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Andrew Garcia is a U.S. Navy veteran and founder of The Arena and Pursuit, two businesses focused on helping veterans and transitioning professionals break into the tech industry. After a successful career in tech sales at Salesforce, Andrew launched The Arena to provide veteran-friendly recruiting services for defense tech startups. He later expanded his mission through Pursuit, a career training platform designed to help aspiring tech sales professionals land their first role. Today, The Arena partners with growing companies to place high-performing sales talent, while Pursuit offers coaching, community, and an online platform that helps job seekers prepare for interviews, build professional habits, and stay accountable. With a long-term vision to build a full career pipeline, Andrew combines mentorship, training, and recruiting to help veterans succeed in high-growth industries.

In this episode of the SABM podcast, Scott chats with Andrew about:

• Building a Dual Business Model: How The Arena and Pursuit work together to serve job seekers and hiring managers across the full tech sales career journey.

• From Salesforce to Startup Founder: Why Andrew left a stable career to test his skills and pursue entrepreneurship full time.

• The Pursuit Platform: What makes Pursuit training cohorts different, and how the platform helps veterans land roles faster with more confidence.

• Lifetime Value: Why Andrew created a lifetime membership program that helps graduates land jobs not just once, but throughout their careers.

• Data-Driven Recruiting: How The Arena is building a defense-tech talent insights platform to help startups hire smarter and faster.

Timestamps:

00:08 Joining the Chess Team and Soccer at the Academy

02:04 Founding The Arena and Pursuit

05:01 Challenges and Successes in Entrepreneurship

11:40 Goals and Future Plans

22:17 Marketing and Business DevelopmentTimestamps: Connect with Andrew:

• LinkedIn | Andrew Garcia

• www.arena.vet | www.pursuit.vet

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A special thank you to Andrew for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01