Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
Join us as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, proving that even after the mission changes, the call to serve and thrive never ends.
Security Halt!
Rice University Veteran Business Battle: Turning Military Skills into Startup Success
In this game-changing episode of Security Halt!, we dive into the world of veteran entrepreneurship and explore how military veterans are making waves in the business world through the Veteran Business Battle—one of the most competitive pitch competitions for veteran-owned startups.
From military leadership to business leadership, veterans face unique challenges transitioning into the private sector. This episode breaks down the struggles, risks, and rewards of pursuing entrepreneurship after service, offering first-hand insights from those who have turned their military experience into thriving businesses.
Key Topics Covered:
✔️ What is the Veteran Business Battle? A Breakdown of the Competition
✔️ How Veterans Can Overcome Job Market Challenges with Entrepreneurship
✔️ The Highs & Lows of Starting a Business: Risk, Failure & Leadership
✔️ Why Purpose & Passion Matter in Building a Business After the Military
✔️ Lessons from Veteran Entrepreneurs Who Turned Their Ideas into Reality
Whether you're a veteran looking to start your own business, an entrepreneur navigating challenges, or someone interested in supporting veteran-owned companies, this episode is a must-listen.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube!
Don’t forget to follow, like, share, and subscribe to support veteran entrepreneurship and success beyond service.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Veteran Business Battle
03:03 The Importance of Entrepreneurship for Veterans
06:13 Transitioning from Military to Business
09:02 Overcoming Job Market Challenges
12:00 Finding Purpose in Entrepreneurship
15:02 Innovative Ideas and Criteria for Success
17:59 Evaluating Business Proposals
21:03 The Nature of Entrepreneurship and Risk
23:11 Learning from Failure and Resilience
26:06 The Differences in Leadership: Military vs. Private Sector
30:10 Finding Purpose and Passion in Work
39:38 The Veteran Business Battle: Community and Support
Instagram: @securityhalt
Tik Tok: @security.halt.pod
LinkedIn: Deny Caballero
Follow Sterling, Dan, and Kyle on LinkedIn today!
Sterling Dodd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterling-dodd/
Dan Maxwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmaxwell1991/
Kyle Eberly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-e-97829945/
ANNNNND check out Sitreps2steercos.com
For all the resources you need on transition, MBA, and other helpful tips.
https://www.sitreps2steercos.com/
Produced by Security Halt Media
Security Odd Podcast. Let's go. The only podcast that's purpose-built from the ground up to support you Not just you, but the wider audience, everybody. Authentic, impactful and insightful conversations that serve a purpose to help you. And the quality has gone up. It's decent. It's hosted by me, danny Caballero. It's a decent. It's hosted by me, danny Caballero. I am not getting right now. Dodd, dan and Kyle welcome to Security Out Podcast. It is an honor to have you guys here. Kyle, you are a royalty man of memes and man. It's a pleasure to have you. Dan, you know slouch yourself. And of uh, man, it's a pleasure to have you. Dan, you know slouch yourself. And, of course, we all know. Dodd, thank you for coming back.
Speaker 2:I think I'm.
Speaker 1:This is the number number two, number three man yeah, no three, we did a part two with you. Man yeah, look at that, what a bad Guys. You got a lot going on. Let's dive into it Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Sure Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:Absolutely man. Tell us about this business battle my man.
Speaker 4:Sterling, you want to take point or you want me to kick it off.
Speaker 2:You're the chair of the veteran business battle at Rice University. My friend, please get out of the way Sounds good, man.
Speaker 4:All right. So the veterans business battle is it's a pitch competition for veteran owned companies at the service level. They compete for cash prizes. Everybody gets excited about handing out the big checks, but you know, the real, the real value prop that we're selling people on is is who's who in the room. So putting veteran founders in front of veteran-focused investment firms and lenders too. So that's the 50,000-foot overview. This thing started 11 years ago, so this is the 11th annual one. Literally two vets that went into private equity and venture capital, corbin Bates and Mike Tatz, started this back-of-the-napkin idea at the grad student bar at Valhalla, if you guys have ever been there. Over the past 10 years it's grown to this nationally recognized event where we're pulling in the top veteran startups and VCs from both coasts. So it's a cool thing to be a part of. And those guys every year from 10, 11 years ago, those guys still show up every year.
Speaker 4:I'm not kidding 10, 11 years ago. Those guys still show up every year. No kidding, yeah. So I mean people get on planes to come to it, which, like I don't even.
Speaker 1:I live 10 minutes from rice and I'm like fuck I gotta go to sleep out here no, do it, fuck it, shit, piss cunt. Do it, it's all you can do it and say whatever you want, my man yeah, man.
