Meroxa’s Path to NASA: How to Land Enterprise-Level Clients as an Early-Stage Startup

Landing NASA as a client sounds like a startup fairy tale. But in a recent episode of Category Visionaries, DeVaris Brown, CEO of Meroxa, revealed how his early-stage startup secured one of the most prestigious clients in the world – and how other founders can follow a similar path.

Start With Adjacent Markets

Meroxa’s journey to NASA didn’t begin with NASA at all. Instead, they started with the Air Force and Space Force, building credibility through related but more accessible contracts. As DeVaris explains: “It started off with the air force and space force. Those were our first government contracts and we did great work for, and obviously there’s adjacencies around some of the work that we do with space Force and NASA.”

Focus on Universal Problems

Rather than positioning themselves as a government contractor, Meroxa focused on universal data challenges. DeVaris notes: “Look, everybody has data. Everybody’s trying to analyze data faster and do these things. And we’ve just shown time and time again that we can handle very complex, esoteric data formats and things and do it in real time.”

Speed as a Differentiator

In an environment where government contracts are synonymous with slow execution, Meroxa turned speed into a competitive advantage. DeVaris shares: “Funny enough, a couple of people that we’ve met is like, you guys are government contractors. And they said that to us because it’s like we’ll solve things in a couple of weeks when other companies will quote like multiple years.”

Build for Scale First

Enterprise clients need proof you can handle their scale. Meroxa used government work to demonstrate this capability. As DeVaris explains: “If you wonder about scale, a single flight generates so much data per second, we’re handling billions of records… You can’t fake scale, right? You can’t fake complexity.”

The Mission-Driven Approach

Rather than viewing government work as just another revenue stream, Meroxa embraced the mission-critical nature of their work. DeVaris emphasizes: “All that time literally is costing lives and that is driving our work in that arena and that drives us to do the best high quality work that we can.”

Leveraging Success for Commercial Markets

Success with government clients became a powerful tool for approaching commercial markets. DeVaris notes: “If I can do it in this large bureaucratic organization like the government, I definitely can go do that for a bank or do that for a CPG company.”

Building the Right Team

A crucial part of Meroxa’s strategy was acknowledging their limitations and building around them. DeVaris admits: “Me and my Co-Founder, best in the world at building… The thing that we’re not great at is selling.” This self-awareness led them to build a team that could complement their technical strengths.

The Future Perspective

Looking ahead, Meroxa isn’t planning to reduce their focus on government work. DeVaris projects “60% to 70% government, 30% to 40% commercial” revenue split in the coming years, showing how early enterprise success can create a foundation for sustainable growth.

For startups eyeing enterprise clients, Meroxa’s journey offers valuable lessons. Rather than trying to land dream clients immediately, focus on building credibility through adjacent markets, demonstrate capability through flawless execution, and leverage each success to open new doors.

Most importantly, don’t view challenging clients as obstacles. As DeVaris puts it: “Just go in and do your job and do it at the best levels because it’s literally a faucet that never stops flowing.” Sometimes, the most demanding clients can become your strongest growth engine.