The Veteran (Semi) Professional

Send us Fan Mail Great interview with Nick Vandam who acquired a business through the self-funded model. 

Send us Fan Mail If you have any interest in buying a business, I cannot recommend enough following Ben on Twitter . I have at least 5 of his threads saved and regularly refer to them as I look at deals myself.  He drops straight knowledge on there and it is GREAT.  Here is Ben's Bio: Ben Tiggelaar is the founder of Bardo Capital . Ben is a hands-on entrepreneur and investor. He is an adventu...

Send us Fan Mail Fun fact: Alain and I served in the same battalion in the 82nd.  He now works for the Golden Knights, managing partnerships with key sponsors.  

Send us Fan Mail Sophie is an absolute gem of a human. We talk about "The" path she was on is one that will sound familiar to many of you. Academy grad->SOF->MBA->MBB Consulting ->....realizing this isn't the path. Sophie got off the flywheel of success, moved into a van, and started to travel around the country working remotely and just living. Oh, she also found a way...

Send us Fan Mail Ryan is an incredibly awesome guy.  7 years as an Apache pilot 8 years in the CIA's Directorate of Operations Trust and Safety at Google and Netflix  Combat Story | Sharing Veteran Stories https://twitter.com/combat_story?s=20 Combat Story w/ Ryan Fugit (@combatstory) • Instagram photos and videos Ryan Fugit | LinkedIn Trust & Safety Institute (trustsafetyinstitute.com)

Send us Fan Mail I had never heard of a Venture Studio before this episode and am pumped to share it with you all.  The basic idea is that a group of investors come up with areas that they know about and then fund ideas and founding teams in those areas.  Matt worked with a group called Fractal .  Once Matt got accepted, he got a salary while he learned their methods and then got matched with a CT...

Send us Fan Mail Chandra's Bio: "I am a Certified Human Potential Coach (CHPC) and an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) accredited through the International Coaching Federation. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and a Master’s Degree in Aeronautical Science, specializing in Management. I flew the T-37, T-38, F-15C, F-117A, and T-6A military aircraft as well as Piper PA-28 Cherokee,...

Send us Fan Mail Stuart has quite the resume:  CEO, Arc'teryx (current) CEO Away CFO, J Crew CFO and COO lululemon Before that, we was a cavalry officer in the Army and credits much of his success to that foundational experience. 

Send us Fan Mail MONSTER news.  McKinsey launched a DoD Skillbridge program.  Before you rush off to apply- it is currently closed.  But don't let that hold you down.  That means you get time to prep and apply.  Lewis Martin is a former pilot who joined the show to talk about the program and why veterans should consider consulting.  Lewis Martin | LinkedIn Veterans@McKinsey | Careers | McKins...

Send us Fan Mail We had a lot of fun with this one.  Brock is a Navy veteran who runs a great podcast also. We talk about veteran issues and life in the military.  Scuttlebutt Podcast | Brock | Substack Brock Briggs (@BrockHBriggs) / Twitter Personally... (brockbriggs.com)

Send us Fan Mail Official Bio: Brad is an entrepreneur and seasoned business development executive with a passion for building companies and pushing the envelope of technological innovation. He has successfully helped incubate several companies out of the Scout office including Scout’s most successful investment to date, Unite US, as well as PortfolioWatch (exited) and Assurely. Brad also has deep...

Send us Fan Mail Tammy Barlette is a former fighter pilot and founder of Athena's Voice , where she finds speaking opportunities for other high-performing women like herself.  Here is Tammy's official bio: Tammy Barlette is a mindset and performance expert who specializes in the art of perseverance. As a retired Lieutenant Colonel and fighter pilot, who has faced many challenges herself,...

Send us Fan Mail Mark's Bio: Mark Herschberg is the author of The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You and creator of the Brain Bump app. From tracking criminals and terrorists on the dark web to creating marketplaces and new authentication systems, Mark has spent his career launching and developing new ventures at startups and Fortune 500s and in academia, with...

