E52 – Top Secret Offices
E52 – Top Secret Offices  
Podcast: The Merge
Published On: Sat Oct 25 2025
Description: 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! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠!• Nooks website• Nooks LinkedIn ---- Follow us on...• LinkedIn• Instagram⁠• ⁠X⁠• ⁠Facebook⁠• ⁠Website⁠ ---- 00:0000:46 intro01:49 Nooks02:52 origin story09:49 name and logo12:30 locations and spaces13:30 location and the real value unlock17:57 COVID19:20 fractional labs20:06 fundraising for a weird company22:01 information disadvantage23:33 myth of hiring security clearances30:00 SCIF34:09 mobile SCIF39:23 touchpoints and impact42:13 security in shared spaces46:48 the real impact47:36 magic wand - crystal ball49:50 make the problem go awaysecrets, top secret, military, technology, tech, defense, national security, air force, navy, army, marine corps, usmc