Evan Hafer is the Founder & CEO of Black Rifle Coffee, a small batch coffee roasting company. He started out at the University of Idaho, after which he spent 14 years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman, a Special Forces soldier, and a CIA contractor.I came across Evan in a 2016 Forbes Article about the Top 25 Veteran Founded Startups in America.
Why Listen:
Normally on the show, I interview military veterans about what they're doing post-service. My guest today is not a military veteran, but I believe his message and perspective are a great contribution to our community.
Today's guest, Mike, has a unique career transition story that I haven't heard before and thought would benefit our audience. We talked about Mike's career transition of going from someone on the tech side to someone on the marketing side as an owner and operator, but also the process of acquiring other businesses.
About Mike:
Mike Maynard is the Managing Director of the Napier Group, a 7 million PR and marketing agency for B2B technology companies. He was awarded a Master's Degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Surrey and an MBA from Kingston University. He acquired Napier in 2001. Since that time, Mike has directed major PR and marketing programs for a wide range of global technology clients reaching over 30 European countries. He is actively involved in developing the PR and marketing industries, is Chair of the PRCA B2B Group, and is a Visiting Lecturer in PR at Southampton Solent University.
Why Listen:
As an entrepreneur focused on marketing, it was an extreme honor to interview today's guest, Bruce Cleveland. Bruce is an absolute Silicon Valley legend, having worked in operational roles at companies including Oracle, Apple, and Siebel Systems. In addition to that, he has worked in venture capital for 15 years, where he has personally generated over a billion dollars in returns. This includes his work at InterWest Partners, one of the most respected VCs in the world, but also as the founder of Wildcat Venture Partners where he worked for five years. He is now the Chief Marketing Officer of a company called C3.ai. He just took that company public. It was founded by Tom Siebel of Siebel Systems, who has now created three different billion-dollar ventures. We talk about marketing, the CMO role, artificial intelligence, venture capital, and more.
As always, at beyondtheuniform.org you'll find show notes with links to everything we discuss, as well as a lot of books and great resources that Bruce recommended.
About Bruce:
Bruce Cleveland is the Chief Marketing Officer at C3.ai, a leading enterprise AI software provider for accelerating digital transformation with nearly 700 employees listed on LinkedIn. C3.ai raised over $228 million before going public in December of 2020. Bruce started out at West Point with the class of 1980. He left early to pursue a career in technology including time at Oracle, Apple, Siebel Systems, nine years as a General Partner at investment firm InterWest Partners and more.
Why Listen:
This is a quick short episode in between our normal format of Beyond the Uniform, which is me interviewing military veterans about their civilian career, what they did, how they got there, and advice for how you can do the same. So today’s guest is someone who is not a military veteran, but I love this story. It's something that I did for my company Captivate.ai., and I wanted to share it here as well. I put together a three-minute video that's worth checking out if you like Paul's story. So here's the backstory. I spent a lot of time on LinkedIn, and my company Captivate.ai does a lot with marketing technology. Last week, when I was on LinkedIn, I saw a post by a man called Paul David, who had gotten 200,000 likes on his post, which roughly translates to at least 6 million people who saw this post. So immediately, it caught my eye, and I reached out to Paul. First, I did a little bit of digging to see what he had been doing on social media, and what led to this literally overnight success. He will talk about this in the interview; he posted this at night, went to bed, and woke up, and he had 1000s of people who had messaged him, so I wanted to also reach out to him and learn more about his story. I think this was a great story especially for those of you who are interested in marketing and promoting yourself, your business, your product, whatever it is. It's just interesting for me to hear the stories of how people have managed to get attention. But I also think it's a great reminder of the power of knowing who you are in being authentic and courageously vulnerable. And Paul exhibits all of those things.
As always at beyondtheuniform.org you'll find show notes with links to everything we discuss, you'll find over 400 other episodes in our traditional format of interviews with military veterans.
Why Listen:
I think it's amazing this conversation I had with Josh because most of it is about adding value and - what he calls - leveraging generosity for marketing and sales. And what's crazy for me is that the way that I met Josh a couple of months ago was through a connection, and I even forget how I met him. I run a company Captivate.ai that works all in marketing, and Josh is such an expert in sales systems and marketing. I think that this is a little bit different from a typical episode. We don't talk a lot about career transition. But we talk about getting attention, using marketing and sales in a way that's authentic and genuine and doesn't feel icky, is probably the best word I can use. One thing you'll take away from this episode is just a lot of great ideas about an authentic way to get attention, to market, to do sales, to get your message across, whether that's personal or professional. Second of all, I think that Josh is an incredible entrepreneur, and I admire him. I've been doing podcasting for four years, and I often feel like an old hat at this. Josh has been doing it for 14 years, a full decade longer than I have. His thoughts on entrepreneurship, on media, PR, all of these different things; there's just a goldmine here.