Speaker 4:So, um, you know, rice, rice has this um small but mighty community of uh of ex-military guys that, um, you know, have found their way into entrepreneurship for whatever reason. For me it's just like man, I'm really not having a good time with this whole, uh, corporate america thing. Um, I think you know a lot of people can relate to that and, um, yeah, so there's this community, you know, of vets in entrepreneurship and and bbb is like right, obviously, at the uh, at the intersection of those two things, and so, um, rice is known for two things um, attracting top military talent and and entrepreneurship. So that's, that's bbb in a nutshell oh yeah, and you know it's.
Speaker 1:It's funny like we, we talk about that next chapter after the military and there's so many different voices out there championing millions of things for us to do. There's not enough people talking about entrepreneurship and kyle. You're by far one of the biggest voices when it comes to getting that mba. When it takes, when it takes time for people to transition, you're one of the most prominent voices that says hey, take your, take your next chapter in your own hands. Be willing to roll the dice and bet on yourself getting that education For the longest time.
Speaker 1:We can look at we can actually like we can measure this data and we can look at our previous vets and all the opportunities or lack of opportunities people are giving them. Like, I'll go to a bill and go work at a factory tom, you'll be great for middle management, be happy with that. But what you guys are doing now is you're opening up and you're highlighting this whole different world for guys and gals to be able to say you know what, I can be successful in this, but I want to know, like, who's their champion in this for you? Or how did you even get into this space?
Speaker 3:how did I yeah, and dan too, just be willing to go back and forth yeah, I mean, you know it's, it's a it's, it's a great question and you know. So I uh, you know, when I transitioned out of the military right, I was like a lot of people you know, like, well, what the hell am I gonna do? You know, know, and I'd I'd been kind of fixated on why I should go do an mba. Because I'd had some good peer. I had some good, uh, mentors, right, like all the, all the folks who've been in my brigade, uh, when we were in afghanistan, all the captains um that were, you know, they had like done a deployment to iraq and then they had like a year-long dwell and they went back to afghanistan and they were all like they were done with the army.
Speaker 3:Right, they were like, no, we're not doing this anymore, um, and so they were all applying to mba programs. So you got to see those folks. You're kind of like three to five years ahead of you, um, and so kind of had like some really good examples there. And I was aviation as well, um, so my commitment to the army was a little longer. So we so and also my peers from West Point, right, cause they had a shorter commitment than I did I saw like kind of like folks who were like, hey, I'm just going to go out and like get that JMO, you know, recruiter you know, they're just going to get hooked up with a job, right, I'm going to go work at a steel factory doing, like you said, middle management.
Speaker 3:Or folks were like, well, I'm going to go to you know a top MBA program, and you could kind of start to see the like divergent paths right, and to me the divergent path is like oh well, you should go do an MBA, right, the opportunity is much greater. So I kind of got to compare and so when I went and did that, you know, I started having folks reach out to me and ask me about it. Um, and when I, you know, I graduated from my MBA and I started doing consulting, I had a lot of people start to really talk to me about it. And so I kind of just got tired of like doing phone calls and I was like I wonder if I could do this at scale, you know. And so that's um, and at the same time you saw this like Cambrian explosion of like meme accounts with talking about like industry stuff, careers, and I was like so I kind of combined the two and and took it, took it from there, um, and that was like one way to basically like do the messaging at scale, right, and then also, I'm like a naturally like a smart ass, somewhat funny guy.
Speaker 3:So I was like, well, you know, if you know, nobody wants to just be lectured to, right? Nobody like wants to dislike social media is called benia for a reason. You want to be entertained. So I'm like, well, let's make this as entertaining as possible and slip in uh, slip in, um, informative things. And yeah, that's kind of like the recipe and it's just kind of it took on a life of its own and it's probably made me a little more infamous than I, I think I anticipated. But but you know, it's all good, I've, I've enjoyed it. Good, right, and it's also helped a lot of people and pissed off a lot of people too.
Speaker 1:Whatever, yeah, I've. I've seen it in my own sphere, in my own veteran group of friends. You've, and it's crazy to think right you. To think right you. You would be able to have that much of an impact on our veteran space just by being relaxed or being authentic and sharing some memes and some truth. And now we see it grown into the job board now. Yeah, yeah yeah, it's.
Speaker 3:Yeah it's crazy and it's. It's just. It's. You know, it's spawned. I think it's just it's spawned like a lot of conversation and it kind of like we were talking about linkedin. It kind of does the opposite of LinkedIn it's.
Speaker 3:Let me just be real with you. Let me help break down things. There's a lot of things you just don't know or don't understand, or some just like. Let's take some aim at some sacred cows, and I always knew that I'm like well, if I built an audience large enough could monetize it. And the question is, how would you want to monetize it?
