I recently gave a demo of Preppr.ai | Disaster Exercise Design Evolved to a county with a population of about 30,000. Their preparedness team? A few people adding up to .5 FTE—that’s half of one full-time person—working with almost no budget and limited experience designing exercises.

Sound familiar? If you’ve worked in disaster preparedness, you know this isn’t uncommon. Many small jurisdictions face the same challenges: stretched-thin teams juggling multiple roles, trying to meet state and federal requirements with few resources, and often feeling like they’re falling short.

The person I was demoing for said something that stuck with me:

“I want to conduct an exercise, but I just don’t have the time or experience to create something useful.”

That hit me hard. Exercises are supposed to help us get ready for disasters—to save lives, protect communities, and minimize damage. But what happens when the process itself is so overwhelming that it becomes a barrier to preparedness?

Disasters are hard. But what if preparedness was easy?

That’s the question I keep coming back to.

What If Preparedness Was as Easy as Your Favorite App?

What if designing a disaster exercise was as intuitive as using your favorite app on your phone—but still powerful enough to meet the real needs of emergency management?

What if a county with .5 FTEs could access the same tools as a large city with a full staff?

What if those tools were affordable, easy to use, and designed for people who don’t have time to waste?

This is where Preppr starts.

Preppr’s First Step: Simplifying Exercises

Preppr’s first focus is disaster exercise design—a critical but often daunting task. Our goal? Make it simple, efficient, and impactful:

• No steep learning curve.

• No juggling Word docs, spreadsheets, and PDFs.

• Just an AI-powered tool that helps you create a fully customized exercise in minutes, complete with realistic scenarios, injects, discussion prompts, and materials like situation manuals.

For the county I demoed Preppr for, this was a game-changer. Instead of months of work—or giving up entirely—they could have a tailored exercise ready to go, aligned with their needs, and designed to be useful.

But exercises are just the beginning.

The Bigger Vision: A Platform for Preparedness

Preppr isn’t just about making exercises easier. The bigger vision is to build a platform for preparedness—one that connects every part of the process.

I keep thinking about that county with 30,000 people and .5 FTEs for preparedness. What could they accomplish if they had access to:

• Integrated tools for planning, training, and risk assessment?

• A system that connects their efforts to what’s happening in other jurisdictions, allowing them to learn faster and share best practices?

• Data insights that show what’s working and what needs improvement—without hours of manual reporting?

What could we do with a system like that?

How much faster could we learn from each other?

How many barriers could we break down?

Preparedness Shouldn’t Depend on Budget or Experience

Here’s the truth: the tools we use today are fragmented, expensive, and hard to access. Plans live in one system. Exercises happen in another. Lessons learned often sit in reports that no one revisits.

What if it didn’t have to be that way?

What if preparedness was affordable for everyone?

What if small counties didn’t just make do—but actually thrived?

The Future I See

That’s the future I want to build. Preppr starts with exercises because it’s where the need is greatest. But we’re not stopping there. We’re working toward a platform for preparedness that’s:

• Intuitive: Designed for real people, not just experts.

• Powerful: Scalable enough for large cities, accessible enough for small communities.

• Affordable: So that every jurisdiction, regardless of budget, can build resilience.

Preparedness shouldn’t feel like an uphill battle. It should feel possible.

What Would This Look Like for You?

If you’re in this space, you probably see the same challenges I do. What could a platform like this solve for you?

• Would it help you design better exercises, faster?

• Could it connect you with others, so you’re not reinventing the wheel?

• Would it make your job easier, your community safer?

I want to hear your thoughts. Because this isn’t just about what Preppr can do—it’s about what we can do when we build tools that work for everyone.

Let’s start a conversation. What does preparedness as a platform mean to you?