of building, buying, or renting their software stack. Rise8 guides agencies through this complex landscape, helping them make informed choices about cloud-native infrastructure, managed services, or in-house development, always considering the long-term costs and benefits.
5. Path-to-Production: Regardless of the platform choice, owning a compliant path-to-production is critical. Rise8 specializes in building automation with a focus on quality, security, and compliance, particularly in highly regulated environments. They understand that “delay is its own form of risk,” especially in the DoD where it can be “measured in lives.”
6. Product: Rise8 believes in products, not projects. Software is never “done”; it’s an evolving product that must continuously adapt and deliver value. This shift in mindset from fixed-scope, finite projects to ongoing product development is fundamental to achieving sustained digital transformation.

These principles coalesce into what Rise8 calls its “Software Refinery” – a transformative DevSecOps solution designed to combine people, process, and technology to continuously deliver high-quality software at the “speed of relevance.”

The Rise8 Impact: Transforming Government Software Delivery

Rise8’s unique approach has yielded significant, tangible results for its government clients, particularly within the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Their work addresses critical pain points, enabling agencies to overcome bureaucratic hurdles and deliver mission-critical applications faster and more securely than ever before.

One of Rise8’s most significant contributions is in accelerating the Authorization to Operate (ATO) process. Traditionally, obtaining an ATO for a government software system could take hundreds of days, even years, a process bogged down by manual reviews and extensive documentation. Rise8 has been instrumental in implementing Continuous Authority to Operate (cATO) pipelines, operationalizing the Risk Management Framework (RMF) with automation and secure pipelines for continuous compliance. This has been a game-changer for agencies. For instance, Rise8 helped the VA achieve its first-ever continuous ATO, drastically reducing the time-to-ATO from an estimated 568 days to just 87 days. This dramatic reduction means that critical software updates and new capabilities can reach users – including warfighters and veterans – far more quickly, directly enhancing mission effectiveness and service delivery.

Their expertise extends to various critical areas of government modernization:

• Cloud Platform & Infrastructure: Rise8 helps agencies migrate production workloads into fully cloud-native operations environments, leveraging cloud scaling, observability, and self-healing capabilities. This includes establishing Google Cloud Best Practices foundations via GitOps, ensuring infrastructure-as-code, and achieving “no humans in production” for enhanced security and reliability. For instance, they’ve established a secure Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) on Azure AKS for command and control operations and a cloud-native AWS platform for the VA, supporting hundreds of applications and millions of monthly API calls.
• Custom Application Development: Utilizing agile, lean, and user-centered design, Rise8’s balanced teams – comprising engineers, designers, and product managers – iteratively deliver custom software. A notable achievement includes delivering seven Space Command & Control applications for the U.S. Space Force’s Kobayashi Maru program, with an impressive average Minimum Viable Product (MVP) time of just 64 days. This speed is a radical departure from traditional timelines and directly enhances the Space Force’s ability to develop, deploy, and adapt mission-critical applications.
• DevSecOps Implementation: Rise8 embeds security and compliance directly into the software development lifecycle. This integrated approach ensures that security is not an afterthought but an intrinsic part of continuous delivery, reducing risk while maximizing speed. Their “Software Refinery” solution, recently designated “Awardable” on the DoD’s Platform One Solutions Marketplace, showcases this capability, demonstrating the ability to ship impactful software faster, safer, and with less waste.
• Talent and Culture Transformation: Beyond technical solutions, Rise8 focuses on organizational change. They aim to foster a “learning culture” within government agencies, shifting from an optimization for being “right” (with heavy upfront planning) to an optimization for “learning” (through rapid iteration and feedback). This involves building decentralized autonomous teams, establishing clear goal-setting systems like OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), and emphasizing that the “customer and mission are the ultimate focus,” not hierarchy or titles. This cultural shift is crucial for sustained digital transformation.

Key Engagements and Strategic Partnerships

Rise8’s impact is exemplified by specific contracts and partnerships within the defence and broader government ecosystem.