Speaker 3:Um, and I used to make fun of jay, my recruiters, a lot, and I still do so when we, when we aimed at like the job board, because we do recruiting services. Now we're focused more on like the private equity uh operations area, defense tech, which is now becoming like much more important. Um, you know, because you're seeing, like with the ukraine war and everything, there's just like this big push by the government to to really like get um hype, you know, you know high-tech stuff in the, in the military, and kind of revolutionize like how we do business. And so we've just you know we've we have a bunch of like defense tech clients, private equity operations, and we also syndicate with um some other, some other folks who are doing doing thing, doing similar things too. So, yeah, it's been an evolution, but I've got some good business partners with me now and that that's helped me, kind of like, take it to the next level yeah, badass, dan, over to you man, because you're no slouch yourself.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you sort of the same questions. But when we look at rice university something you, you said it's like it is historic, it is a. It's not some junior college in the middle of fucking South Dakota Like what gave you that encouragement and that I don't know that bravado to say, yeah, I can do this, I can go in here, I can make something on myself and I can help pave the way for others.
Speaker 4:Uh man, great question. Uh, uh man, great question. Uh, I just went over 17 on job interviews and was like fuck, uh, I guess I'll start my own business. Um no, it just wasn't working out for me. I don't know how else to describe it.
Speaker 1:That's actually the story of so many of us.
Speaker 2:I was, she didn't work yeah that's fucking real.
Speaker 4:Let me unpack that a little bit. Yeah, there's a lot of pain there, I'm sure it too.
Speaker 1:I'm right there.
Speaker 3:Surely at Green Beret people will be knocking on my doors to get a job two months later fuck fuck, fuck tell me who to fuck good thing you got that pmp, though uh, I did yeah yeah, and so the other guy who would have pushed that on linkedin to me, that matt quick guy, right, so I did.
Speaker 1:You'll be very successful if you get this pmp. And then they're like look man, you gotta get scrum, you gotta get scrum certified dude that lean six sigma green belt changed my life, bro everybody every um so
Speaker 4:I. I went through one of the jmo recruiters and kyle um loves to troll, which I fucking love, uh, because you know it doesn't work out for for a lot of guys. It did for me, you know. I landed on my feet um. Got a job in med device. Uh, was super financially motivated. Getting out of the army, uh, and yeah, you know that's like one of the one of five tracks that you go down, um. You know you either get into some sort of um high-end sales, either tech or med device. Um, you know you go be a banker, like sterling. You go to business school, which is probably, uh, the one of the better options, or you go into real estate, or you get addicted to drugs. Those are your options. Why?
Speaker 3:not? Why not? Why not Just the last one too?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's still a chance.
Speaker 4:Yeah Well, there's combinations too. I'm listening to this.
Speaker 1:Right now I'm saying fuck you, dude, behind a 7-11 dumpster. It's not a phase, dad. Fuck you.
Speaker 4:You're not my dad so yeah, man, I did that kind of got my feet underneath me, learned you know how to be a civilian.
Speaker 4:You're so like raw yeah, it's funny seeing it in other people now too that are transitioning now. But anyway, took a risk with a startup startup, got acquired by a bunch of dicks and then I was like, alright, now what do I do? And Rice is down the street, a buddy of mine, another veteran, chris Frank, was going there and yeah, he's the man and took me to beer club one day and I was like, wow, this is business school, it's what you guys do, this is fucking awesome. And then I got there and had to learn math again for the first time in 10 years. And then that's where the 0 for 17 on on consulting interviews came in. Just like, got my teeth kicked in a brutal recruiting cycle. Um, just super humbling. And yeah, I mean everybody, you know like the, the feedback that you get um, when, when things aren't working out for you, like, oh, it's just not the right fit. You know it's all about the right fit. You're like what the fuck does that mean?
Speaker 1:Like well and pretty evident Dan you don't fucking fit yeah right Right. Is it width? It is it length, is it depth? Could you be more specific?
Speaker 4:yeah, um, anyway, I, I lost my train of thought there. It's not you, it's me. Um, right, right, and so, yeah, eventually, eventually, I just I flipped it and was like you know what? This isn't fucking working for me. Um, and so that's when I got into, uh, the, the startup, and uh, entrepreneurship through acquisition space um, that's kind of the hot thing right now in business school circles. And and um, the senior lecturer in entrepreneurship, al Danto Ed Rice you know that, that's his MO the guy's been buying and selling businesses for the past 20 years. And um, man, the dude's opened so many doors for me. And um, I've just kind of found my tribe and figured it out hell, yeah, dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now we're down to you, dodd, man of the hour, like you have, um, you know, obviously we go way back, we were in 82nd together. But, yep, you know, I think you you can speak to the veteran who has perhaps like varying interest, doesn't know where to hone down, went to niche down again to something and just has traveled and seen so much of the world. Like, what made you decide to go this route when? What was the defining factor?
