Joshua Penner

Former Mayor & WA State Legislator · Govtech founder · Marine vet

Why Government Said No to Your Great GovTech Products

I mark up a strong govtech proposal the way a skeptical official reads it, and show where I would say no.

See your proposal the way the buyer does

Budget theater, the signer's personal blame math, and the political landmine you never saw.

The three no's that were never about your product

Proof that de-risks the person who signs, peer references, pilots built for cover, and the moves that read as arrogant.

What actually moves a government buyer

Land your message with power and clarity, every time. Master the system I used to secure 9-digit budgets & close Fortune 50 deals at Google.

Founder | Product Leader @ Google, Meta

Google

Amazon

Apple

Microsoft

Roshan Gupta

Founder of AmplifyPM | Product Leader (Google, Meta, Yahoo, Startups, & More)

Cohort 8

Cohort 9

(My Early Bird 33% Offer Expires Sunday, August 23rd: Use code "EARLYBIRD" 🔥) Influence is THE #1 skill for Product Managers.AI can generate content. Lots of it.But content alone doesn't win buy-in. It doesn't move hearts or change minds.You need persuasion. A message that's clear, resonant, and impossible to ignore.Without it…That critical budget you need? Out of reach. The headcount you're pushing for? Denied. The dependency you need prioritized? Not happening. The promotion you deserve? Maybe next year.Without the power to persuade, you're stuck on the sidelines. Meanwhile – others who can rally teams, secure resources, and inspire action move forward. I get it. Convincing people to take action can be frustrating.You have a vision. You have a strategy. You have a plan. You have all the things. But leadership hesitates. Stakeholders are indecisive.I've been in your shoes. I've struggled to gain traction. But I found a system that helped me break through the noise – one that took me from leading a team of 5 to leading a 300+ org at Google, and helped me secure 9-digit budgets and close Fortune 50 partnerships.And now, I'm going to teach you my system.

Master the system I used to secure 9-digit budgets & Fortune 50 deals at Google.

Craft persuasive stories with a clear, repeatable system

Make your message irresistible to your audience

Drive decisions and action with the strength of your message

Own the room and present with calm authority

Build a career-defining reputation as an influential storyteller

100% RISK-FREE GUARANTEE + BONUS

Mid-level to Senior-level Product Managers looking to ascend to leadership roles.

Product Leaders looking to hone their skill and coach their teams to be more influential.

Ambitious early-career PMs aiming for rapid career growth.

In five weeks you build a system around the way you negotiate, use it on a real deal, and keep it afterwards.

NegoAI Founder | Negotiation Professor

Cisco

Novartis

Richemont

Tata Motors

Yadvinder S. Rana

Negotiation Professor | NegoAI Founder | 30 Years of Cross-Border Negotiations

Cohort 2

Cohort 3

You have a big deal coming. You already know how it goes: it becomes a fight over price. It doesn't have to be like that.Most people haggle. They do not negotiate. My research shows that AI makes it possible to create value even when there is no trust.You opened ChatGPT before a deal and asked it to help you prepare. Understand their alternatives. Find out what they really want. You already knew that. It does not know the person across the table, or how the last two rounds with them went.It gets useful when you give access to your context and provide specific instructions: the answer stops being general and starts being about your deal.Then you use it every week. It gives you a preparation brief, and you decide. After a while you stop calling it AI and you call it your assistant.It is not quick. Creating the context, the memory and the instructions takes time, but what you build is yours and stays yours.You walk in knowing how it will go. You are confident and relaxed. You know what they want and where they will push, and even if you don't trust them, you'll be able to move the negotiation beyond only price by bringing options that match what is important to them.

No code. Everything stays confidential. Prepare any deal in 15 minutes.

Prepare any deal in fifteen minutes

Know what you are walking into

Move the deal beyond price

Practice against the person on the other side

You come out with a system that is yours, and that the rest of your team can use

Nothing new to approve

You build the system on your own negotiation expertise. This is not Negotiation 101.

You already negotiate for a living

No AI or coding background needed. It is 100% no-code. Works with any organizational platform: Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.

No AI or Coding Knowledge

It is not quick. Nobody can write down how you negotiate except you. Every step has a guide, so you never face a blank screen.

It takes real work, and it is work only you can do

Buyers: you come in late. The internal client has already chosen, or the cheapest wins because nothing on paper justifies paying more.

Sellers: you defend the margin against a buyer who only looks at price, then negotiate inside your own company to get the answers you need.

Consultants, trainers and mediators: your clients ask what AI does in negotiation. You want a path from someone you trust.

Stop over-explaining and start guiding decisions. You'll become the professional who walks into senior rooms and walks out with a yes.

Cohort 7

24-Year Banker -> Presentation Expert

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Commerzbank

Royal Bank

Mary Beth Hazeldine

24 years at JPMorgan, PwC, RBS. Now training executives to win decisions.