Send us Fan Mail I first found out about Tom from this article .  Tom's Bio: Tom is an entrepreneur with more than 25 years of analytic and risk management experience as a co-founder and CEO of ClearForce, a cyber and employee risk management company based in Vienna, VA. Prior to ClearForce, Tom was the CEO of ALI Solutions (aka, Austin Logistics). During his tenure at ALI, Tom served as the...

Send us Fan Mail Chris Perkins has A LOT to share. He was an artillery officer in the Marines who left the Corps and wanted to get into finance.  After convincing someone at Lehman Brothers that conducting artillery missions made him a good fit for stock trading, he got started int he world of finance.  His career was moving along the normal path of Wall Street until he started learning about this...

Send us Fan Mail Code Platoon is an awesome organization that works with veterans to get them started in what can be an extremely lucrative and rewarding career: software development.   They also have a great story that involves the founder's son getting every Call of Duty game ever....for free. 

Send us Fan Mail Adam has a heckuva story that I couldn't wait to share with you all: He enlisted in the Army at 17 and got to work heavily in engineering, which was what he wanted. After the Army, he went to work at GE Healthcare and got to develop his inner engineer while learning more about the world of business, learning under the famous Jack Welch. Then one day he got a call from a recru...

Send us Fan Mail Jordan has an interesting path. Here is his official bio: "Jordan Carter is a Partner at Search Investment Group (SIG) where he advises entrepreneurs and independent sponsors on deal sourcing, due diligence, and capital raises. Jordan is also the CEO of B&A Group, a government grant services and software company acquired through a self-funded search. Jordan previously wor...

Send us Fan Mail "I own two assets: my house and Bitcoin" Johnny Demaddalena is awesome.  He started in tech by building custom computers when he was in high school.  Somewhere along the way, he heard about this "internet money" called Bitcoin and started his trip down the Rabbit Hole.  Johnny now runs  DeMaddalena Capital where he helps large investors handle crypto.  

Send us Fan Mail The military has lots of aviators who may ask themselves at some point: should I continue to fly after the military? Greg Krino is an airline pilot who shares some of his story of flying after the Air Force.   But we also have a lot to talk about from his time running for public office.  Spoiler alert: it's a rough world out there.  Podcast | The Greg Krino Show The Greg Krin...

Send us Fan Mail Reasons you should listen: Brian turns the tables on me and interviews me about my own entrepreneurial endeavors We learn about his MASTERFUL use of mentors to get started in business Brian has a GREAT product that got started from a problem he recognized a young officer in the 75th Ranger Regiment 

Send us Fan Mail Greg is a wonder.  He's started e-commerce brands, built a digital marketing company, bought businesses, and helped countless of other veteran entrepreneurs, all while serving in the Canadian Reserves.  You can find out more about his company, H-Hour, here . Resources mentioned:  David Ogilvy

Send us Fan Mail You can learn more about Robert at his website here but here are a few of his highlights: Managing Partner and CEO, iFLY Va Beach Indoor skydiving Coach/Consultant, Speaker US Navy Lieutenant. 26 year military career in Special Operations. US Navy Diver, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician and EOD officer. Bob came to me by way of former guest Marty Strong .  We talk abou...

Send us Fan Mail "IRON" Mike is a constant voice in the veteran entrepreneurship community and he's got some great lessons to share with you all. Mike is a graduate of the Naval Academy and did his military time in the Marine Corps.  He avoided the "typical" path after service and instead went to work at a school in the inner city.  There he started coaching boxing and sho...

Send us Fan Mail At the time of this recording, Dan worked with Lucas Group , one of the military recruiting firms that a lot of transitioning veterans work with during their exit from the military.  He now works with Cohen Partners doing much of the same work.  There can be a lot of bad images out there for these firms so I wanted to sit down with someone on the inside to talk about what they thi...