Speaker 2:um, it's actually, I think, a combination of everything you know, like your story, where, which, which was you? You had something, that, where it was, you're providing value to somebody, just naturally, like Kyle started that that board just by saying, hey, well, I can bring value here and I like to talk shit, and I will tell you, if we could just start a business where I'll just hang out and talk shit, like that's what I would do and that's amazing. So I'm very jealous of Kyle Scott, so, but would do, and that's amazing. So I'm very jealous of miles god, um, so, but it's, in reality, like I hated being an employee.
Speaker 2:I didn't like. I didn't like the, the structure in the army. I love the camaraderie, but I, I didn't like being an employee. There was no purpose. You know that I didn't like corporate culture. I didn't like any of the things about having a nine to five, like it was horrible. People do this every day. This is what makes people happy. And I was like, well, no, I'm not, I'm just not going to do it. So I, I, I figured out how to be an entrepreneur and be broke and save money, and it was. You know how do I? How do, how do I change my life and create generational wealth. Well, I've got to pick one or the other. Is it technology or real estate? So I chose real estate. It's stupid. So it was just a natural thing to say, hey, well, how do I bring value in that space? Well, I go very, very deep into it. I go vertical into that space and now I'm here with Dan and we're leading the veteran business battle and I'm not just a coach, but also I'm participating in it.
Speaker 1:Oh no shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So it's really some parts of all the guys that have come, you know, in this process. It's dan, it's, it's the kyle's, like there's so many, there's so many rice veterans who made this. It's like what it is it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a monster. Yeah, it's a really cool thing we've got over here march 13th and 14th.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, go ahead uh march 13th and quick plug march 13th and 14th.
Speaker 4:Go ahead March 13th and quick plug March 13th and 14th, that's next Thursday and Friday. If you guys can make it out, if you want to see Sterling Dodd representing Wolf Hill Investments, completely eat shit and burn on stage.
Speaker 1:Not dogs in mouth, just man of little faith, my God.
Speaker 2:Dog eat dog. Fuck my own team yeah dog fuck my own team yeah, fuck that guy we were. We were actually sitting in class and one of the one of the other, the other folks- oh yeah, that's a good story like yeah, she's. She's not a veteran, but we have a uh, a cohort of of students that actually look at the businesses. There's like 200 businesses that actually submit their business plan as well as a pitch deck. Half of them suck Half of them are bullshit. We weed them out pretty quick.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you guys weeded mine out, it's okay, there's always next year. There's always next year. It's hard to get people to buy into a poop and cum jump podcast production company.
Speaker 2:Yeah we tried, but we were just talking about come down pretty good chat.
Speaker 1:We got over there.
Speaker 2:I didn't have enough statistics, enough math get more math, more math, um, but we were sitting there and we're like everyone has reviewed all the different businesses and I've submitted my into the pipeline and there's this girl back there she goes. So I don't know about this Wolf Hill one, so it looks like they're just slumlords. Like this is trailer parks. Like why, are we even talking about this? That guy's stupid. We should definitely throw that out. It was a lot of fun. It was really cool.
Speaker 1:So yeah, uh, when you're going through all those applications, uh, and and feel free to tell me if you can't really talk about it did any of those like really stick out to you like holy shit, like this is groundbreaking, like this is some fucking next level shit?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, there's a couple of them, yeah, like the one in particular for me. Um, I thought was like number one, scalable, number two, it was it. It the tremendous, like billion dollar, yeah, and you'll see that they'll, they'll.
Speaker 1:They jump right out at you like oh, this guy, this guy's a fan, this is, this is the dude yeah, through all those, what are some of the like, the criteria that really stick out to you, like to our audience, listening who might be dreaming of submitting their business, their proposal? What are some things that are getting you guys excited?
Speaker 3:I, I would say a few things. Right. First, is a contrarian idea right, so do it. Picking an idea that goes because, like, yeah, like for startups, right, like you can fail a thousand times, but when you're right you're going to have this like huge, like success, right. And so, by by the nature of that, you have to have an idea that is, you know, uh, you know, goes against some sort of preconceived like notion that everybody thinks to be right, because that's where the big opportunity is Right. And then you know, like Sterling said, usually scalable and usually like a team or a founder, or like a business founder and a technical founder that you know are coachable. And you know, like have the right mix, right, because, like it's impossible to predict the future and so that team has to be able to survive that uncertainty, right.
Speaker 3:So if you have those three things, you know it becomes like more clear that like this is a good idea but like all startups are bad ideas. Right, you know it's, it's there. You know like you can't look at one and be like this is a sure thing, because if it's a sure thing, you know like everybody want to invest in it, like people pass on there's a long history of people passing on startups, you know that. You know become really, really big. Um. So you know, by nature it's a, it's a risk taking exercise. That's just. My perspective, though, is like somebody who's done like some entrepreneurship and I've seen like some businesses come my way.
