Archive for category: Veteran Interview

In this episode I’m joined by two veterans:  1) Nate Boyer, a US Army veteran and Special Forces soldier followed a path through football, playing for the Texas Longhorns and then a single pre-season game with the Seattle Seahawks, and 2) Denver Morris, a fellow Marine infantry veteran from 2/7 and Program Coordinator for the Los Angeles branch of Merging Vets with Players (MVP).

Nate, along with his co-founder Jay Glazer, started MVP with a mission “designed to address challenges that many combat veterans and professional athletes face when transitioning their service/professional life towards a new mission in their civilian life.”  They do this by challenging its members with group fitness classes and fostering peer-to-peer support among the team.   Denver, MVP’s first success story, joined them very early on and was their first employee.

In the interview we discuss:

• The loss of identity when leaving the service and getting past it
• Nate’s belief that anything is possible.
• Denver’s brush with suicide and journey through homelessness
• How Denver met Nate and joined the MVP team
• The successes they’ve both had as well as their favorite success stories coming out of their program

Today’s guest is Alex Pedersen, an Air Force Academy graduate and veteran who is now the Chief Operating Officer at Polco, a civic engagement and analytics company. Its primary product is a web-based platform for local governments to get input from their communities and then use that data to drive decisions.

Alex and I met at VETCON 2017 in March, where he competed against several other veteran entrepreneurs for $10,000 in funding.  It was his first “official” pitch but he’s be informally promoting Polco for a few years now.

Alex graduated high school in 2004 and driven by the events of 9/11 decided he wanted to serve his country.  After hearing about the Air Force academy from a friend he decided it would be the best place to challenge himself, not just physically but academically as well.  Once he graduated and was pinned a 2nd lieutenant in the Air Force he was accepted to grad school.  He attended Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government where he earned his Masters in Public Policy, focusing on International and Global Affairs.

He spent his operational time in the Air Force deployed to Germany where he acted in an advisory role to the Joint Terminal Attack Controllers stationed there within the US Army.  He later returned to the Air Force Academy as an instructor in Political Science.  It’s here that he meets Nick Mastronardi, a fellow Air Force officer and instructor.  From their discussions while teaching at the academy the groundwork would be laid for developing the idea that turns into Polco.

I’ll let you listen to the rest of his story in the interview.  Some of the main topics we cover are:

• What it was like to attend and pitch his company at VETCON, a conference specifically for veteran entrepreneurs.
• The biggest strength he took from the military and applied to his civilian career and entrepreneurship.
• His decision to leave an amazing career at Google to join in on building a company from the ground up.
• How Polco educates city officials and helps bridge the divide between constituents and those making policy decisions.
• Examples of policies the Polco platform has helped cities develop and vote on.
• Much more…

Links from the show:

The Polco website – find out more, reach out, and try out a demo!

Alex’s book recommendation: Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

Purchase a Veteranology Challenge Coin!

Veteranology on iTunes

Our guest today is Torie Fisher, a veteran of both the US Army and National Guard.

Torie is now the founder of Backward Flag Brewing, a craft brewery and taproom located in Forked River New Jersey. She started her business nearly 2 year ago with two other partners, and after they both quickly dropped out she carried on and moved forward on her own. Now she has a staff of about 8, made up almost entirely of veteran volunteers who she gives most of the credit to regarding the brewery’s continued success. On top of running the brewery, Torie is currently building a non-profit to run in parallel to her company, with the mission of teaching veterans brewing and business skills while building their professional network.

Discussed in this episode:

The Federal Technician Program, Helping other find purpose, Joining the National Guard after active duty service, the beers on tap, and much more.

http://backwardflagbrewing.com/

Outro Link:

http://www.veteranconference.com/