Service Academy Business Mastermind

Peter Joukov (USNA '05) is the co-founder of Inq Tattoos , a company that is disrupting the tattoo industry with high-end boutiques that focus on clean design, transparency, and a customer-first philosophy.  Their sole focus is to ensure that customers feel welcome, safe, and walk away with an amazing tattoo that they absolutely love. In this episode, Peter and I discuss: Why he decided to open ta...

Todd Waldemar (USNA '89) is the founder of ChowCall , a Marine Veteran owned, 3rd party food delivery business, unlike anything you have ever seen. With a tap on your phone, ChowCall delivers food from your favorite restaurants right to your barracks, home, or office. Armed with the latest technology, experienced local delivery professionals, and a commitment for service, ChowCall brings food deli...

Anthony Pinto (USNA '14) is an active duty submarine officer and owner of Pinto Capital Investments , a Commercial Real Estate Investment company based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Anthony is building his real estate portfolio and plans to achieve financial freedom before he completes his military obligation. In this episode, Anthony and I discuss: His goal to reach financial freedom before he co...

Tim Parlatore (USNA '02) is the Founder of Parlatore Law Group , a cloud-based law firm that eliminates all the unnecessary overhead expenses associated with traditional law firms while providing the highest quality legal services.  By trimming all the excess expenses and passing those savings on to clients, Parlatore Law Group's attorneys can devote their full efforts to solving problems and work...

Grant Demaree (USMA '13)  is the Co-Founder of Onebrief , a collaborative platform that facilitates rapid executive decision-making for businesses and military planning.  Onebrief supports large-scale collaboration on the Joint Planning Process and automates the outputs, such as OPLANs, OPORDs, sync matrices, and maps.  Onebrief is being used in exercises in the Army and Air Force, including the A...

Stephen Semmelroth (USMA '11) is a veteran-focused cybersecurity recruiter where he develops Cyber Vets and finds them jobs.  As a cybersecurity recruiter, he matches the nation's best Cyber Veterans (any Federal alumni, clearance holder, or military spouse) with tech jobs across the country. In this episode, Stephen and I discuss: The explosive growth of the cybersecurity industry Current job ope...

On today's podcast I'm joined by Bill Militello (USNA '92) who shares how an "abundance mindset" and a simple shift in thinking can help us navigate successfully through uncertain times. Bill is the CEO of Militello Capital and LocalVest.com.  Militello Capital is a team of veteran entrepreneurs who invest capital in joint ventures with a select group of highly successful private equity and real e...

Mike Foster (USNA '13) is a real estate investor and entrepreneur who serves as the Director of Education and Podcast Host for Active Duty Passive Income . While active duty, Mike was fortunate enough to have several remarkable mentors that taught him the importance of credit-building, creative financing techniques, and wealth-building strategies.  Mike has acquired multiple real estate investment...

Fred Stuvek Jr. graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1974 after lettering three years as quarterback for the Midshipmen. After serving as a Naval Officer, he transitioned to the business world where he has held senior leadership positions in private and public companies, both domestically and internationally. Key successes include an international medical imaging start-up that led to...

Carly DaCosta (USMA '04) and her husband Jered own DaCosta Real Estate Investments, an investment company focused on buying high-quality short-term rentals leveraging Airbnb and apartment complexes through syndication.  In 2018, Carly left her full-time job to purchase a $2MM multifamily apartment building in San Francisco.  In March 2019, Jered joined Carly on her real estate adventure, and they...

Rachael Jackson is a West Point graduate with a degree in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, former Army Captain and Apache Attack Helicopter pilot. As an Army officer, she saw first-hand the importance of taking care of soldiers and their families. As CEO of TRIBAL , she has seen first-hand the power of story and the necessity for relationships to change hearts and drive action. Her life's work is...

Today is the 100 th episode of the SABM podcast. In today's episode I share the story of SABM, where the idea came from and how it has evolved over the past three years.  Since launching the community in 2017, we have grown immensely thanks to all the amazing grads who have contributed their time, talent and ideas. In today's episode, I share: How the idea for SABM started with a coffee mug busine...

France Hoang (USMA '95) has developed a patent-pending artificial intelligence engine to help organizations predict who in a new list of people are most like the original list using hundreds of data points.  Their predictive models help nonprofit fundraisers find new donors (boodle.ai), help political candidates raise contributions (adjutant.ai), and help companies find new clients that match the...