A significant recent development is Rise8’s selection for the SpaceWERX Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) program under the U.S. Air Force’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) initiative. This award, announced in March 2025, positions Rise8 to support the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. The core of this project is to enable rapid, continuous delivery of mission-critical applications by establishing a cATO pipeline for third-party applications on Warp Core. Warp Core is the USSF’s Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) platform for data ingestion, processing, analysis, and visualization across the global space enterprise. This contract, valued at over $19 million (as reported in June 2025), is a testament to Rise8’s proven ability to deliver highly impactful solutions for strategic national security assets. Bryon Kroger, CEO and founder of Rise8, emphasized that “Deploying a cATO pipeline on the Warp Core platform will unlock the full potential of development opportunities with significant mission impact, increased deployment frequency, and reduced lead time.”

As a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Rise8 also holds a unique position, bringing firsthand understanding of military needs to its technical solutions. This status not only underscores their commitment to supporting veterans but also provides a distinct advantage in navigating the federal contracting landscape.

Partnerships with organizations like Carahsoft, a leading government aggregator, further expand Rise8’s reach, making their innovative solutions more accessible to a broader range of government agencies.

The Rise8 Team and Culture: Built for Mission

With over 150 “Risers” (employees), Rise8 operates as a fully remote workforce, a structure that emphasizes flexibility, attracts top talent from across the nation, and reflects their modern approach to work. Their internal culture mirrors the principles they advocate for their clients:

• Integrity: Treating everyone with respect, keeping their word, and aiming for fairness.
• Accountability: Taking responsibility and focusing on solutions.
• Innovation: Encouraging new ideas, embracing risks, learning from mistakes, and persisting.
• Profitability: Continuously seeking ways to increase revenue, reduce costs, and eliminate waste.
• Communication & Teamwork: Open and timely communication, leveraging diverse strengths, and fostering continuous self-improvement.
• Living Fully: Promoting a balanced life, valuing employees’ personal commitments alongside their professional dedication.
• Doing Well by Doing Good: Striving to provide returns to investors, employees, and communities through their impactful work.

The recent appointment of Mike Gehard as Director of Research & Development further highlights Rise8’s commitment to continuous innovation. Gehard’s role focuses on integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the company’s services, products, and processes to enhance delivery speed, ensure quality, and drive mission impact. This strategic move positions Rise8 at the forefront of AI-augmented software development, vital for the future of government technology.

The Future of Defence Software: Fast, Secure, and User-Loved

Rise8 is not content with merely addressing current challenges; they are actively shaping the future of defence software. Their strategic planning is structured across three horizons:

• Horizon 1 (0-12 months): Focusing on immediate value delivery, incremental improvements, short feedback loops, and tactical adjustments. This includes rapid iteration and secure, impactful software delivery.
• Horizon 2 (1-3 years): Balancing current success with new opportunities, refining initiatives, testing new technologies, and addressing emerging user needs. This involves leveraging data insights to continuously improve their transformation approach.
• Horizon 3 (3+ years): Concentrating on disruptive innovation and future-proofing, exploring transformational changes, identifying major shifts in technology or policy, and laying the groundwork for large-scale advancements. This is where AI, quantum, and other nascent technologies will be integrated.

By prioritizing outcomes over outputs, reducing risk through continuous learning, and adapting quickly to changing needs, Rise8 ensures that its efforts are always aligned with delivering tangible value to government users. They empower teams to make decisions within a strategic framework, fostering autonomy while maintaining alignment with broader mission goals.

In an era where software is a strategic weapon and a critical enabler of national capabilities, Rise8 stands as a testament to the power of a focused, agile, and mission-driven SME. They are not just building software; they are building the organizational muscle memory within government agencies to continuously deliver war-winning, user-loved software. Through their expertise in DevSecOps, cloud migration, cybersecurity, and cultural transformation, Rise8 is fundamentally changing how the defence sector operates, ensuring that the U.S. government remains at the forefront of technological superiority in the digital battlefield. Their story is a compelling blueprint for how agility, innovation, and a profound commitment to mission can redefine the landscape of public sector technology.