Back from a long break, your co hosts bring their fans up to date on what they've been up to and how they're dealing with the current pandemic. Carmen is happy to report that, although all her employees are working from home, she hasn't had to lay off anyone and is hopeful they can keep everyone employed through the lockdown. Josh has both teenage boys and a young one at home, which seems to be shrinking in size the longer they are all in it! The big question is how long will this continue and h...
Apr 09, 2020•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota, Nate Amidon loved high school swimming and wanted to continue with competitive college swimming. Even though not a huge military town, his St. Paul high school had a strong connection with the Air Force Academy and Nate found himself connected to their swim team. His degree was in Business Management and after graduation became a pilot, even though he didn't necessarily have that burning desire as a youngster. Still active in the Air Force Reserves, Nate realiz...
Aug 01, 2019•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast At 17, Heath Gross pre-enlisted to be Airborne. However, a seizure in his senior year of high school put that dream off for 7 years. But determined to use the military as a stepping stone to join the FBI, Heath eventually did pursue his original dream and, at 28, went through basic training with little problem. His counterintelligence training led him to the 82nd and a certificated paratrooper. Working with the CIA gave him a solid intelligence background and he did some contract work following ...
Jul 24, 2019•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Pennsylvania native, Maria Horton was a nurse who was told she could be an officer and nurse in the military, and it was true. She worked in Washington DC and wound up with a 20 year career. After retiring, her background in both nursing and information in the Navy served her well for her business success. With an interest in technology, Maria was researching telemedicine at just the right time. Online services were just beginning to take shape and her timing was impeccable. As she says, "Life...
Jul 24, 2019•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Chris Stout's brother was in the Navy and told Chris to join the Army. So, Chris figured, he MUST know what he's talking about, right? Not necessarily so at first. Chris was out in the field and wound up being injured and discharged. There he was, young with a guaranteed income and ready to retire for life. Not necessarily so again. He soon found out that doing nothing was not a good lifestyle. A divorce and a drifting lifestyle later, he got it together. Went back to school and finished his deg...
Jun 19, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Introduced to West Point by his Dad while in high school, Jim Nelson had the Academy in his sights, and nothing else. The phrase "We do more by 9:00am than most people do in a day" had him hooked. His job in the Army oversaw 400+ people and he was charged with things such as making the commissary profitable, so he really was running a business before he got out. He had seen international action and decided to be a global business person. China in the 1990s was the Wild West, so Jim learned in th...
Jun 05, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast A West Texas native and Texas Tech Raider, Michael went into the Navy and OCS and into the surface warfare program. Still in the Reserves, Michael was a contractor with a think tank, learned a lot and wound up running a startup company in the healthcare arena. Then some former interpreters he had worked with asked him to help relocate them as they had threats against their lives for their involvement with the US. The fact that people who had helped the US military and could be hamstrung in their...
May 15, 2019•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Navy man, Craig and a friend joined up on the buddy system and did his bootcamp in Orlando, Florida. Being from a small town and raised on a farm, he wanted to see the world and see it from the water! Becoming a Quarter Master, he laid the groundwork for being in business - he didn't want to get dirty. And the leadership program he took to earn QM was a definite plus. The problem Craig saw that corporate America was missing a great labor pool by not understanding how to recruit and work with m...
May 15, 2019•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Troy joined the National Guard at 17, as soon as he could, and wound up in artillery. Although he thought he wanted to be an attorney and studied to be one, his training transferred well to accounting which really set him up for business. He also used the stress of military life to his advantage when launching into business. He was doing taxes with a firm and decided to go out on his own. And as Troy says, it worked until it didn't. Then he had to think; how would his accounting background work ...
May 08, 2019•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast It was Dave and his brother growing up. Their Dad died when they were young, their Mom was their hard-working role model and when he was old enough, Dave decided the military would give him some guidance and structure and he got into West Point. He became a Ranger and was a platoon leader in Iraq. In his career, he learned how to come back from failure and how much he didn't know, both tremendous lessons for being an entrepreneur. After his service, he became a power networker, seeking out peopl...
