5 (or less) Years of S...

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BTU #346 - WIA, Whiskey, and Entrepreneurship (Clayton Hinchman)

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BTU #346 - WIA, Whiskey, and Entrepreneurship (Clayton Hinchman)

Why listen:

Here are the top three reasons to listen to today’s episode:
1.Tenacity - Clayton describes his experience stepping on an IED in Iraq and the grueling road to recovery. His thoughts on perspective & perseverance are exceptional.
2.Sales - Clayton’s attitude towards business is inspiring. His competitive nature and desire to provide for his family are inspiring.
3.Entrepreneurship - Clayton has repeatedly started organizations that thrive. From USi, which was acquired by Ignite, to Black Patch Distilling and his current government contracting company, SPS, Clayton has demonstrated his gift at starting and growing businesses.

Beyond the Uniform has over 350 podcast episodes and 20 videos with America’s top Veterans, including Jocko Willink, the former CEO of Pepsi, NFL players and more. They are all for free at BeyondTheUniform.org. If you benefit from Beyond the Uniform and would like to help get this in front of more members of the military, please consider donating at BeyondTheUniform.org/donate. You can also text SUPPORTBTU to 33777. Our cost of production is $300 per month, we are an all-volunteer team, and we could use your financial support. That is SUPPORTBTU to 33777


About Clayton:

Clayton is the Chairman of the Black Patch Distilling Co, a Combat Veteran-Owned and Operated Distillery. He started out at West Point, and served as an Infantry Officer for nearly five years before medically retiring as a Captain due to wounds sustained during an improvised explosive attack while conducting a night raid to kill or capture Al Qaeda in Iraq. He is an Honor Graduate of the US Army Ranger School, and holds a Masters from Georgetown University. After his departure from the military, he served as President and CEO of USi, which was acquired by Ignite in 2016.

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BTU #318 - Navy to Clean Tech & the DOE (Dan Misch)

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BTU #318 - Navy to Clean Tech & the DOE (Dan Misch)

Why Listen:

One aspect that I loved about my conversation with Dan is how his story exemplifies a middle road for Veterans. Often, I interview Veterans who take a wildly different career path after their military experience. I also interview many Veterans who take a career path that is directly related to their military experience. Dan found a way to split the difference. His career path utilized one piece of his military experience, while also allowing him to branch into an entirely different industry. We talk about how we made the switch from submarines into the clean energy space. We talk about the rapid growth occurring in this industry, and why mission-oriented Veterans might love this field. Dan also served during the time of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, and shares his experience of coming out to his wardroom. This aspect of my conversation helped me build empathy and understanding for someone who had the exact same military career path that I did, yet was impacted by a policy in a way that I never had to experience.

For listeners who enjoy this episode, check out these three episodes, which I’ll link to in our show notes at Beyond the Uniform;

1. BTU #186 - Army Veteran to Blockchain and Ethereum at ConsenSys (Donnie Benjamin)

2. BTU #221 - Navy Veteran to the Cannabis Industry @ CannaCraft (Cheriene Griffith)

3. BTU #213 - Navy Veteran to Cyber Security at FireEye (Lauren Burnell)

While these three interviews are not about clean technology, they each share a commonality of covering industries that are new and rapidly growing. They are all also relatively new fields. This means that there aren’t a lot of people who have decades of experience in these fields, so a military Veteran who is a newcomer to the space doesn’t have as much ground to catch up on.

About Dan

Dan Misch is the Federal Project Director with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center and the Founder of the Veterans Advanced Energy Summit. He started out at the Naval Academy, after which he served on Submarines for five years, including three nuclear deterrent patrols. He is a member of the Truman National Security Project Defense Council and Energy Expert Group.

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BTU #306 - Vietnam WIA to 4x Super Bowl Champion (Rocky Bleier)

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BTU #306 - Vietnam WIA to 4x Super Bowl Champion (Rocky Bleier)

Why Listen:

Special thanks for ESPN for helping make this interview happen. A new film about Rocky, The Return, will air on August 20th, featuring Rocky’s story, and his return to Vietnam where he sustained his injuries 50 years ago. Rocky’s story - of going from the NFL to Vietnam, to being wounded in action, being told he will never again play football, and clawing his way back to the NFL to win 4 Super Bowls is absolutely inspiring.