Cohort 6

You've done the work. You know the material. You've prepared the slides.And yet the decision stalls.Polite nods. Reasonable questions. Then: "Let's take this offline." "We'll circle back." "Good discussion."Translation: No decision today.If this keeps happening, it's not because you lack expertise or presentation skills. It's because the way you're structuring your message doesn't match how senior people decide.Here's what nobody tells you: executives make their decision in the first few minutes, then spend the rest of the time looking for reasons to trust that instinct—or doubt it. When you lead with context, build to your recommendation, and back it up with extensive data, you're triggering doubt, not confidence.The unspoken question in their mind: "If they need this much explanation, is the recommendation actually solid?"This course gives you a different approach—a system built on how decisions actually happen in senior rooms. You'll learn to structure your message so that "yes" feels like the obvious, low-risk choice.Not through tips you'll forget under pressure. Through a repeatable system that works even when you're tired, rushed, or facing pushback.

Executives decide before your presentation ends. Structure accordingly

Structure presentations that win decisions

Remove the anxiety before you even start

Build credibility without over-explaining

Choose proof that reassures, not proof that defends

Handle pushback without becoming defensive

Use AI tools without sounding generic or losing authority

<code>You present to executives, boards, or steering committees—and need decisions, not "good discussions." Your credibility is on the line.</code>

You pitch to clients and present recommendations for a living. Stalled decisions cost you deals, revenue, and repeat business.

You're in relationship management, business development, or sales—presenting to win deals, budgets, or strategic alignment.

Your strategy is strong. The room still didn't get it. This workshop fixes that.

ex-Product Exec @Spryker, Commerce, eBay

Spryker Systems

BigCommerce

eBay Inc.

PayPal

Elena Leonova

Founder & CPO, OneRank.io,  ex-CPO @ Spryker, VP of Product @ BigCommerce

Cohort 1

You can build a sound strategy and still lose the room.Most product leaders aren't unclear. They're at the wrong altitude. They lead with user workflows when the board wants market opportunity. They walk in with 30 slides when the CEO has 5 minutes. They explain why the work matters when executives are deciding how much it's worth.The cost isn't a bad meeting. It's a worse career trajectory. Decisions move forward without you. Headcount goes elsewhere. Roadmaps get rewritten by people closer to the money.This workshop fixes one thing: how you communicate product strategy when the room is deciding whether to fund it, defend it, or push it back to next quarter. Four hours, hands-on, with live coaching from Elena. You leave with a rewritten exec update for a real situation in your own work — pressure-tested by your peers and critiqued live.This is not communication theory. It is what gets the yes.

Translate product strategy into the language executives decide in — capital allocation, risk, market opportunity. Land the yes.

Diagnose the altitude of your last exec update

Architect every update around the three executive questions

Pre-wire your decision room before the meeting starts

Pitch your real proposal under live pressure 

This is hands-on. Bring an actual situation from your work — board deck, exec update, strategy ask. No fictional case studies.

A real exec update or stuck proposal you need to nail. 

No prior coursework required, but you should already be operating in rooms where executives evaluate your judgment. This is not a foundation

Senior PM level or above. 

Block the calendar. The practice + critique element only happens live. Showing up at minute 30 will cost you the value.

Four hours uninterrupted. 

Senior &amp; Principal PMs whose strategic proposals keep getting translated, redirected, or politely ignored by the exec team.

Group PMs, Directors, VPs of Product who've lost — or nearly lost — a critical decision because the room didn't land as expected.

Product consultants and advisors who coach senior PMs through executive presentations and want a sharper toolkit for the altitude shift.

Agentic AI

Coding with AI

AI Workflows

Claude Code

OpenClaw

Vibe Coding

AI Evals

AI Transformation

RAG & Search

AI for PMs

AI for Engineers

AI for Designers

AI for Marketers

AI for Founders

Product Sense

Product Discovery

User Research

Prototyping

Growth

Analytics

Tech Foundations

Strategy

Influence

Leadership

Career Growth

Machine Learning

LLM Ops

Context Eng

Security

System Design

Figma

Design Systems

Visual Design

Design Strategy

Automation

Content Marketing

Demand Gen

Go-to-Market

Product Marketing

Positioning

Social Media

Brand

B2B Marketing

SEO & AEO

AI for Leaders

AI Governance

Communication

Management

People Operations

Exec Presence

Storytelling

Goal-setting

Personal Brand

Fundraising

Everyone

Operators

Data Scientists

Business Analysts

User Researchers

Customer Success

Project Managers

HR Professionals

Sales People

Lawyers

Finance

Investors

Real Estate

Educators

Creators

Introductions and Casual Conversation

Humanizing Government and Combating Social Media Incivility

Molly's Introduction and Recidiviz Overview

Unintended Uses of Technology and Casual Banter

Framing the Discussion: Pitching a Conceptual AI Chatbot to Local Government

Analyzing the Chatbot Pitch: Identifying Buyers and the Value of Efficiency

The Government Buyer Psychology: Risk Analysis vs. ROI

Applying Risk Analysis to Corrections and Government Procurement

Critiquing the Pitch: Shrinking the Surface Area to Reduce Risk

Navigating Procurement: Sole Source vs. RFPs and Finding the Fast "No"

Product managers who drive strategy, development, and launch of products.

Sales professionals who drive revenue through client engagement and pipeline management.

Setting strategic direction, making high-stakes decisions, and translating vision into execution.

Planning and executing product launches, market entry strategies, and cross-functional go-to-market coordination.

Persuading stakeholders, presenting ideas, and getting buy-in across an organization without formal authority.

Why Government Said No to Your Great GovTech Products

What you'll learn

Why this topic matters

You'll learn from

Joshua Penner