One list to rule them all.
Have you ever wanted to own your business? Maybe you have a startup idea, or napkin sketches of a product you think would be useful. Maybe you want to buy a business or open up a franchise.
There are lots of ways to pursue an entrepreneurial path. This list of 100 Tools for Veteran Entrepreneurs can help you get started in raising money, pursuing government contracts, or getting your side hustle off the ground.
- Let me start with some hard-hitting advice: no one owes you shi* because you are a veteran. You aren’t going to get customers just because you are a veteran. You aren’t going to get free money for your business just because you are a veteran. You are going to have to work just like everyone else.
2. Failure is OK. Your job as an entrepreneur is to minimize the risk exposure should your venture fail. Oftentimes, we as veterans are scared to fail but I am here to tell you that it’s OK to do as an entrepreneur. In fact, it’s expected.
3. Know that there is no “right” way to be an entrepreneur. Check out this list of 17 Paths to Entrepreneurship to get inspiration from ordinary people who took winding roads to owning their own businesses.
4. If you are still in the military, you may want to check out my list of 100 Things Veterans Should Know Before Leaving the Military. You may be able to use Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits to help cut some of the risk of being an entrepreneur.
5. You can start to get entrepreneurship training before you leave the military through the Boots to Business program run by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
6. The SBA also has Veteran Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs) to help veteran entrepreneurs after the military.
7. Bunker Labs is a great resource for Veterans to know about. They have local chapters that host events, online training, and helpful programs for people building their businesses.
8. Bunker Labs also hosts the CEO Circle for when your business gets more mature.
9. They also have a pitch competition with USAA where you can get up to $50,000 for your startup.
10. Or try for $100,000 at this pitch competition with the Founder’s Institute.
11. Or the Military Entrepreneur Challenge.
12. But before you get all excited about grants and pitch competitions, let me tell you something: there is no “free” money out there for veteran entrepreneurs. Pitch competitions take time, and so does applying for grants. And there is not a magical pot of money you get for free just because you are a veteran.
13. VET To CEO hosts free classes to teach veterans what they need to know about legal matters, finances, marketing, and other critical areas of running a business.
14. One of the founders of Vet to CEO also started Folla Capital which can help veterans raise funds for their business.
15. You can also get a coach to help you through Warrior Rising.
16. Patriot Boot Camp offers 2-day, in-person workshops to help you network with successful entrepreneurs and people who can help your business grow.
17. Veteran Business Project was founded by a Vietnam veteran and helps veterans start or buy businesses, sometimes even connecting them with owners looking for a veteran to sell to.
18. You can also check out The Rosie Network which connects the veteran and military spouse community of businesses.
19. Or the Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce.
20. Or the Milspo Project can help military spouses “turn their passion into profit.”
21. Vets in Tech wants to connect veterans who have tech businesses with the right people.
22. I’m here to tell you that you can probably find the answer you are looking for on YouTube. Need to create a logo? Fix a line of code? Figure out how to manufacture a pencil? Go to YouTube.
23. The Military Influencer Conference can also be a great way to connect with other veterans building businesses.
24. Not sure what to do with your Thrift Savings Plan after the military? You have a few options, but many don’t know you can use those funds to help you buy or start a business through the Rollovers as Business Startups (ROBS) option.
25. Franchises love veterans. You can check out Vet Fran to find franchises that have special deals, including discounts on franchise fees, for veterans who want to build a franchise.
26. There are even a few franchises founded by veterans that look to specifically franchise to other veterans such as J Dog Junk Removal.
27. Or VetCor
28. Or G Force
29. The Wolf of Franchises is a newsletter run by a franchise industry veteran who publishes in-depth research on new franchise opportunities. You can sign up for free HERE.
30. You definitely do not need an MBA to be an entrepreneur, but if you think it might be helpful, I wrote a series about the Military to MBA journey.
31. You may want to buy a business instead of starting one, called Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA).
32. Many people in the ETA community love working with veterans. Here is some feedback from a lawyer who specializes in helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:
33. You can connect with other veterans and learn more about ETA at Veteran ETA.
34. If you want to learn more about this, the two books EVERYONE will recommend to you are Buy then Build and The Harvard Business Review Guide to Buying a Small Business.
35. If you have never created a model for a leveraged buyout, Wall Street Oasis offers a class that walks you through how to do it. Acquiring Minds also has a series of webinars that can guide you through modeling and raising money from investors to buy a business.
36. But if you want to skip ahead, you can look at where to find businesses for sale.
37. There are also some really great podcasts out there about buying a business. Acquiring Minds, Acquisitions Anonymous, and Think Like an Owner are the biggest.
38. Acquiring Minds even has a whole playlist on their YouTube channel of interviews with veterans who bought a small business.
39. You can also check out my podcast, The Veteran (Semi) Professional, where I have 200+ interviews with veterans who started, bought, or ran a business.
40. The biggest podcasts related to entrepreneurship are the Tim Ferriss Show, How I Built This, Entrepreneurs on Fire (founded by a veteran), and Masters of Scale.
41. Tim Ferriss has a great collection of blog posts related to building businesses, from the tactical to the strategic level.
42. If you do some research, you will find many of the same tools listed over and over again as essential for starting a new business. Or you can just check out this list of The 20 best tools for starting your own business.
43. Your business may need venture capital to get started. Veteran Ventures Capital is a venture capital fund focused on veterans
44. So is TFX Capital
45. And Context Ventures
46. And Stony Lonesome Group
47. And Scout Ventures
48. And Moonshots Capital
49. And LunaCap Ventures
50. And 550 Capital Partners
51. And the Veteran Fund
52. Or the Academy Investor Network
53. Or Hivers and Strivers
54. Or check out this list of 19 Places To Find Investor Money For Veterans where some of these resources and more are listed.
