In this episode, Donna Honeycutt, co-founder of WWC Global, joins Jeff Shapiro to share the story of growing a GovCon small business with integrity—from military spouse mission to successful exit. She offers practical insights on compliance, culture, and leading through inflection points without compromise.
No Corners Cut: Building, Growing, and Selling in GovCon
👤 Guest:
Donna Honeycutt, Co-founder & former COO of WWC Global
🎧 Host:
Jeff Shapiro, Optimize Podcast
📄 Episode Description:
In this episode of the Optimize Podcast, host Jeff Shapiro is joined by Donna Honeycutt, co-founder and former COO of WWC Global—a pioneering government contracting firm known for its commitment to military spouses, compliance, and culture.
Donna shares how she and her co-founder built a GovCon business overseas from scratch, scaled it over 15 years, and sold it with zero due diligence findings. From pricing pressures and CPARS credibility to hiring challenges and values-based leadership, Donna unpacks the real-world experiences behind growing and exiting a successful federal contracting company.
She also speaks candidly about the realities of competing with big business, the problem with regulatory inertia, and how integrity became WWC’s most valuable differentiator.
📌 Topics & Timestamps:
Building WWC Global from Naples, Italy (03:15)
Creating opportunities for military spouses (06:40)
Staying audit-proof and compliance-focused from day one (13:30)
Growing while staying values-aligned (20:00)
Managing pricing and perception in a competitive GovCon space (26:45)
The exit strategy and selling the business (34:00)
What big businesses get wrong—and small businesses get right (55:00)
Why regulatory change is overdue in federal acquisition (01:03:00)
🔗 Useful Links:
Listen to more episodes: https://www.visiblethread.com/podcasts/
Connect with Jeff Shapiro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffshapirocpa/
Connect with Donna Honeycutt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-segal-huneycutt-a441619/