Speaker 1:That's some pretty solid fucking shit right there. Kyle, damn, I pitched you my idea.
Speaker 3:Well, what I tell folks right because I, you know, obviously I have a corporate job right, I've worked in consulting and I've done entrepreneurship right and what I'll tell folks is, you know, being an entrepreneur will teach you more about business than working in. Like just a corporate job is like some cog in the wheel, right. But having a corporate job will help you be an entrepreneur because it gives you like a level of like professionalism and like how to do the blocking of like corporate america, how to walk the walk, talk the talk. You know that you, you just don't get in the army or you know the military at large, right?
Speaker 1:so that's something that a lot of people have constantly pushed back against the idea that, oh, you should be able to come out as a junior officer, go straight into corporate world and you'll be able to run, run laps around these people yeah, it's like no, yeah, people in the private sector are motivated by money and they're very good at what they do.
Speaker 3:Um, and like, yeah, like I, I was constantly amazed some of the roles that I've had where I'm like, you know, you guys would I mean it's kind of tough to make the comparison, but you guys would run circles around military officers but like it's a hard comparison to make right, because it's like those folks aren't gonna, you know, be in a talk for deployed right.
Speaker 4:They would never do that because they don't want to you know, different sports yeah, yeah, it's different, different sports there's some similarities, right, but the same level.
Speaker 3:It's like their professionalism, competence, drive, motivation. You see parallels, even though if it's not an exact like, uh, an exact fit, um, yeah, yeah, I don't know where I'm going with that but, just like it.
Speaker 1:You can get me going, cal. That's what I need, that's right. I want to talk to you guys about these hard lessons that we learn when we fail at things. Dan, you talked about going friggin in interviews and just fucking not getting that yes, not getting that nod, and for a lot of veterans they're very much in that space and and like, how do we encourage our guys and gals to continue going in, to understanding that there's still a lesson to be learned? They're still in, there's still something you can get out of this. Like, how do we motivate people to continue walking into that fucking unknown? Because ultimately, that's what we have to do?
Speaker 4:uh, I would just say expectation management, um lower your standards. Be happier, lower your um, right, I was trying to think of how to transition out of that, but, um, I don't know. I mean, like a lot of us, you know, we're all type A guys Like right now, we're typically used to being high performers. You're used to things going your way Exactly, you know, like by being a good dude and showing up and like crushing it Exactly Right, exactly.
Speaker 3:Like in your career in the military right, failure is, just like, usually not an option, because if you fail and screw something up big, it usually means your career is over.
Speaker 3:Right, because the military is like, well, you gotta, you know, one bad oer is going to ruin your career or whatever. But, like in the private sector, people fuck stuff up all the time, right, and this is america. You can reinvent yourself, you know. And so, like, failing in the private sector is a necessary part of having a career and and having, you know, success, right, because when you fail, you get feedback. You get feedback from the market, you get feedback from team members and you've learned lessons, right, and then you can go and you can find something different, do something different.
Speaker 3:And internalizing that feedback, understanding that it's often not personal.
Speaker 3:It can be personal, but it often isn't, because people are in this, they're trying to do this to make money, right, and so it isn't that, like people do business with people, they don't like all the time, you know, if there's like a good exchange, like it's greater than the sum of parts, it's not like a zero sum thing, right, but like just understanding.
Speaker 3:Like just because you screw up, you know, or just because, like you're not making progress, you know you're, you know you're, you're learning, okay, like maybe this isn't the right thing for me, or maybe the way I'm approaching this is different and I think that's tough for a lot of veterans because, like Dan said, you're like you're used to, like, oh, you know, I, you know I was just a good guy in my brigade or whatever, and I, like you know, carried the water and I got a good oer, I had a good relationship with you know, my, my senior raider, or whatever, and like, of course, I'm on this trajectory to just like you know, be, you know, like, have a career, but like the private sector will like isn't, isn't like that.
Speaker 3:You know there's elements of that, but but still it's all about what you deliver like. How do you right?
Speaker 4:um, and and nobody gives a shit either. Yeah, you know, either way, good or bad, like it's just indifferent. You know it's just information, it's not none of it's personal. Yeah, so that was something that I had to learn, go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, you got it. I think on the not giving a shit part is like we all kind of came to a realization that as soon as we got out of the military it was like none of that meant anything to the private sector.
Speaker 2:Like you're behind and you have to catch up and you have to go find something that you're good at and you have to get good at it really quickly and you need to. If you focus that you're good at, and you have to get good at it really quickly, and you need to. But if you focus in on what it is that you want, you focus in on what it is that is that is going to provide value to the people around you and that that I liked it. The joke that Kyle makes is that I never. I don't sleep. I just provide value to my state, my shareholders.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you share shareholder value. Yeah, yeah, I eat sleep and drink.