About Rocky:

Not falling within the ideal of what a running back should look like, Bleier had to run harder and play smarter to be able to stand out. Despite his drive and ability to make the big play, the Pittsburgh Steelers only considered him a late round pick. But before the season ended that first year, he was drafted again…this time by the United States Army. At the height of the Vietnam War, Bleier was thrust into combat early and was seriously wounded when his platoon ran into an ambush. Receiving wounds from both rifle fire and grenade fragments in his legs, he was barely able to walk and his professional football career seemed to have ended before it began…

For more than two years, he drove himself. Little by little he overcame obstacles and fought his way back. He not only made the Pittsburgh Steelers, but also eventually became a starting running back on a team that won four Super Bowls and became the greatest football team of the 20th century.

The hard lessons Rocky Bleier learned early in his life that helped him overcome adversity and reach his goals, have paid off after football. These lessons are seen between the lines in the popular book on his life, "Fighting Back" and on stages of speaking appearances around the country.

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BTU #293 - Coach K

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BTU #293 - Coach K

Why Listen

Seriously? This is Coach K. I know nothing about sports, and even I know about Coach K. Hailing back to my days trying to escape from the Naval Academy, my friend Scott and I would go down to Duke to hang out with a friend of mine from High School. Hearing her and her friends talk about Coach K with reverence, started my esteem for this man. Despite his insanely busy schedule, Coach K took time to speak with me and the Beyond the Uniform audience about how his military experience shaped his coaching philosophy, how he crosses the generational gap to motivate his players, how to overcome failure, how to achieve work life balance and more.

About Coach K

A graduate of West Point, Mike Krzyzewski is a living legend. In 39 seasons at Duke, Coach K is a Naismith Hall of Fame coach, a five-time national champion and 12-time Final Four participant; a 6 time Gold Medalist as head coach of US Men's National Team, and is the winningest Basketball Coach in Division 1 Men's Basketball history.

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BTU #280 - Navy to PGA Golfer (Billy Hurley III)

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BTU #280 - Navy to PGA Golfer (Billy Hurley III)

Why Listen:

Billy is a professional golfer, the first Naval Academy graduate to earn a PGA TOUR card, which he has done for the last seven years. The more I learn about Billy’s journey, the more I’m blown away by what he achieved. In a field that is crowded and incredibly competitive, Billy has succeeded despite having five years where - instead of focusing 100% on golf like his peer set - he was serving in the military.In this interview we talk about cultivating a mindset of excellence - even though serving as a Surface Warfare Officer didn’t directly relate to his aspirations as a golfer - he focused on it 100% and did the best job he could. We talk about making sacrifices and how to balance that with being present with one’s family. We talk about what life is like on the PGA Tour and more.

About Billy:

Billy Hurley III was a member of the victorious American team in the 2005 Walker Cup and served as captain of the 2004 Palmer Cup Team. He won seven collegiate golf titles at the Naval Academy, was named 2004 Patriot League Player of the Year and was ranked the #6 best amateur in the world. Billy was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy, serving as a Surface Warfare Officer for five years. After his Naval service, Billy turned his focus to golf. He earned his place on the Web.com Tour in 2011, finishing the season in 25th place and becoming the first Naval Academy graduate to earn a PGA TOUR Card. He has continued to be a strong competitor on the TOUR, winning the 2016 Quicken Loans National – a Tiger Woods-hosted tribute to military personnel. With the win, Billy qualified for his first PGA and Masters Championships.

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BTU #279 - Career Placement Advice (Natalie Oliverio)

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BTU #279 - Career Placement Advice (Natalie Oliverio)

Why Listen:

Natalie helps military personnel realize their potential and define their professional goals. She partners with companies that are ready to hire Veterans, and acts as a broker to make sure that both the Veteran and the company are happy. In this interview, she shares an immense amount of wisdom she’s learned in helping Veterans. We talk about mentorship, mindset, and a variety of topics applicable to any Veteran career path. 

