ACCEL-KS Profile:Proactive Ballistics
This profile is part of our series highlighting the recipients of the ACCEL-KS Proof-of-Concept grant, a partnership between the Kansas Department of Commerce and Groover Labs. ACCEL-KS provides up to $25,000 in grant funding to help Kansas innovators move their ideas from concept to commercialization. Over the coming weeks, we’ll introduce you to each team and the problems they’re solving.
Up next? Bob Bailey and Proactive Ballistic Systems.
Proactive Ballistic Systems LLC and ACCEL-KS grant recipient Bob Bailey.
Company name? Proactive Ballistic Systems LLC
Product name: ProGuardian
What gave you the idea for your product or startup?
The initial idea came via the movie Panic Room. The starring actress was Jodie Foster. Several men invaded her home and disabled any means of communication. Foster became imprisoned within her safe room in her own home. She could not get out, and the assailants could not get into the safe room. The salient question was formed. Would it be possible to build an insert into the safe room that would allow deadly force out from within the safe room but not allow the assailants to shoot into the safe room. The answer is YES.
What makes your product stand out?
The product is quite simple using straight forward physics. No magic black box, and no way to turn it off. We have fully tested prototypes with success at each phase. Our prototypes have been shown to military product scouts, business owners, and many others, and we have received high praise from all. We have three U.S. patents and two foreign patents.
What have you learned so far on your journey?
Three areas that come to mind are:
1) The continual need for funding is crucial in the development and launch of any product.
2) What we’ve learned more than any other lesson is that the heart of unwavering perseverance is a must. We have faced many obstacles and have overcome them with focus, determination and critical thinking to get where we are today. Having a never-quit mindset helps to overcome these trials, and teaches us more than we could ever have hoped for.
3) This goes hand in hand with the other two: collaboration - seeking funding and learning from every conversation we have with the professionals that we speak with. We have learned to be more resilient by never losing hope and learning from the wisdom and experience of other very qualified people.
How are the ACCEL-KS grant funds helping you reach the next stage of development?
The funds received have been targeted on developing market-ready product. We have been moving forward to overcome the final element of testing with our current product version, and will go through a few iterations to determine the best possible end product prior to market ready. The funding is also helping us with critical thinking as we have discovered, through testing, minor changes that will improve the overall quality of the product while making it safer and more effective than ever before. These tests we hope to have finalized in the coming months.
What kind of support do you need from the startup community ?
The next level of support for this project would be funding for production and marketing -- the purchase of material to create a starting inventory of units ready for market launch, and the marketing dollars necessary to reach the target markets that we hope to reach starting in Q1 and Q2 of 2026.
What is something interesting we should know about you or your project?
Anyone that knows me knows that I care about people, family, and the relationships that people have with one another. I care about their daily well-being and how well they live life. In today's tumultuous environment and growing unrest we see globally, I have conviction for bringing a whole new level of protection for people to protect themselves and their families right in the security of their own homes and where they work. This way everyone can have peace of mind and feel certain that they can care for the ones they love the most. This product means the difference between life and death, and places the advantage back in the hands of the defender, and not the assailant. Something everyone needs and something we should all expect.