Speaker 2:Value to my shareholder, yeah that's it on sunday christmas yeah, yeah, but it's like you just have to figure out that like nobody gives you, you have, you have to learn how to manage your self professionally.
Speaker 3:Right, like like leadership in the private sector is much different than leadership in the military. Right, because one people can vote with their feet and they can walk away or you can get fired. Right like leadership in the private sector is much different than leadership in the military. Right, because one people can vote with their feet and they can walk away or you can get fired. Right, there's like it's there's more liquidity in the marketplace for, like human capital, the military. It's not like that. Like you know outside of, like you know special forces or other like units that are selective, you can't like hire and fire people.
Speaker 3:Like you kind of get the people you have and you can kind of move the, the parts, the chess pieces around to kind of try and assemble the team you want. And I know there's like some marketplace elements in the military now, but at the end of the day it's not as liquid as the private sector.
Speaker 3:So the market will speak and you will be put where you belong yeah, right, and it's um, you know so, like in the private sector, sector, it's like, yeah, like, how do you manage, how do you make sure that you're doing the things you're supposed to be doing for the people who matters and you're keeping you know, whoever it is happy, investors, bosses, managers, peers, right, people that have influence and control over your professional career, and anything else outside of that doesn't fucking matter, right, like I, could you know my manager. You know, at my work, like I, I still have some elements of like, hey, you know, I've got to take some time off because the X, Y and Z, like I don't give a shit. Like just take the time. Like she doesn't want to fucking know, I mean, if she does it. It's like you know if you could develop that relationship.
Speaker 3:But like it's almost like the less information, the better, right, it's like, do I trust you? Are you handling your bullshit, right, when you're at work? Are you at work and are you delivering? And like outside of those, I could be doing heroin under a bridge and they wouldn't care. You know, like there are probably people that do like I don't know. You know it's like they don't, like they don't care, like do you show up and get it done. Um, and like, this is like way different than the military, where the military is like it's a lifestyle, it's like ingrained, like they want to fucking be all up in all of your bullshit at all times because it's just the nature of the job. Um, yeah, it's, it's not. It's not like that, you know, like this leadership's just real different. It's like I almost don't call leadership. Management is just yeah, we're managing.
Speaker 4:We're not leading, we're managing yeah, I, I think it's um, I don't know I I haven't really done that much stuff to be opining on leadership in business, but uh, uh, it's pretty fucking hard to do. You know, like that, like really I don't know um depends on how you define it, uh. But yeah to kyle's point like you see a lot of management but there's just the way that incentives align it's. It's like really hard to be a leader, um, in business, like a, I guess a leader in the sense of um, maybe the way that we, we think we thought about it in the military, in the private sector yeah, I, I I would say I see leadership when resources are scarce, right.
Speaker 3:So, like for the sit reps, right, I have some team members right because we actually have like a real business going on now and you know it's great and we're making money. But it's not like you know, um, it's all deals based, right, we eat what we kill, right. So how do I motivate the people who I have convinced to join the pirate ship to keep doing to man the pirate ship right, and like money is obviously like a very powerful incentive, right. So you have to make sure that's structured appropriately so they'll want to continue to do it, um, and then there's like, oh, they want, you know, they're associated with the syrup stuff, right, and they're, and they like that.
Speaker 3:There's like some infamy behind that. But it's like how do you like provide that sort of leadership and that forward looking like, yes, you should stay, yes, you should hang on. Like, yes, like let's do this, like who's going to carry this, like specific task, right, like how do we share the load around? And that requires like some like elements of leadership and not not management? Yeah, and that's kind of where I've I've seen it, but still, at the end of the day, it's right, you know. You know people are doing this because they want to get paid, like they're not. They're not doing it because it's like the right thing to do, or they, or you know there's like a mission behind it, though you know, maybe you'll find that in some like mission-oriented organizations, but like it's still. It's like, hey, like you know, there should be money involved. People should just watch silicon valley.
Speaker 2:It's all like they just watch silicon valley the show such a great fucking show, like just such a great fucking pied piper.
Speaker 1:That's like you jerk off in an auditorium yeah, like, yeah, one of the greatest parts, one of the greatest fucking skit, oh my god.
Speaker 3:But like, but like the way he's trying to motivate those engineers to basically like stay with the company, that that is like very forward-looking like there there is, there is opportunity here if we just stick with it right and like that. To me that's like probably the closest analog that I've seen to like leadership right At a small level, and you know if you're going to use that as an example, you know so that's a great example.
Speaker 1:It brings to mind a lot of mistakes I've made hiring up workers from Bangladesh. You cannot rally them behind the cause. It's not working it is not working.
