Likes & Launch

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. - Noam Chomsky 

VetsinTech team at the White House. Thanks for sharing Craig.

Two weeks ago I was invited to the White House’s workshop on Veterans Entrepreneurship.  Including White house staff, there were 90 people who worked together in this workshop. We were all gathered on the edge of what’s possible for transitioning Veterans.

Participants included non-profits, government organizations, private companies and public companies. As readers of this blog know, I have been involved in bridging the gap between technical military veterans and the tech sector through Incline which is now the New York City chapter of VetsinTech.

I didn’t know what to expect but I was excited to be welcomed beyond the White House gates. Upon arrival, we were assigned to one of 9 tables with different topics. I was part of the ‘Tech entrepreneurship’ table, our goal was to brainstorm all of the issues we felt Veterans were still facing in this area.

Our group came up with 3 topics that made it to the next phase of the workshop: allowing GI Bill usage for skills training and company co-ops, creating a longer timeline for the government funded Transition Assistance Program (TAP), and shared data about transitioning veterans. 

Next, the most popular topics from the first brainstorm, including our three, were turned into ten groups.

The three I’m most focused on require a true private-public partnership. They can’t be handled by private efforts alone, they require collaboration:

1. Data & Metrics on Transitioning Veterans

I asked the Department of Labor, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs if they had any numbers on how many veterans transitioned this year.

No answer.

I asked: How many people left the military last year?

No answer.

And worst of all, when I asked if it was an item they were looking to solve, the answer was simply: “We’ve tried and it’s impossible. Each department’s data belongs to them and cannot be cross-referenced.”

To be fair, innovation doesn’t come easy inside a government department. Just hearing about the process to push through new initiatives made me thankful for my employment in the private sector. Their world has massive impact anytime anything changes, just like super heroes: ‘with great power, comes great responsibility.’

Thankfully, this edge between the public and private sector is becoming blurry. Veteran entrepreneur Blake Hall has built Id.Me (formerly Troop.ID) to help better identify military veterans. His team has reverse engineered the steps to verify military identity, which in turn has brought all military discounts online for millions of vets. His organization has the power to help give veterans identity outside of the military. That’s the first step in understanding where veterans are, if they’ve transitioned and what resources would be helpful to them.

It’s hard to solve a problem you can’t see and you can’t measure. Military veterans should own their data and identity, but they should also be able to easily contribute anonymized data to annual research on the success of transitioning veterans. Programs would have an easier time planning their efforts if they could see at a high level how many veterans need assistance, where they are, and how their employment status changes over time.

2. Extended TAP Program

The transition assistance program is a mandatory two day in-person training after you leave the military (no they don’t count how many people pass through their doors, but I think they should!). During the program you are encouraged to pursue three different paths: employment, entrepreneurship or education (same 3E’s from VetsinTech). No non-government organizations or tools are allowed to be promoted in the training so advice is generic for all veterans.

Once you attend the two day program, you are transitioned out of the military. Ta-da! But what happens if you don’t know which path to pursue? What if you don’t find a job right away? How would you know where to look? TAP isn’t allowed to suggest posting your resume on Linkedin or CareerBuilder.

In the Extended TAP Program, all veterans would have a check-in 90 days, 6 months and 12 months after the program. TAP is meant to transition military veterans, extending the outreach to a full year helps make sure that successfully happens. Having individuals required to come-in beyond their two day training would require a lot more overhead, so a quick way to start would be through a low cost medium like email. Even if this was an opt-in service provided by the private sector, it could go a long way.

3. 21^st Century G.I. Bill

The G.I. Bill was updated in 2008 to allow military veterans “with active duty service on, or after, Sept. 11 2001, enhanced educational benefits that cover more educational expenses, provide a living allowance, money for books and the ability to transfer unused educational benefits to spouses or children.” The definition of educational expenses has expanded from tuition at traditional college and universities to also include non-college-degree training programs. The approved programs are currently limited to HVAC repair, truck driving, emergency medical training, and barber/beautician school.

There is a lot of potential to expand non-college-degree training programs to include more just-in-time training in high demand fields like web development, web security, data analytics, and Q.A..  That would allow Veterans to apply their G.I. Bill to programs like The Flatiron School, The Starter League or General Assembly. These programs also provide employment placement in high paying jobs, the ultimate goal of the G.I. Bill.

The G.I. Bill is a great opportunity to pursue additional education but not all veterans are looking to go back to school. A large number already have degrees and are looking to start their careers right out of the service. Pushing G.I. Bill education benefits further, through some updates it could be applied as collateral for a small business loan, a new business grant, or a tax incentive for an employer sponsored co-op program.

Tech Shop, a private sector training company and a participant in the White House Workshop, provided an example in innovating around the limits of the G.I. Bill. Through a partnership with GE and the V.A., they’ve launched free memberships to veterans of all eras, not just those eligible for the post 9/11 G.I. Bill. You can learn more about their program here. 

More work to be done

The remaining topics are already in the works through the private sector or are improvements to existing programs:

4. Reboot to Business: Extending Boots to Business, a three-step training program developed to introduce and train transitioning service members to business ownership, to include veterans who are a few years out of the military, not just those who are currently transitioning. 

5. Tech Centers: Better connecting veterans into existing technology communities. This is an area we’ve been working on through VetsinTech. We’re growing our chapters in eight veteran and tech communities: SF, NYC, Austin, L.A., Portland, Seattle, San Diego and D.C.

6. Entrepreneurship Tools in One Place: There are so many blogs, meetups, weekend events and books on entrepreneurship. Any tools that help entrepreneurs could also help Veteran entrepreneurs. The number of resources can be overwhelming so if you know a veteran making the transition, you should encourage them to attend the May 2014 Techstars Patriot Bootcamp. It’s three days packed with entrepreneurial talks, mentorship and a chance to pitch. 

Look! Numbers on a private-sector veterans initiative! 

7. Vet Tank: Creating local Veteran oriented pitch competitions, modeled on ABC’s show ‘Shark Tank’. Participants and investors would all be military veterans.  Veteran entrepreneurs have already appeared on Shark Tank but maybe we’ll see a military investor too.

8. Financial Literacy Training: Provide educational tools and classes to increase business and personal financial knowledge. There are a number of classes and books that are already available in the private sector. The challenge is getting it front of the people who need it most.

9. Vet Cap: Providing more connections and access to venture capital for veterans. We’re working to better connect these two networks too.

10. Mentor Match: Providing professional mentorships to transitioning veterans from transitioned veterans. We see these types of relationships growing organically and at scale through our VetsinTech Meetings. A centralized organization like what Give An Hour does for Veteran mental health would be a great model to follow at the national level.

Looking ahead

Our next step is a set of conference calls with our mini-teams. There is a lot of work to be done. And there is a lot of effort that has been in progress for years if not decades. Which is both reassuring and terrifying. What progress have we made? Will these initiatives be any different?

I’m not sure but I’m optimistic.

If you’d like to help VetsinTech build out from the edge, let’s talk. Fill out this quick survey to get involved. There is plenty of work to be done.