About Josh:
Josh is the founder and CEO of Up My Influence, which provides step-by-step tools, coaching, and public relation hacks for entrepreneurs to dramatically increase their sales by attracting their perfect audience, all at a fraction of the cost of traditional PR services. Since serving in the Navy as a broadcast journalist, he has founded and led multiple companies including SavingsAngel, and the Josh Elledge Consulting Company. Josh has been podcasting for 14 years - most people don't even know that podcasting has been around for that long - and he has had over 2000 media appearances.
Why Listen:
Well, my guest today is an absolute Rockstar. There's a couple of reasons to listen. First of all, he started his career in marketing. He has been at the helm of very senior companies, including Kraft Foods, Wrigley, Novartis, Nestle, The Blue Buffalo Company. He's on the board of Campbell Soup. He took Blue Buffalo public. He was the head of Gerber when it was acquired by Nestle. He has an incredible history, and part of his advice is just focusing on the job in front of you, not having a sense of where you want to go. But not planning out every step and just knocking out of the park whatever job you're working on, tons to learn from his description of his previous jobs. His current role is at the Chronos Group, which is in the cannabis space, they do 50 million in sales, 1.2 billion in cash. It really speaks to the credibility of this as an industry, why veterans may consider it as a career path. And just hearing what it's like after decades of being at the helm of very large companies. What it's like to take a more entrepreneurial twist and be at the helm of a very, very, relatively small company.
About Kurt:
Kurt is now the CEO of the Cronos Group, which is an innovative global cannabinoid company with international production and distribution across five different continents. Since graduating from the Naval Academy, he has held senior positions at Kraft Foods, Wrigley, Novartis, Nestle, The Blue Buffalo Company, and Campbell Soup Company. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, and Kurt spent 14 years working internationally in Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, and Australia.
Why Listen:
Normally, on the show, I interview military veterans about their civilian careers. My guest today is not a military veteran, but I believe his message and perspective are a great contribution to our community. We talked about two things in this interview, one mental health, and two, how to get attention for a message you believe in.
Scott Ste Marie is the founder of an organization called Depression to Expression where he has impacted over 30 million people with his message about mental health. We talk about this in the show. But I'm always hesitant about this topic, not because there's a stigma around mental health. But because so often we go to an extreme with veterans. When we talk about mental health, we talked about suicide, we talked about debilitating depression. And my concern in this is that we alienate the major population in the military community, who are not at this extreme but would still benefit from a healthy dialogue around mental health.
I'll share with you that as an entrepreneur, for me, so much of my work is around mindset. Psychology and my mental health played the biggest role in my success as an entrepreneur and my ability to be productive. So all of this is to say, I really believe that today's episode is for everyone. If you are loving life and happy, like I feel it right now, there's still something to glean from this conversation. And if you're struggling right now in life or at work, as we all do, from time to time, then there's something in this episode for you too.
About Scott:
Scott is the founder of Depression to Expression, where he creates an honest dialogue about mental health as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator, podcast host, and YouTube content creator. In this capacity he has reached over 30 million people and counting. Through his company, Scott has dedicated his life to destigmatizing mental illness and helping others take control of their mental health. He pulls upon expertise from his lived experience, but also his many years of experience at Twitter, AdParlor, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Schizophrenia Society of Canada. In terms of context for how we're connecting the special thanks to Laura Waldman, who made the intro to Scott, and she did so with these words, she said, Scott is a great friend and someone I truly admire the work he does, the dedication he has in the people he has helped through his journey and teachings when it comes to mental health.
Why Listen:
I just wrapped up my conversation with Shawn, and it was so enjoyable. There were a couple of things that stood out to me. One was his great quote about always being ready for opportunities and embracing the right thing. His story is so incredible, from this perspective, starting with his unexpected medical discharge from the military, to a winding road through consulting and startups, and ultimately back to startups and starting his own company. It just really shows you the power of resilience, but also the power of being open to unexpected deviations in your career, which will inevitably happen.
Second of all, we talk a lot about networking. He gives a couple of really poignant examples where 10 to 20 years after meeting someone, he and people in his network, reconnect in a way that alters their career. It really gets away from this transactional thought of networking and moves toward something that veterans excel at, which is genuinely meeting people, enjoying them, and being generous.
To that point, immediately after recording, Shawn asked me, “How can I help you with your company Captivate.ai?” It was just so powerful to see him immediately and genuinely putting to use his principle - approaching networking from a generous and giving standpoint.
We talk about grad school, he gives an example of a friend who sold his company for $240 million and then went to business school. He underscores this thought by showing that there is no “one right size fits all” approach to education and your career journey. It's about learning and serendipity.
Finally, we talk about his own startup journey and the milestones achieved along the way as he created and continues to build his company. I did something for the first time in this interview, which is a kind of live mentorship where I asked him a specific question about my company Captivate.ai. I think his answer will benefit anyone interested in entrepreneurship.
About Shawn:
Shawn Olds is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at boodleAI, which specializes in Enriched Analytics for sales, marketing and fundraising teams. boodleAI is on a mission to democratize data, making it faster and easier for ALL organizations to locate their best leads and prospects in any contact list. By using advanced data enrichment and predictive insight analytics, boodleAI clients have already experienced significant lifts in conversion, engagement, and retention rates. boodleAI has over 30 employees, has raised $3M in funding, and is located in Tysons, VA. Shawn holds a B.S. from West Point, an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, and a JD from Northwestern's Pritzker School of Law.
