Stop missing the technologies winning tomorrow's wars.

Stirling engagements follow a three-phase advisory model. Explore is the ongoing retainer: technology landscape monitoring, capability-gap mapping, vetted technology briefs, qualified introductions, and strategic advisory across the MIL-STD-881 taxonomy categories you select. Capture activates when a Letter of Intent is executed on a sourced opportunity — we provide intensive deal support, regulatory navigation, and negotiation advisory through closing or LOI cancellation. Manage begins at contract close and runs for the life of the closed contract — relationship quality assurance, compliance monitoring, and ongoing market intelligence. A one-time setup fee applies per taxonomy at engagement start and is waived for clients who commit to a three-year initial term. Specific fees are framed in the Briefing and agreed in writing before any work begins.

No equity. No percentage commissions. For private transactions, a flat closing bonus is payable within thirty days of execution of the definitive transaction agreement. The bonus is structured as a tiered flat fee rather than a percentage of deal value, and is positioned materially below the three-to-five-percent fees typical of defense broker-dealers. For government contract engagements, no closing bonus applies; the fee structure there relies on higher monthly Capture and Manage fees sized for the additional regulatory scope. That design is deliberate: it keeps the engagement outside the contingent-fee constraints of FAR 3.4 and preserves the clean-hands posture we rely on for advising candidly.

Explore and Manage generate predictable monthly retainer revenue — the baseline of the engagement. Capture fees during active negotiations and the closing bonus on a successful private transaction compensate us for deal-specific work. The structure is deliberately non-contingent — we are not betting our monthly bill on any single deal — but it rewards us meaningfully when deals close. A successful close also automatically extends your Explore phase for two additional years on private transactions, or three on government contracts, so closed deals expand the relationship rather than ending it.

The nine MIL-STD-881 categories — Aircraft, Electronic, Missile, Ordnance, Sea, Space, Surface Vehicle, UAV Systems, and Common Elements — are the standard DoD cost-category framework, which means they map cleanly to program portfolios and to how your engineers already think about capability areas. You tell us which categories are strategic for your pipeline; we scope the Explore retainer to those. Categories can be added, dropped, or substituted as your portfolio evolves, typically at the start of a new quarter so the intelligence and introduction rhythm stays coherent. Scope changes are agreed in writing and take effect at the next cycle. A setup fee applies per new taxonomy added or substituted.

A qualified introduction means we have already assessed that the target company’s technology meaningfully addresses a capability gap you have flagged, that their IP, regulatory posture, and business maturity are consistent with a U.S. defense engagement, and that both sides are genuinely interested in a first conversation. We pre-brief both parties — their team on your program style, your team on their technology, founders, and regulatory context. When you walk into the introduction, nobody is starting cold.

A named Stirling Managing Director serves as your primary relationship lead, with a supporting advisor handling day-to-day scouting. Explore-phase standing cadence is a monthly summary memo and a quarterly strategic review, with ad-hoc calls, briefings, and working sessions included as pipeline activity warrants. During an active Capture phase — negotiations on a sourced transaction — meeting cadence intensifies and is coordinated through the Capture scope. We do not bill incremental time for ad-hoc work within agreed engagement scope.

Complement, in almost every case. Your BD team knows your customers and pipeline; your engineers know your capability gaps; your program managers know your delivery commitments. Those are the inputs we work from. Our value-add is the dedicated, continuous scouting bandwidth that internal teams cannot sustain alongside active program delivery, plus the international reach — particularly into Ukrainian and allied-nation innovators — that few internal teams can build from scratch. We are additive to your organization, not a substitute for it.

In most cases our network adds breadth beyond what a single contractor develops on its own, particularly in Ukrainian autonomous systems and electronic warfare, allied-nation sensing and propulsion, and U.S. early-stage programs that have not yet surfaced through the usual defense-press channels. If you already have a mature presence in a given sub-area, we say so in the first Briefing and scope the engagement around the gaps that remain, rather than rebilling you for relationships you already hold.

Every engagement is governed by a mutual NDA executed at onboarding. Program needs, pipeline priorities, and the capability gaps you flag for us are treated as client-confidential and are shared only within the named Stirling team assigned to your engagement. Target companies we scout receive only the general capability signal needed to assess fit — not your program names, contract identifiers, or competitive position — until a qualified introduction is explicitly authorized by you.

We disclose overlap the moment we identify it, and we do not represent both sides of a transaction. If two clients have converging interest in a single target, we inform both, keep the subsequent conversations separated, and let the target company decide which relationship to pursue first. Where appropriate, we structure category-exclusive arrangements up front so the conflict does not arise in the first place.

You do. Stirling advises on regulatory posture, flags issues early, and helps structure transactions so that the right filings, classifications, and reviews happen at the right moments. But the party conducting the export-controlled activity and the party filing with the relevant U.S. government offices is you, or the target company, depending on the transaction structure. We coordinate with your export compliance officer and your outside counsel; we do not substitute for them.

No. Stirling provides strategic and commercial advisory during Capture — deal structure options, IP positioning, licensing frameworks, and negotiation support at the business level. Legal representation is provided by your own counsel, with whom we coordinate. This separation is intentional: it keeps our strategic advice independent of any single transaction, and it preserves the clean-hands posture we rely on for candid advising.

The Briefing is a thirty-to-sixty minute conversation covering your program portfolio, the capability gaps you are actively working, and the taxonomy areas where scouting is most valuable. We do not pitch in the Briefing; we share what we are seeing in your technology landscape. If you choose to engage, initial Capability Gap Mapping and your first Vetted Technology Brief arrive in the opening weeks. Qualified introductions begin when fit, timing, and readiness converge — the pace depends on your taxonomy mix and the state of the scouting pipeline in those areas. We commit to that tempo; we do not commit to a specific introduction count.