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Ready.net helps 🇺🇸's utility providers connect & protect families. Founder & CEO @ Ready.net (YC S20)
Cool witnessing a bit of history yesterday as Louisiana became the first fully approved state to launch BEAD. Massive congrats Veneeth Iyengar, Thomas Tyler & ConnectLA team. Gumbo 2.0 is a go! Major kudos to Office of Governor Jeff Landry for choosing to make solving the divide a front burner issue. He invited key stakeholders from community anchor institutions dotted around the state to join yesterday's milestone, reminding us the very real impact next-gen connectivity will soon have in peoples' lives. Our nation’s largest-ever broadband investment is officially on its way to providers. When you ask what it took to be the first state fully approved by National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Veneeth is quick to credit their fortunate alignment: Governor Landry is ALL IN on broadband, so is LA's Legislature. They have a sharp FPO Alex Johnson. They’re surrounded by top caliber advisors like Jon Wilkins at Quadra. And yes, they are powered by Ready.net, and we are damn proud to get to help them get the job done 🤠. But I think ConnectLA's leadership, clear thinking, determination and judgement play the biggest roles. One striking thing you notice when working with them is how much their key principles shine through in their work. One is “get the money back into the public’s hands as soon as we can.” Check. Another is to empower people and the private sector. Another is to think from first principles in order to make the most of the investment. Even though they were lucky enough to have all political stars aligned to help them get going faster, and even though they have a great chance at meeting 100% of deployment requirements, they have throughout the process remained open to innovative ideas that could make BEAD even more efficient from a cost structure perspective. They are working to make every penny count. As one of many examples they’re working through the model LEO subgrant agreement for resilience and where fiber proves absolutely cost-prohibitive. Government efficiency is baked into the DNA of their three person office. Yesterday I had a startling thought: their three person office will be the first to video call with a previously unserved family now connected to the future through BEAD. A few other BEAD observations as we’ve now entered the grants phase: While it's true money moves slower than we’d hoped, it’s also true as of yesterday the money is en route. The extra thoughtfulness from NTIA and FCC means the money stands a real shot at getting into the most capable and willing hands this time around. State directors & broadband offices across the nation are working around the clock at this point to get the money flowing to highest & best use. Great news for 🇺🇸.
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