Hidden River Group's Founding Manifesto
Hidden River Group is not typical. And that is the point. You don’t start a new company to be like everyone else. And yet, in this weird world of ‘GovCon’ being like everyone else is typical.
We started this journey with a clear vision of what public sector services could be – and a blunt diagnosis of why the industry so often falls short. We wrote it down in a founding manifesto that captured our thinking before we had a single client, a single contract, or a single hard reason to believe it would work.
And a few years later, the logic still holds. The problems we identified remain real, and the differentiation we committed to continues guiding how we operate and grow HRG today.
We're sharing it publicly in its imperfect form – not because it's polished, but because it represents the conviction we had then and maintain now about why this work matters and how we pursue it differently.
We believe a start-up founding manifesto has four parts: 1) the industry, 2) the problems with the industry, 3) how we are different, 4) how we will win.
Our Industry & Why
Public sector executive professional services – focused on bold, audacious leaders. It is massive (total addressable market) and massively important (impact).
The Problems With Our Industry
The incentive structure is flawed.
Capturing value is rewarded, not creating value
Because winning and managing government contracts is relatively nuanced, there are massive incentives for 'GovCons' to build capture and contract management as their core competencies – rather than delivering excellent work.
Government is sticky = mediocre works
Because it is burdensome for the government to award contracts, regardless of size, the government procures in massive contracts and vehicles (e.g., five-year services contracts and 10-year multi-billion dollar vehicles).
Massive vehicles create incentive for the government to keep the incumbent in place as long as performance isn't horrible – therefore, mediocre performance works (boo this is bad). Service levels that would get a company immediately fired in private sector can unfortunately sustain a five year federal contract.
Competition is limited (barriers to entry)
Preferences, 'relevant' past performance, and set-aside programs reduce the number and types of companies that can compete to serve the government. Contract vehicles and nuanced procurement pathways take time (typically years) to obtain or gain access to.
Combine the reduced pool of eligible companies with the administrative hurdles and nuance of winning and managing government contracts – you have large barriers to entry which protect mediocre incumbents and keep competition artificially low.
Administration is burdensome
Administering and managing government contracts is burdensome, nuanced, and constantly changing – even for small businesses.
Some companies try to solve for the above issues by subcontracting through companies whose core competencies are simply winning and administering government contracts – this is called a pass through. This is standard GovCon practice now – a (often small but sometimes large) GovCon wins a massive, multi-billion dollar vehicle and subcontracts the maximum amount allowable to different companies who are actually good at delivery. This exercise misaligns incentives, separates the government from its top-tier service providers, and creates massive overhead costs to the government.
All of this combined means standard 'GovCon' core competency is business development, not delivery – capturing value, not creating it. Therefore, the government receives dramatically below average services private sector has access to. Organizations respond to incentives.
How We Are Different
Celebrate – Deliver – Build
Celebrate Clients
HRG will celebrate clients, not ourselves. The standard 'GovCon' celebrates winning contracts externally (usually with multiple website and social media posts) and internally (usually with bonuses and recognition/promotion). This makes sense if business development is your goal and the core competency you are developing.
By celebrating client achievements (both externally and internally) HRG will align our incentive structure and culture to service and delivery.
Deliver Ridiculous Partnership
HRG will aim to super-please clients and surpass expectations. The standard 'GovCon' delivers mediocre work – just enough to keep the contract in place. This helps keep costs low, which is often necessary to win the work and pay the owners/shareholders.
HRG will deliver ridiculous partnership, surpassing client expectations, which will be rewarding to our team and also retain and expand the client impact. Clients retain essential and special service providers. Clients also refer and recommend higher quality service providers.
"No one can do what you can"…"You are unlike any other company we've worked with"…"One of your people can do what five from another company can do" are our goals for client feedback.
This will require HRG's entire team (especially leadership) to be highly involved in client work. No member of HRG's leadership team will spend less than 50% of their time serving clients. No member of HRG's leadership team is above doing the work – making pages, building models, conducting interviews, traveling to the client, building trust-based relationships. We are here for the work.
Build our Dream Job
To build and retain a world-class team, HRG must offer a dream job. The dream job is the optimal mix of work (interesting and impactful) and workplace (engaging and balanced). This concept (definition of dream job) must constantly be refined. This goal (attaining dream job) must be rigorously measured.
Celebrate – Deliver – Build
How We Will Win
HRG will drive a unique flywheel:
Be the dream job
Attract and retain a world-class team
Deliver above the curve
Create demand for HRG
Pursue only the most interesting and impactful work
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This is what we started with. This is what we're still building toward.
We'll continue writing publicly about our values, our differentiation, and our conviction on where our industry is headed. Writing publicly helps us sharpen our thinking and hold ourselves accountable to it. Professional services – especially those serving the public sector – must continue to evolve. And HRG is just getting started.