About Natalie:

Natalie Oliverio is the Founder + CEO of Military Talent Partners, which provides mentorship, coaching, and career discovery to help military talent realize their potential and define their professional goals. She served in the Navy for 4 years as a journalist and spent 10 years in Corporate recruiting and 3 years volunteering in professional mentorship among the military community.

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BTU #277 - How to Maximize Your GI Bill Benefits (Robert E. Woods III)

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BTU #277 - How to Maximize Your GI Bill Benefits (Robert E. Woods III)

Why Listen:

Special thanks to Frank Vanburen from episode #39 for making the introduction to Robert. Robert is the Founder of Banneret, which has discovered a unique method to help veterans transition, that is attractive to companies that want to do the right thing, but are cash strapped. In this interview we talk about this approach, which may be appealing to many listeners. We also talk about entrepreneurship.

About Robert:

Robert E. Woods III is the Founder of Banneret, an organization that is helping companies take advantage of incentives of hiring skilled military veterans. As a resultof our work, businesses can save tens of thousands of dollars for every veteran hired. Veteranshave an opportunity to add up to $45k to their first year's income without using companyfunds. He started out in the Air Force, where he served for 5 years as a Dental Technician in the Air Force, with a focus on oral surgery. He holds a BBA from Howard University, a Master’s Degree in Investor Relations from Fordham University, and a M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University.

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BTU #156 - Attorney at Jenner & Block (LaRue Robinson)

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BTU #156 - Attorney at Jenner & Block (LaRue Robinson)

LaRue managed to find a role at one of the most profitable law firms in the United States. He talks about what it’s like to work at a law firm, the common career paths associated with this sort of roles, and advice about the interview and application process. LaRue served in the JAG Corps while in the military, so some of his advice is tailored to JAG Corps Officers. However, if you’re considering a career in law, he provides some exceptional advice.

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BTU #149: Marines to Finance & COO @ Alpha Architect (Patrick Cleary)

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BTU #149: Marines to Finance & COO @ Alpha Architect (Patrick Cleary)

This is a must-listen-to episode. Patrick covers so much ground in this interview - we talk about choosing a team that is lean and mean; we talk about his experience not being sure of what to do for 5-6 years, wandering from business school to consulting to ultimately finding a place he passionately calls home; we talk about work and life balance and how to think about this as an entrepreneur; and we talk about finance and entrepreneurship. There is so much great advice in this interview!

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BTU 148: Taking a Startup Public and Founding a New Consulting Company (Bill Angeloni)

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BTU 148: Taking a Startup Public and Founding a New Consulting Company (Bill Angeloni)

Bill has had an eclectic career and covers a lot of ground in this interview. In addition to talking about how to find and join a high-growth startup, he also talks about his experience starting his own consulting company. He also has fantastic advice about networking - how to approach it and why it's so important for veterans to learn how to do this effectively.

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BTU 143: Active Duty to Consultant at Bain & Co. (Trevor Miller)

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BTU 143: Active Duty to Consultant at Bain & Co. (Trevor Miller)

Trevor managed to go directly from Active Duty military to Bain & Company, something that less than 7% of military veterans in Management Consulting are able to do. He talks about preparing for one's transition to a civilian career as early as possible, and also being willing to take a step back and take the longview on one's career.

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BTU #139 - Founding Bunker Labs (Todd Connor)

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BTU #139 - Founding Bunker Labs (Todd Connor)

Todd Connor is CEO & Founder of Bunker Labs, an organization that helps military veterans start and grow businesses. He is also Co-Founder of The Collective Academy. He started out at Northwestern University, after which he served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the Navy for four years. After his transition from the Navy her held positions with the State of Illinois Inspector General, McMaster-Carr, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the Chicago Public Schools. Todd holds an MBA from the Chicago Booth School of Business.