55. Venture Capital isn’t necessary for all businesses. Here is a list of 200 small businesses that you can likely start without taking outside money.
56. Or check out this list of 50 Online Business Ideas You Can Start Tomorrow.
57. If you got here and still don’t know what venture capital is or the term EBITDA means nothing to you, that’s OK. We all had to learn. For financial education, one of the best places to learn about terms and concepts is Investopedia.
58. You may be asked by investors or small business development centers to create a business plan. If you have never done that before, LivePlan has a $15/month option and PlanSnack has a free one.
59. You can try pitching your business at the Rice Veterans Business Battle for non-dilutive money.
60. Or this one from FedEx, which was founded by a veteran.
61. Or the Business Beyond the Battlefield Conference, which also has a pitch competition.
62. You can also go to The Military Veteran conference, one of the biggest for veterans in the startup ecosystem.
63. Know that accessing capital is often cited by veterans as one of the biggest challenges we face in entrepreneurship. IVMF wrote a research paper that details these challenges and proposes some solutions. You can find that paper HERE.
64. IVMF also has a great list of training and information on many of the basics needed to start a business, which you can find HERE.
65. Also look into the Veterans Future Lab, which can provide workspace, engineering support, legal help, and some funding to help launch your business.
66. A lot of businesses these days are software-based, so you may want to learn to code. I created a list of 18 Ways Veterans Can Learn to Code, all of which are free.
67. You could even go to law school and start your own law practice. To learn more about law school, check out my Military to Law School series, written by a former enlisted soldier who went to a top law school.
68. Check out the Veteran Entrepreneur Program from PenFed. They provide coaching, and resources, and may even invest in your business at the end of their program.
69. The Veteran Shark Tank may be able to score you up to $50,000 in money for your business.
70. There are associations for veterans business owners that lobby government on behalf of veterans and provide educational and networking opportunities for veterans. The National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA) is one of the more prominent ones.
71. The Veteran EDGE Conference, hosted by Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), connects you with other veteran business owners.
72. IVMF also hosts Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (V-WISE) for female veterans.
73. The US Government sets aside a certain percentage of the federal budget just for veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. These types of contracts can be a great way to get a leg up as a veteran in the federal market. You can learn more about this from the SBA here.
74. Many government agencies have offices for small business development where veterans with businesses can start to get in contact with representatives from that agency.
75. Department of Defense has one
76. So does the Army
77. And the Navy
78. And the Air Force
79. And the Marines
80. And the Coast Guard
81. You should also check out the Department of Veterans Affairs resources for veteran-owned businesses.
82. Or go look into the Veteran Institute for Procurement which has training for veteran-owned businesses looking to grow as a government contractor.
83. In fact, the VA has special advantages for veteran-owned businesses. They have a higher percentage of set-aside dollars for veteran-owned businesses and they have the “rule of two,” wherein if two veteran-owned businesses can perform the job, then it HAS to go to a veteran-owned business.
84. If you still want to learn more about getting started as a government contractor, checking out an APEX Accelerator office should be one of your first stops.
85. The Gov Con Chamber of Commerce was started by an army veteran and has lots of free resources to help you get started in government contracting.
86. It’s also worth looking into what benefits your local or state government has for veteran business owners. For example, Texas waives certain fees for veteran-owned businesses.
87. The federal government also has an office where you can buy equipment they no longer use for very cheap. You can find everything from old uniforms to airplanes.
88. And you can look for states that have set-aside contracts for veterans here.
89. It can sometimes be hard to get financing for government contracting businesses, but Leonid is a firm that focuses just on that. They also give 50% of profits to veteran causes. Yes, 50%.
90. There are some real tax advantages you should know about if you want to own your own business. Here is a great Twitter/X thread that breaks down the basics of what you need to know.
91. Looking for some inspiration from other veterans? Here is a list of 25 famous entrepreneurs who served in the military. They founded companies like Nike, Wal-Mart, FedEx, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
92. Owning a business or building a startup can be a lonely journey. It can be helpful to surround yourself with other people on the journey so you can learn and grow from them. 10x Vets is a good place to connect with other veterans. That’s just one place, but be on the lookout for a group of other business owners you can connect with, or start your own group.
93. You might also want to check out From Military to Millionaire if you want to learn more about real estate investing.
94. Many veterans start businesses and want to hire other veterans. If you do that, you should look into the Work Opportunity Tax Credit which may give you some tax breaks for hiring qualified veterans.
95. You need insurance. I won’t say who exactly you should use, but you may think you don’t need it and I am here to tell you that you do.
96. If you start a business, you will need a separate account from your personal funds. JP Morgan waives the fees for veterans who open a business banking account.
97. Maybe you have an idea about a product people would find useful. That doesn’t mean you have to create an entire company around that idea; it may just be easier to license it. Steven Key wrote One Simple Idea to share how he did this with numerous ideas and generated great income for far less risk.
98. The top 5 books on entrepreneurship are The Lean Startup, Zero to One, The Startup Owner’s Manual, Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days, and Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.
99. The Vet Net is real and it is powerful. Don’t underestimate the bonds of military service. Other veterans want to help you and see you succeed. Use that. Ask for connections and ask for help. You can go a lot further if you do.
100. The last one on the list is you. You are your own best resource. You volunteered to do some hard things for your country. You learned to work through pain, with fewer resources, and amidst a complex environment. You have grit, resilience, and determination. You got this.
Go crush it.
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