May 08, 2019•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast From a family of 13, Bobby was the first in the family born in the US. He joined the Army when he was old enough. His Dad had always wanted to be in the military but couldn't, so that was Bobby's motivation. After the military, Bobby had a stint in accounting. He didn't love it, but it taught him a lot. And the experience really got him through the tough part of starting a business. The first five years of Populus were tough - Bobby calls them blessings - but getting through that is what has ste...
May 08, 2019•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Another family career military background, Robin chose being in the Military Police because she didn't want to sit behind a desk. She went from platoon leader to company commander. She had a great role model, as her father began as an MP. After the Army, Robin had discipline and a detail orientation, so combined with her energy, she wasn't worried about starting her own business. Her website says "food for the body and soul" and that's what she delivers. So she doesn't worry about competition, s...
May 01, 2019•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Navy vet Scott Painter enlisted at age 17. An aircraft enthusiast, he knew that most of the aircraft putting out the firepower were launched from aircraft carriers. A six-month contract with the Marine Corps gave him experience to begin his entrepreneurial career. So combined his love of aircraft with his technical background to start Bird's Eye. And he has constantly expanded his marketing mind to stretch to agriculture, environment, construction and even the entertainment industry. Veteran Fou...
May 01, 2019•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lisa Steptoe, spouse of Ron Steptoe, is a Board Member of The Steptoe Group. A West Point grad, Lisa and Ron met there and have gone through their trials and tribulations in the military together. Beginning as a computer science major, she ended up in math and electrical engineering. Ron always had the vision of leading his own organization, so after their service, they divided their time between planning and keeping a job to keep the lights on. Lisa was "optimized" out of her job, and her gener...
May 01, 2019•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joining the Air Force initially - and retired from the Army - Gary went out to Monterrey, California to study Russian. This influenced his move to the West Coast where he now resides. The discipline, commitment and work ethic of the military prepared him well for the business sector when he retired. Working for a big corporation in a four-state area doing their security he figured he could do the same thing for himself, especially if he was going to continue the 16-hour days. He went to a securi...
Apr 17, 2019•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast What a military story! Ron Steptoe and his wife are both West Point grads and met there. And here's the real story: 238 years of family military service to the US! And it starts with his FIFTH great grandfather serving in the Revolutionary War, James Bowser was one of only 5,000 African Americans to fight in that war out of about 300,000 warriors. He fought in the Battle of Yorktown and for that, received 200 acres of land. There is pain associated with this story, though, so listen in for more ...
Apr 17, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Growing up on the slopes of Sun Valley, Idaho, Sam Meek was in high school when 9/11 hit. He always thought he would be a Marine, and decided that was the time. The fact that he loved his fellow Marines was part of the motivation for starting Sandboxx, to help them stay connected with their families. This means communication at tough times such as boot camp and also at special times in their service, such as graduation, medal ceremonies and the like. He was always entrepreneurial, even starting ...
Apr 17, 2019•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast A bad accident made Chloe want to become a doctor. She thought the Navy would be a great place to do that and the Marine Corps was path. Her family was entrepreneurial, so it was a natural for Chloe to start businesses after her service. She had become familiar with ways to "mark" 3-D digital objects and had a chance discussion with a partner who had written some songs, recorded them and then had them ripped off and decided they would figure out how to protect his music by marking it as well. Th...
Apr 10, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Disability for some Veterans can be an awesome component for entrepreneurial success. That's what James Mingey has been telling the VA and anyone else who will listen, for years. And it's sinking in. From a strong military family background, Jim left in the middle of college and ended up in the middle of the Vietnam War. He got out. Back in the states, Jim used the finance background he had acquired to start a business that didn't go well but taught him a lot. So his next adventure involved leve...
Apr 10, 2019•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Maybe growing up in Montana made him feel land locked, but Gerald Pygott decided to see the world through the Navy. He also thought he'd sidestep Vietnam, but that plan didn't work. He wound up a SeeBee (CB) and did an interesting assignment going into abandoned POW camps. He grew to love the Navy and decided to make it a career but a severe accident on ship changed all that. After a long recovery, he ended up starting and selling three companies before PSC Marketing. He learned in Vietnam not t...