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BTU #134 - Founding Alpha Architect (Wes Gray)

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BTU #134 - Founding Alpha Architect (Wes Gray)

There are so many reasons to listen to today’s episode. First, finance. Wes was introduced to me by a Wall Street Journal article that my brother-in-law Matt Dankner sent me and said basically, ‘Check this guy out, you need to get a hold of this guy’. I’m still blown away that Wes has taken the time to speak with me. The Wall Street Journal article talked about how successful Wes has been in starting and growing his own asset management firm, which is extremely difficult to do. We talk about so much in the episode. We talk about how when Wes was in the midst of his Ph. D. he joined the Marines. We talk about how that experience has helped him get this far. We talk about why vets are well-suited for fundraising. We talk about how to sell with a passion and how to find a mission you’re excited about. And most importantly we talk about the very simple secret to create success which is to grind every day. I think you’ll find Wes’ experience motivating and inspiring.

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BTU #122 - Army to CEO of Skullcandy (Jason Hodell)

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BTU #122 - Army to CEO of Skullcandy (Jason Hodell)

Jason Hodell is the CEO of Skullcandy, which markets headphones, earphones, speakers and other products. Skullcandy was founded in 2003 and acquired in October 2016 by Mill Road Capital for $200 million. Jason started out at West Point, after which he served as an Infantry Officer in the US Army for five years. After the Army, he picked up his MBA at Wharton.He had an impressive career prior to Skullcandy, which we’ll discuss in the interview, and joined the Skullcandy team initially as their CFO & COO.  Since that time the company has grown revenue from $210M to approximately $300m, and he was appointed as the CEO of Skullcandy  about one year ago.

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BTU #117: Jim Vesterman: Marine Corps to Search Funds and Buying a Company to Run

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BTU #117: Jim Vesterman: Marine Corps to Search Funds and Buying a Company to Run

Jim Vesterman is the CEO of Raptor Technologies, which is the nation's leading provider of integrated safety technologies for K-12 schools. He got his undergraduate degree at Amherst College, after which he worked at both the Monitor Group and for a software startup. He deferred his MBA to join the Marine Corps as part of 3rd Force Recon Company. After he got his MBA from Wharton, he started an entrepreneurial vehicle called a search fund - which we’ll get into - called Liberty Place Capital. Liberty Place Capital ultimately purchased Raptor Technologies in 2012 and he has been running that company for 5 years.

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BTU #116 - Finance, Founding team at Live Ops, and starting High Ridge Global (Patrick McKenna)

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BTU #116 - Finance, Founding team at Live Ops, and starting High Ridge Global (Patrick McKenna)

Patrick is the Founder and Managing Partner at High Ridge Global, which is a private investment and advisory firm. He started out as a ROTC student at the University of Southern California, after which he served as a Signal Corps Officer in the Army for four years. After his service he got his MBA at Georgetown. He has worked at JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, was part of the Founding Team of LiveOps (a company that grew to over $100M in revenue), and has founded, invested in, and served on the board of multiple companies.

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BTU #115 - Network Marketing & Residual Income While on Active Duty (Ray & Samantha Allen)

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BTU #115 - Network Marketing & Residual Income While on Active Duty (Ray & Samantha Allen)

Ray and Samantha Allen are both 2009 Naval Academy Graduates. After graduation, Ray went to flight school & became a Navy Helo pilot while Sam became a Marine. Samantha served as a Marine for 5 years at Marine Special Operations Command (2nd MSOB) and weapons training Battalion. Ray is an HSC pilot now instructing at the Naval Academy. The two live in Annapolis, MD with their three daughters, and have been building their business together for four years.

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BTU #113 - Army to Goldman Sachs, and President of the Florida Panthers (Matthew Caldwell)

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BTU #113 - Army to Goldman Sachs, and President of the Florida Panthers (Matthew Caldwell)

Matthew Caldwell is the President and CEO of the Florida Panthers and Sunrise Sports & Entertainment. Matthew started out at West Point, after which he served in the U.S. Army for five years, conducting combat operations in Iraq and peacekeeping operations in Kosovo. Matthew worked as a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in their Investment Management Division, and then transitioned to Chief Operating Officer for the Panthers before being elevated to President and CEO. Matthew holds a JD/MBA from Northwestern University School of Law and the Kellogg School of Management