BTU #78 - Josh Carter: TechStars, Operation Code, Patriot Bootcamp and more

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“ Stop worrying about the beta, and just get the product out. If you are not embarrassed by your first product, then you're doing it wrong. It should be ugly, it should be clunky, it should be what you think it should be... but less. And once you get it in the hands of the customer, the customer is going to tell you what they like and what they don't like. And that's what we realized - we were trying to be perfectionists. You want your product to be perfect, but you make these assumptions that it's going to be valuable. And the best way to do that is get it in the hands of the customer who will tell you if they find value in it." – Josh Carter

Josh Carter is the Co-Founder & CEO of Brightwork, a microservices platform that enables developers to build faster on a reliable and scalable solution. Since their founding they’ve raised over $300K in funding and have gone through Techstars in Chicago. Josh started out in the Navy, where he served for about 3 years. Since his time in the Navy he’s held multiple engineering roles in the Telecom industry and eventually a Senior Support Engineer at the startup, Twilio, a communication startup that went public earlier this year. Josh founded his own digital marketing agency - Plunk - and is also a former founding board member of Operation Code.

The top reason to listen to today’s show is:

• Support - Josh has been living in the startup world for a while, and has a great overview of different resources available for other veteran entrepreneurs. In particular, he talks about TechStars, and gives a fantastic overview of this 3 month program, as well as Patriot Bootcamp and other great resources. In this conversation, we cover a lot of topics, including:

Our Sponsor

Audible is offering one FREE audio book to Beyond the Uniform listeners. You can claim this offer here, and see a list of books recommended by my guests at BeyondTheUniform.io/books

Selected Links

• Twilio
• Brightwork.io
• Plunk
• TechStars - this was a great help for Josh in starting a venture backed company. It is a 3-month program offered all over the United States. They take 6% of the company in exchange for $120,000 in funding.
• FounderCon - all TechStar founders get together for one year
• Patriot Bootcamp - offshoot of the TechStars core program. It's a one weekend program that is very intense, but very targeted in preparing veterans for entrepreneurship
• Operation Code - Chris was a founding board member; they help transitioning veterans get into coding - finding mentors and sharing advice for becoming a programmer
• Resources
  • Meetup.com - Coffee with CoFounders - lowkey get togethers are rotating coffee shops for founders to connect with each other and talk about what they're struggling with

Show Notes

• 1:45 - Josh's background
• 2:30 - When Josh knew he would leave the military and how he approached this decision
• 3:20 - What Josh's first job search looked like and how he found the Art Academy to be different than he expected. He talks about how he found his way to the Telecom industry
• 4:23 - An overview on the Telecom industry and the sorts of jobs Josh held
• 5:16 - An overview of Josh's work at Brightwork, as well as the engagements he held before then
• 7:57 - What it was like for Josh to be actively employed at Twilio while running his own digital agency
• 9:15 - The moment when Josh first had the idea of Brightwork
• 11:55 - An overview of TechStars and how Josh ended up in Chicago
• 15:28 - How TechStars provides an investment of $125k for 6% of the company
• 17:38 - An overview of Patriot Bootcamp and Josh's experience
• 19:46 - What Josh's founding team looks like and advice to veterans for finding initial team members
• 25:48 - What Josh's life looks like on a day-to-day basis as part of an early stage startup
• 28:50 - Josh's advice to other veterans considering starting their own company
• 35:10 - Other resources Josh would encourage other veterans to check out
• 39:32 - An overview of Operation Code and how Veterans might engage with them
• 41:00 - One of the biggest mistakes Josh made in his entrepreneurial journey and what he learned from it
• 44:00 - Josh's final words of wisdom

BTU #69 - Alex Martin: Marine to Global Entrepreneur at AC Global Risk

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“At this point, I don't think I really could have a boundary [between professional and personal life]. It's not about a forty-hour work week, and being able to accomplish everything in forty hours; I get that. It's about constantly thinking about the product, thinking about the customers we have and the customers we want, where we're going to go and what the next steps are. I just can't turn it off: I dream about it, I think about it every minute, and there is no separation. Maybe that's unhealthy and a bad thing, but at this point if no one is as fanatically excited and obsessed with the product we're trying to create than the founders then I don't think it can work at this stage." – Alex Martin

Alex Martin is the CEO & Co-Founder of AC Global Risk, a company that creates solutions to transform how companies & governments vet, screen and assess internal and external human-based risk. Alex started out at the Naval Academy and served in the Marine Corps for seven years as a Infantry & Ground Reconnaissance Officer. After his transition from the Marines he founded Skye Maritime - maritime security services to commercial shipping - as well as the Kenya Team Leader for the non-profit, Nuru International. Alex is currently a Major in the Marine Corps Reserves.

The top three reasons to listen to this episode are:

1. Service - Alex has continued to serve in the Marine Corps Reserves, he worked in Kenya with the organization Nuru helping local farmers grow their income, and his own company - AC Global Risk - has a service element as well. He’s a great role model for keeping service an active component in his life, and talks about how to serve as a for-profit venture
2. Startups - Alex started his first company straight of the Marine Corps and it failed. He learned from it, and is on his second company, AC Global Risk. He is very honest and balanced in this interview about failure, about mistakes, and how these are essential for entrepreneurs
3. Stanford Ignite - Alex goes in depth on the Stanford Ignite program as well as many other really valuable resources for those of you interested in startups

Our Sponsor

Audible is offering one FREE audio book to Beyond the Uniform listeners. You can claim this offer here, and see a list of books recommended by my guests at BeyondTheUniform.io/books

Selected Links

• A great article on Alex and his company: http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/job-hunting/from-marines-to-entrepreneur-alex-martin.html
  • • Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
    • The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
    • Get Backed: Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams - more on technical side, the top 15-20 pitch decks. Can take this and pick and choose what you like and choose your ownBook Recommendations
    • The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law, 4th Edition - save $1000's on legal
• Related Podcasts
  • Great EO Fire podcast episode that talks about the power of obsession in startups. I reference this in the interview and think it’s really relevant to entrepreneurship. Be Obsessed or Be Average, it’s that simple says Grant Cardone 
  • Don Faul interview - referenced as a huge resource of support

Show Notes

• 2:08 - Alex's background
• 2:50 - Alex's decision to transition from the Marine Corps to a civilian career
• 3:39 - Alex's experience being part of the Reserves and how it has impacted his civilian career
• 5:32 - Alex's experience as part of the Stanford Ignite program and how this impacted his entrepreneurial experience
• 7:49 - An overview of Stanford Ignite as a program for veterans
• 10:22 - Alex's experience at Nuru International
• 15:15 - The genesis of Alex's second company, AC Global Risk
• 17:40- An overview of AC Global Risk
• 19:21  - What Alex's day-to-day life looks like as the CEO of AC Global Risk
• 21:11 - Alex's lifestyle as an entrepreneur married to another entrepreneur
• 24:27 - How long it took Alex to be able to pay himself as salary while he was starting his own company
• 28:43 - Alex's biggest mistake in starting his own company and what he learned from it
• 33:03 - Alex's team size at AC Global Risk and what his team looks like
• 34:22 - Advice for any veteran thinking of starting their own company
• 35:36 - Resources Alex would recommend to any veteran thinking of starting their own company
• 37:53 - Advice for veterans seeking to raising capital for their own company, and the fundraising experience
• 43:40 - Habits that Alex had to break when he left the military in order to be successful in his civilian career
• 45:55 - Other mistakes that Alex made since departing the military and what he learned from them
• 48:47 - Final words of wisdom for veterans of the Armed Forces