Speaker 3:It's coin operated.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, we talk on this show specifically. I talk a lot about finding your purpose and your passion and that next mission and we're kind of touching on that and while when it comes to your own team, you you can't provide that for somebody but for yourselves in this, in this space, like, how do you find, are you able to find that purpose, that passion, that, like you wake up and you're like I'm fucking stoked for this like and and feel free to like crush our hopes. Because when I see you, kyle, and when I see dan, when I look at your picture and in rice university's like you know formal, you know pics of uh the, you know the alumni you're like oh fuck, that dude's in his purpose, that dude's in his mission. When I, when I see sterling in his uh only fans picture bio, I'm like that dude's in his purpose, that dude's in this mission.
Speaker 2:I'm selling my feet really really good entrepreneurial venture are you guys finding yourself in?
Speaker 1:in? You know, when you wake up in the morning are you like man? I'm engaged in this endeavor and it's my. You feel that purpose and that passion.
Speaker 2:Yeah you know, one of the things that Kyle mentioned a second ago was like it's all, it's, the blinders are on. We're motivated by cash. We're motivated, motivated by black and white it is or it isn't. We don't get paid for pubs and kisses, and that is a hundred percent true. But what I've also kind of found is that people are desperate for purpose, whether they be civilian or military they're desperate for it.
Speaker 2:And when I wanted to find something that I woke up to every single day and said, hey, I'm getting up to do this, I also wanted to find other people that wanted to get up and feel the same way and to create both. A combination of people said, yeah, I know, like this, this is a it, like he said, like a pirate ship. Yeah, this pirate ship is made up of violent killers who are motivated by by cash, but they also are driven by purpose, like, hey, let's go find and solve a problem with that core engine of need for mission, but also with almost the pragmatism of industry. So you have to have a little bit of both to get that really fiery team. And that's what I've really kind of sought out is to find that tribe of people. And I think that Rice has it and I'm not plugging Rice, but I think that Please do, absolutely please do. But it's like they've cultivated within the veteran community. It's like, hey, we're all seeking that thing.
Speaker 2:or it's like man this is really good to do this Like I'm solving a problem. I'm out here executing using almost like the Whole Foods market, like conscious capitalism market or methodology, but at the same time I'm swinging the bat as hard as I can with other guys who are swinging the bat as hard as they can.
Speaker 2:They're smart, they're killers, and if you don't carry the weight, you're going to get put out on the pasture and replaced by somebody who can't, and I think that that's the genesis of kind of like that top tier thing that we're all looking for. So it's both to me, Dan.
Speaker 1:what about you? When you wake up in the morning, you're fucking stoked and you're leaning into your passion. Every day is a waking nightmare.
Speaker 4:That's a pretty good impression.
Speaker 1:I'm wearing a Panda Express t-shirt.
Speaker 4:I'm sorry, folks, I made him wear that. It's a new sponsor we'd like to get Panda Express we should work on that for VBB. Nah, man, I'm still trying to figure it out. You know, I still haven't quite figured out what that is. Uh, shit, man. I mean, if it was up to me, I would just like work out twice a day and coach football and own a coffee shop. That's, that's the goal.
Speaker 1:Um fucking sexy vision right there yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:It'd be a fucking sweet coffee shop. It'd be called cool beans. Um, I have this.
Speaker 1:I got it all figured out uh beans, yeah forget, I'll just keep getting going. Come on, bring it in, bring it in, finish it out, cool beans cool beans I look for for me.
Speaker 3:I wake up every morning and I I do enjoy rampaging across cool beans and stir and stirring up, stirring up controversy and like causing people to have conversations. Um, so, yeah, and I also, just like I like veterans, right, like, yeah, it. You know people I grew up with, you know since I was 18. I Like you know people I grew up with you know since I was 18, I've been around you know people in the military. I did it till I was 30, right, it's the people who I identify with, who I have conversations with, who are still my best friends. I like those folks, so I like being around those folks. So to me, it's a way of creating my own community that I can, you know, marinate in, instead of the people at work who I really don't have anything in common with.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah and uh you know lots of dick jokes yeah, exactly like they're like there's.
Speaker 3:You know, you just don't, you just don't get that. Like you just don't get that. You know, in the, in the private sector, and you know, even with your neighbors, right, like I lived out in some fucking suburb here out in austin. Right, it's like I live next to a lawyer and a dentist. You know it's like well, you can't get more white bread than that, you know. You know, like my humor is like is you like it'd be off color to them, though? We do get along just fine?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, but you know it's that term though like you're on masking or something like that, or like you, you as guys, as guys who've lived this life, we walk into society.
