Ep. 74: Forterra Acquires goTenna (in 72 hours!)

Описание: From Coffee to Term Sheet in 72 Hours: How Forterra Acquired goTenna

What happens when two defense tech founders — one who's been building autonomous ground vehicles for 20 years, and one who pivoted a consumer comms company into a battlefield communications platform — realize they're building two halves of the same solution?

In this episode of Crossing the Valley, host Noah Sheinbaum joins Josh Araujo (CEO) and Ari Schuler (president) of Forterra, to tell the inside story of how a Friday morning coffee between colleagues turned into a signed term sheet by Sunday night.

In this episode we explore:
How Forterra went from a 20-year deep tech R&D lab to a billion-dollar defense prime
goTenna's pivotal decision to go all-in on B2G after finding true product-market fit in Afghanistan and at the southern border
The 72-hour deal: how Josh and Ari went from strangers to a signed term sheet in one weekend
Why Josh turned down traditional VC logic and built a consolidation thesis for defense tech
The phased integration playbook that achieved 25x radio range improvement within 30 days of closing
Why misaligned cap tables are quietly killing some of the best companies in defense tech
The one thing each leader says you must get right in any defense M&A process

Timestamps:
6:14 – Leading Non-Technical in Deep Tech Companies
10:16 – goTenna's Pivot
12:17 – Science Projects vs. Scaled Deployment
15:54 – The Defense Procurement Trap
18:15 – Behind the Deal
21:48 – The 72-Hour Term Sheet
27:34 – Josh's Acquisition Framework
34:16 – Post-Merger Integration
40:47 – Forterra's Consolidation Strategy
44:17 – One Thing You Must Get Right in Defense M&A
47:23 – The Long-term Vision

About the Guests:
Josh Araujo is CEO of Forterra, a ground autonomy company that has been developing autonomous vehicle technology since 2002. A former Marine and Jefferies aerospace & defense investment banker, Josh was Forterra's first non-technical hire in 2021 and has led the company through its first programs of record and its first major acquisition.

Ari Schuler is the former CEO of goTenna and a former innovation executive at DHS/Customs and Border Protection. He led goTenna's full pivot from consumer technology to defense and public safety communications before joining Forterra in late 2025 as part of the acquisition.

🔗 Learn More:

Forterra: forterra.com
goTenna: gotenna.com

#DefenseTech #StartupFounders #CrossingTheValley #MergersAndAcquisitions #GroundAutonomy #DefenseInnovation #VentureCapital #MilitaryTech #NationalSecurity #FounderStories