The Merge

E52 – Top Secret Offices

Samstag, 25. Oktober 2025 · 52 min

MP3

Shownotes

Nooks co-founder and CEO Sean Blackman spills all thesecrets about what it takes to do classified business with the Pentagon.

Nooks is a venture-backed startup founded in 2021 to solve amassive pain point: access to classified offices and networks to perform sensitive national security work.

Nooks is attacking the problem in an innovative way called Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS), which is a subscription access to a nationwide network of classifiedworkspaces and IT.

If you are in the defense industry—or even thinking about it—and there is even a sliver of a chance you will touch classified work, this episode is everything you need to know.

Links
• Sign up for the newsletter⁠ (themerge.co)!
• Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠ (patreon.com/the_merge)!
• Nooks website (nooks.works)
• Nooks LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/nooks-works)

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intro
Nooks
origin story
name and logo
locations and spaces
location and the real value unlock
COVID
fractional labs
fundraising for a weird company
information disadvantage
myth of hiring security clearances
SCIF
mobile SCIF
touchpoints and impact
security in shared spaces
the real impact
magic wand - crystal ball
make the problem go away
secrets, top secret, military, technology, tech, defense, national security, air force, navy, army, marine corps, usmc

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