Apr 10, 2019•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Daniella Young had an upbringing that should be filed under fiction. Born in the Philippines in a notorious religious cult, she was one of eight children born to her mother, and she figures she has around 31 siblings because of the "open marriage" policy of the cult leader. Whew! Moving all over the world, she was able to escape when she was 15. It took time to undo all the mind control imposed on her, but she's done it and her military career helped. One of the first women to be purposely put i...
Apr 03, 2019•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nick joined the delayed entry program in high school. He and his twin brother knew the military was for them, not college, but weren't sure which branch or career. This turned out to be a great move, as they had terrific boot camps and got based out of California for five years. But he got to travel as well and spent time in Spain, Guam and Afghanistan. After starting a company that curated and publicized startup and early stage companies, he used that experience to launch Shift to speed up the ...
Apr 03, 2019•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast John's still in the military, serving in the Army reserve. That came after a stint in the Peace Corp too. Doug had a 30-year career and retired not too long ago; being born on the Fourth of July might have had something to do with that. John is currently working in civil affairs for the Army, which is a perfect bridge to being an entrepreneur. It was part of the reason the two of them had an idea, worked it out on paper, and then waited for Doug to retire from military life. They then tackled th...
Apr 03, 2019•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Born in the Philippines, Lito got his military training in communications. After a short career, he wound up with a tremendous amount of training and landed contract work overseas. When the contract ended, Lito went back to his education, and through SVA, he recveived a scholarship to any California college. However, overseas pay was pretty good, so Lito took another contract job with highly trained and motivated people. It put him in the front seat of the horrors of war, taking particular note ...
Mar 27, 2019•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast A junior ROTC program in high school introduced Nick to the Naval Academy's different services, and received lots of encouragement to attend. This led him to become a Marine, while also wanting to be in intelligence. The combat death of a close friend created a desire to give back to Vets and their families. His friend had a big beard when killed - as many of the special ops people do - so to honor him Nick started developing products to counter the itching and irritating part of having facial h...
Mar 27, 2019•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast A senior in high school when 9-11 hit, Nick made up his mind to be in the military. After graduating college, he ended up in the 173rd. After his career, he went to work on his MBA. The transition was not easy, as going from firefight to classroom was a big change. However, the humility he learned in the military served him well; he asked questions, got answers and flew through. Starting his giving-back career working with Veterans to prevent suicide, Nick became fascinated with the science of p...
Mar 27, 2019•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Impressed with his sister's Marine recruiter, Mike dropped out of high school in order to join the Army Guard. He wound up getting into security and deployed to Iraq. He deployed three times, twice as a soldier and once as a contractor. Introduced to some Vets who had opened a for-profit school, Mike got his first taste of marketing, then identified a need for scalable, identity verification for online learning (mouthful); being able to tell if someone taking the online test is cheating or not. ...
Mar 21, 2019•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Surrounded by friends and family with military backgrounds, Tonio had his eye on the Naval Academy from day one. Mainly, because that was the way to become a Marine officer, and Tonio wanted to lead people, not equipment. He wound up in charge of artillery anyway, but figured out how to manage both. He came to a fork in the road: JAG or a law career in the private sector. While studying law, he became fascinated with finance, but couldn't stand what he saw as a toxic culture in much of the finan...
Mar 21, 2019•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Lacrosse injury gave Dan some extra time in college and he decided to take flying lessons. The instructor was a retired Marine who taught him more than flying. He taught him about the military and the honor of serving your country. He's now in the Reserves and has a balance of family, job and the military. A chance meeting while waiting to fly connected Dan with Taylor and they decided that technology could connect not only Veterans but all people with needs to their resources. UniteUS was bor...
Mar 20, 2019•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Both in big construction projects in Chile in 2013, Zach and Drew, Navy vets, saw a big problem in aggregating data to estimate and to have real time in the field data. They had taken a college course earlier, and the fit seemed like natural. A Co-Founder can be a very, very important part of a successful business, and dividing responsibilities and following through are a blessing. Zach and Drew have been able to accomplish that and have been able to view differences as a way to constantly impro...
Mar 14, 2019•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
