Do Veterans Really Make for Good Entrepreneurs?

Myth #1: “I don’t have sufficient experience to be an entrepreneur.”

The founders of Apple, Microsoft, Dell, and Facebook had no business experience. The myth is that you need a lot of business experience to start a company, but the reality is that very few established business leaders end up becoming successful entrepreneurs. They have too much to risk, too much invested in their existing career, have kids/family to consider, and may already be fairly set in a certain way of doing business.

An Army or Marine Lieutenant may receive only 10 months training before being given 35+ men to lead in combat – making life and death decisions and leading from the front – working in hostile environments with incredible uncertainty. Yet that same individual, with 5 years of leadership experience, potentially followed by 2 full years of training at some of the top business schools in the world, may feel he is inadequate to start a business? If you look at the actual landscape of entrepreneurs with little to no business experience starting and growing today’s successful companies, a 29 year old with 5 years of military leadership and a top MBA is not deficient in experience. Even without an MBA, somebody who has led in the military already has more relevant experience than many startup founders. So let’s put myth #1 to bed.

Myth #2: “I’ll first do a couple of years of consulting or general management and then I’ll be an even better entrepreneur.”

The easiest way to debunk this myth is with a simple analogy: Imagine a brand new junior officer is just finishing up his initial training and comes to you saying “I’ve been offered a platoon (or equivalent) leadership position – but I’m going to pass on it and work at the Pentagon for three years first. I’ll learn all the ins and outs of the big picture at the Pentagon, and then I’ll come back and be an even better platoon leader!”

Working in the Pentagon on your first tour won’t make you a better junior military leader – if anything – it will make you worse. You’d get soft, become out of touch, master Powerpoint and getting coffee, and return to your unit tactically deficient and with mismatched skill sets. Working at the Pentagon might give you some new skill sets, but it won’t help you lead a platoon. Similarly, working in General Management in a Fortune 500 company, or as a consultant, gets you ready to be a more senior consultant or a more senior General Manager – not an entrepreneur. Myth #2 is also busted. If you want to learn to be an entrepreneur, don’t follow a career path that is not entrepreneurial.

Myth #3: “I just don’t have any good ideas to start a business.”

If one looks at startups getting funding, practically none of them have an idea that is particularly original or revolutionary. They are just solving regular customer pain points and offering a better service to what already exists. More important than the idea is the space you will be starting the business in (do you have the right business trends backing your industry?), and how well you can execute on a plan. For those familiar with military planning, the following analogy may help explain:

Business idea = written order / patrol order
Business environment = enemy situation
Business team = unit leadership

Give the best military leader a terrible patrol order, and he will always outperform a terrible military leader with a great patrol order. Furthermore, throw somebody into an impossible enemy situation, and it won’t matter as much whether he’s a great leader or not – you can’t win a battle when outnumbered 10,000 to 1.

Based on my experience, I would place the following as criteria for evaluating potential success for a business:

Business idea = 10%
Business environment = 40%
Business team = 50%

There is no such thing as a bullet-proof business idea. Much more important is a team that can adapt, identify opportunities, and properly execute. That said, the business environment is also critical. An example is if you started a music streaming service to cell phones in 2003 – you just wouldn’t be successful – no matter how great you were. The industry just wasn’t ready for you yet, and you were ahead of your time. Many early companies failed trying this, but others with lesser business plans succeeded after smartphone adoption grew exponentially. That is what I mean by business environment.

It is a myth that you need to wait for an incredible and original idea. The environment and your team are critical. Myth #3 is debunked.

In conclusion…

There are many reasons to become an entrepreneur. Many military personnel, especially at business school, are highly attracted to the idea of entrepreneurship because it allows them to exert autonomy, control, and decision making authority right away – all things they have sought their entire career. However, few will answer the call.

Military veterans, have faced great challenges in life and many have already accomplished more than many of their peers by the time they graduate business school or explore a civilian career path. Most will decide that their personality and skill sets are better aligned with non-entrepreneurial ventures – and that’s great. However, I hope that those drawn to entrepreneurship will have the confidence to pursue it.

About the Author:

Yinon Weiss is the CEO of RallyPoint , the #1 online community where active-duty military and veterans come together, mentor, and discuss military life. RallyPoint is the only online military community that empowers its members to capture relationships they formed during their service, explore the paths of those that have gone before them, and gain more control over their career. Founded by former Special Forces officer Yinon Weiss and Army Captain Aaron Kletzing, RallyPoint is the premier military community run by veterans in the USA. Visit www.RallyPoint.com to learn more.