About Ryan:
Ryan is the founder of CareerBrand, a company that helps brands find their essence. So they position packages and promote their expertise online with strong brand messaging. Without clear messaging, your brand can't reach its full potential. He is also the author of the book Career Kred as well as the just-released book LinkedIn Made Simple, which is co-authored by Andy Foote.
Why Listen:
In addition to having an extremely rich career in marketing at multiple brands that you will have heard of, my guest today, Tom Kent is distinguished for another reason. And that is that after nearly a decade of being Chief Marketing Officer and VP of Marketing etc. he started his own company called CareerNerds. And it was really born out of his own experience of having difficulty in job searches, explaining his backgrounds, interviewing, and landing the job of his dreams. And so what he's done with CareerNerds over the last several years, is help hundreds of other people and Veterans craft their online persona polish up their LinkedIn profile figure out how to explain their story in an interview and communicate it in a resume. And there is so much rich tactical advice in what Tom presents today. In fact immediately after our interview I reached out to him to work with him in polishing up my LinkedIn presence for my own company. And, you know, I've been doing sales for over 10 years as an entrepreneur i've landed deals with 35 different fortune 500 companies - I'm pretty good at it. And some of the stuff that Tom mentions here about reaching out to people to network, I'd never heard before. It's really shifted my own thinking in how to approach some of this stuff.
About Tom
Tom Kent is the Founder & CEO of CareerNerds, which has held over 200 executives advance their careers with personal branding and networking. A 1995 graduate of West Point, Tom served as a Military Intelligence Officer for five years. Since his military service, Tom has had a prolific career in marketing, with work at Intel, IBM, Expedia, Vayama, Avast and ZenMate, holding roles including Chief Marketing Officer, VP of Marketing, Director of Marketing and more.
Why Listen
Steve served as President & CEO of Mercedes Benz USA, and now oversees the parent company for the Falcons and other iconic brands. We talk about the rejection that Steve faced on his way to these incredible accomplishments, and how persistence, taking advice from wherever you can get it, and creating purpose in the workplace made all the difference. Having served in such high-level leadership positions, Steve and I talk about the differences between leadership in and out of the military, as well as a common misconception about work-life balance. And we talk about the importance of getting out of one’s comfort zone, because this is precisely the area where all growth comes from.
About Steve
Steve Cannon is the CEO of AMB Group, which is comprised of Arthur Blank's for-profit businesses, including the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and PGA TOUR Superstore. He started out at West Point, after which he served as an Army Airborne Ranger and served as 1st Lieutenant in West Germany during the fall of the Iron Curtain. He worked as a Principal at The Richards Group, which is the largest independent branding agency in the nation, with a staff of over 700 and annual billings above $1 billion. He worked at Mercedes Benz USA, first as Vice President of Marketing, and then as President and CEO.
Evan Hafer is the Founder & CEO of Black Rifle Coffee, a small batch coffee roasting company. He started out at the University of Idaho, after which he spent 14 years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman, a Special Forces soldier, and a CIA contractor.I came across Evan in a 2016 Forbes Article about the Top 25 Veteran Founded Startups in America.
David Smith is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Dogu, a Norwegian Business-to-Business (B2B) software company that creates unique solutions that allow businesses to visualize data and and accelerate sales. He started out in the Marine Corps as an infantry rifleman. Since the Marines he has graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, volunteered as a social entrepreneur doing humanitarian work in over 12 countries, has been part of the Stanford Ignite Veterans program, and many other diverse activities I’m sure we’ll get into during the interview.
“In a brand new, early stage startup, no one can be above doing something. As the months rolled on, I started to get an appreciation for just how much a startup was like my military experience. I really leaned in and relied on that experience in saying, “I’ve never done marketing, I’ve never worked in a CPG company, I’ve never worked in an e-commerce company, but what I have done is worked in a really chaotic environment without a lot of guidance and had to roll up my sleeves and get it done. So I might not know startups, I might not marketing, I might not know e-commerce or food, but I know how to operate in this environment. So trust yourself, trust your gut - you can do this." – Molly Laufer
Molly Laufer is the Director of Client Strategy in the Marketing & Advertising space with the Company, Oxford Road - which is the fastest growing full-service ad agency serving the Consumer Tech industry. She started out at the University of Virginia, where she did ROTC and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs and Russian. Molly then served for four years in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer, serving onboard the Frigate USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS as well as with DESTROYER SQUADRON 23. When she transitioned from the Navy, she was the first employee of the startup, NatureBox - a company that now has over 100 employees and has raised over $58M in funding. At NatureBox she started with Social Media and Content Marketing, and eventually became their Director of Customer Acquisition
In this conversation, we cover a lot of topics, including:
QUESTION OF THE DAY: How can I make these episodes more valuable to active duty military personnel considering transitioning to the civilian world? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