Speaker 3:We're like, well, I guess it's got to be, yeah, yeah yeah, I mean you just, you just have like a different, you get a different view of that. I. I do think vets are more like mission focused. For sure, they're more like they believe in certain things like and and so like it's, it's a good, it's a good element to have when it comes towards, like you know, having a company or just like being super driven.
Speaker 3:Um, so, you know, when I, you know, and I I just found, like helping people and you know, providing commentary or you know, helping steer folks in the right way, vets are like incredibly altruistic, like they do want to help. They do want to help pull other folks up. Right, it's not as um, it's not as much of like just to gimme, gimme, gimme. I want it all for me. It's like I want to help, you know, the people to my left and right, uh, and I've, uh, I've been shocked at like just like the amount of like community contribution that you get where people like they like, hey, you know what you're saying, is you know, correct or you know or? Here's my perspective on it. Would you mind sharing it? Like they want other people to succeed, and I don't, I don't think you see that in other parts of um you know from, from folks who are not in the military it's just it is, it's just not.
Speaker 1:It's just not a, it's not the same mindset right absolutely yeah jance, I can't think you for being here today, but before we go off, let's talk about the veteran business battle. Please one more time, let us know when it's happening, what it's all about, dan, take it away all right.
Speaker 4:11th annual veterans business battle on march 13th and 14th, that's next thursday and Friday. It's a half day on Thursday, a full day on Friday. We made it nice and travel-friendly for everybody, so you can fly in Thursday morning and then catch a red-eye flight out late Friday night and get the hell out of there, man, it's a great time. The core the meat and potatoes of the event is obviously the pitch competition, but it's about so much more than that, man. The, the meat and potatoes of the event is is obviously the pitch competition, but, um, it's. It's about so much more than that, man. It's about community. Um, it's. It's about, uh, trying to I'm gonna throw out so many cliches right now. Do it, do it, do it now. Um, yeah, it's a chance for for guys like us to get together and, um, you know, at the core of it, um it's.
Speaker 4:I've been thinking a lot about this because I gotta talk, right, I have to, like, get up and say something in front of people and, um, what I come to is that it's. It's really about giving to others without expectation. Unless you're a b, a VC, then I need a 10x return on my money, but this thing, like Al Danto is at the center of this thing, and this guy man, he just puts out so much value into this and and doesn't really expect anything in return, um, and so that's that's what I'm getting at. You know, everybody is it who shows up to this thing. Is you know kyle's gonna fucking drive three hours through houston traffic to to come and and uh hours through Houston traffic to to come and and uh, hang out with us for a couple of days, um, but yeah, man, it's about.
Speaker 4:It's about giving your time, giving your attention, uh, giving your energy, um, you know, helping to pull other guys up. You know, cause, cause we get, we get veterans of all shapes and sizes. You know, last year's winner was um mesa quantum. They do quantum chips, um, so you know, we I don't even I'm not even gonna try to explain it but um, I'll explain in the episode description.
Speaker 4:No big deal yeah, I'm rambling now, but um, yeah, we do, whether it's quantum chips or potato chips, like we we take veterans of, of all shapes and sizes, and some of them are raw, and so it's not only about the sexy moonshot one in a billion startup ideas. It's also about helping out the guy who just wants to start a food truck and he doesn't know what he needs. So there's elements of both about, you know, helping out the guy who just wants to start a food truck and you know he doesn't know what he needs.
Speaker 4:So there's, there's elements of both.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I cannot wait. This will be fast tracked. It will be live on the air well before the event is out there, and if you're listening and you're on the fence on where to go to school, I think Rice University is the place for you. If you're a veteran looking to get into business, why? Because these gentlemen clearly believe in you. I believe in you too.
Speaker 1:Don't be like me. Don't be a dog shit entrepreneur. Don't try to bullshit your way through. It takes too long. Go to rice university. Learn from people like dan sterling and kyle.
Speaker 1:If you haven't followed sit reps and steer goes. You're a fucking idiot. Get on there. Follow them on linkedin. Be part of the community. Laugh your ass off. Go on instagram.
Speaker 1:It's part of my daily gratitude habit. I get up, read the bible, say a couple of hail marys and I dial into kyle what he's got to say about michael quinlan, because we found out that guy is full of shit. I'm denny caballero. You've been here with me, dan sterling and kyle, and I am so happy. But before, before I let you go, do me a favor Go to the episode description. Go there, click on all those links, follow all these people and get your ass down to Rice University for the veteran business battle and be willing to be entertained and amazed at what these veterans are doing in the entrepreneurial space. Again, I'm Danny Caballero. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you all next time. Until then, take care, connect with us on Instagram, x or TikTok and share your thoughts or questions about today's episode. You can also visit securityhallcom for exclusive content, resources and updates. And remember we get through this together If you're still listening. The episode's over. Yeah, there's no more. No-transcript.
