MILCOM Founders Podcast – Episode 29: Jesse Levin, Executive Director of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum and Founder of Tactivate

Show Notes:

Join host Rod Loges as he sits down with Jesse Levin, Executive Director of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum and founder of Tactivate, an initiative working to build networks of SOF veterans, economic stability specialists, and humanitarian experts to conduct last-mile operations in crisis and conflict environments worldwide.

In this episode:

• Jesse's journey from Connecticut and the Tom Brown Tracker School to founding ventures in Panama, Haiti, and Ukraine
• How humanitarian assistance and disaster response bring together unlikely allies in contested environments
• Why pairing special operations forces veterans with entrepreneurs creates uniquely effective hybrid capabilities
• The lesson that civilian society, not just transitioning veterans, bears responsibility for veteran success in the private sector
• How the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum functions as an informal network and strategic weapon system for national defense
• Why vulnerability and asking for help is an act of courage, not weakness

Key takeaways:

• Mission-driven work paired with financial sustainability is possible, but uncommon and worth pursuing
• Informal networks and person-to-person relationships are just as critical to national security as technology and hardware
• Trust your gut when assessing people and situations, especially when transitioning to civilian life
• Civil society's entrepreneurial power is America's greatest strategic asset and remains largely untapped
• Deep, authentic relationships are worth far more than large networks built on transactional interactions
• Gray zone conflict and malign influence require broader civil society involvement, not just government and defense systems

Guest: Jesse Levin, Executive Director, Defense Entrepreneurs Forum

• Website: https://www.def.org/
• Tactivate: https://www.tactivate.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-levin/

Jesse Levin is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum and recently finished volunteering as a member of the Resistance Team under the IWI SOF in Competition Project. 

He is the founder of Tactivate, an initiative that has spent the past fifteen years cultivating informal networks of SOF veterans, economic stability and humanitarian specialists to conduct last mile contested logistics, recovery, stability and capacity building efforts in support of governments and local populaces in crisis and conflict environments worldwide. 

Jesse holds a BS from Babson College, is a CSIS AILA Fellow and a member of the Explorers Club.

Looking ahead: The Defense Entrepreneurs Forum continues building connections across the veteran entrepreneurial, innovation, and national security communities, while Tactivate remains positioned to deploy specialized teams for humanitarian, recovery, and stability operations globally.

The MILCOM Founders Podcast champions and celebrates military community business owners. Each episode brings practical insights from successful veteran entrepreneurs.

Sponsored by One Degree Financial www.onedegreefinancial.com

Want to support veteran entrepreneurs? Learn about the Dick Loges Veteran Entrepreneur Scholarship Fund at www.milcomfounders.com