Bo Bergstrom (USNA '03) is the CEO of Humanly , a company that offers co-working spaces to help therapists and other private practitioners transition into their own private practice. In addition to flexible office space, they also provide their members with an active and supportive community along with business classes to help them thrive. In this episode, we discuss: His company's goal to grow to...

Claude Burns is the Founder of Office Libations , a corporate beverage and snack service delivering to offices in the San Francisco Bay area. They offer craft and local brands of coffee, tea, snacks, beer, wine, and spirits.  In 2019, Office Libations was ranked as the #2 fastest growing business in Oakland by the Inc 5000. In this episode, Claude and I discuss: His journey from the Navy into the...

Brad Artery (USNA '95) is the CEO of MOCingbird , an innovative online platform for healthcare professionals to monitor certification and educational requirements.  The platform allows users to track and store MOCs, CMEs and state licenses in a secure vault in order to stay up-to-date and compliant.  In the Navy, Brad was a submarine officer, doing tours on two Los Angeles class fast attack submar...

Chris Prentice (USMA '92) has over 20 years of medical device experience in both large strategic healthcare companies and in successful startup companies. Most recently he was Vice President of Commercial Integration at Medtronic. Prior to his position at Medtronic, he was CEO of Mazor Robotics, which was acquired by Medtronic in December 2018 for $1.6B. In this episode, Chris and I discuss: His j...

Charles Mullenger (USMA '10) is the owner of Ethos Evacuation Strategies , a leading partner in emergency preparedness and an American-made manufacturer of cost-effective evacuation solutions, including its flagship product, the Med Sled®. Since 2004, Med Sled has been developing products to support disaster preparedness and emergency evacuation to ensure that non-ambulatory individuals are transp...

Ben Allen (USNA '07) is the Chief Operations Officer at  Beachly , a subscription-based premium apparel company inspired by the coastal lifestyle.  I'm also joined by Kevin Tighe, Co-Founder & CEO at Beachly. In this episode, we discuss: Why they chose a subscription model to sell their coastal themed clothing How they attracted their first customers and how they are getting new customers today Va...

David Chepauskas (USMA '77) is a Senior Wealth Planner at Summit Financial, an independent wealth management firm located in Parsippany, New Jersey.  David has over 28 years of experience specializing in solving problems and maximizing opportunities for senior Wall Street professionals, business owners, executives, and retirees. In this episode, David and I discuss: How to minimize capital gains t...

Mike Nemeth (USMA '04) is best known across the Service Academy community for his hilarious pranks that capture the spirit of the Army/Navy rivalry.  In addition to his role as the community prankster, he's also a very successful entrepreneur who has built a 7-figure apparel business from the ground up. In this episode, Mike and I discuss: His apparel company that has grown to over 7-figures in sa...

Alex Chehansky (USNA '95) is the CFO and Partner at Notorious Wines , a wine company that has achieved national distribution through its great tasting wine and winning team.  Their flagship wine, Notorious Pink, is an award-winning rosé made from 100% Grenache. In this episode, Alex and I discuss: How they got their first customers and have grown sales to 50,000+ cases per year Best practices and...

Bryan Rodriguez is a real estate investor who has built a portfolio of real estate investments while serving on active duty in the U.S. Army. Part of his investment strategy involves renting his properties on Airbnb.  In addition to real estate investing, Brian and his wife, Lana, run a real estate agency where they ranked in the top 10% of agents in the Colorado market.  In this episode, Bryan an...

Jim "Bart" Bartelloni (USNA '90) is a Naval Academy graduate and former Rugby player. He cut his teeth in the military as a Naval Aviator, flying F-14s and graduating from the US Navy Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun). The opportunity to relocate to San Diego brought the chance to learn stand up paddle (SUP) surfing. After attending a SUP 'n' Surf retreat he made the decision to bring this opportun...

Caroline Johnson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2009 and is a former F/A-18 Super Hornet Weapons System Operator. She was one of the first women to fly a combat mission over Iraq since 2011, and she was the first woman to drop bombs on ISIS. Transitioning to the private sector, Caroline co-authored Jet Girl and has become a professional speaker. She has spoken at international banks, For...