(HYPOTHETICAL) I have an awesome new product for the DoD...

[Sgtusmc]

...but should I hold on to it to develop and sell to the private sector instead?

If I were to be contracted by the DoD for a particular project, whereby they end up dropping interest and the project flops, it's dead in the water. They now own it.
If I develop it for the private sector, guys like you and I could own it and the tech would trickle interest to the .gov anyway.

Since this is a hypothetical, this is not a weapon, this is lets say a "Individualized Battlefield Awareness System". So, if bad guys get hold of one, it's no big deal.

What would you do?

 

[hoosierdoc]

An item in the hand is worth 1000 on paper. Develop prototype and approach them.

 

[pudly]

There are companies that sell to both civilians and military. Sometimes, they have different versions of the product. Any reason why you couldn't try to sell to both markets?