The Art of a Comeback:

*Note: We had to utilize our PACE plan for this episode, so please excuse the lesser quality audio. Due to some connection and firewall issues, we had to record this episode using our phones. A lesson in perseverance and ingenuity!

Sonny Tosco is West Point graduate (Class of 2006), former Air Defense officer, and tech entrepreneur. Inspired by his father, a Filipino immigrant, who was liberated by General MacArthur, Sonny made the decision at a young age to go to West Point and eventually serve his county.

Sonny's best memories from West Point is grinding through the Academy alongside his classmates and friends. He was inspired by his TAC (Tactical Officer) at West Point to commission into Air Defense.

Initially Sonny transitioned into the corporate world in order to appease what he describes as the societal pressure that comes along with family expectations of what success and stability look like. However, while attending USC Marshall School of Business and managing accounts for an education company, Sonny realized he couldn't deny his DNA as an entrpreneur.

Utilizing his Army built skills of communication and team building, Sonny took "the leap". In 2014, he left his corporate role and founded Limelight, a social app. After two years, Limelight failed. However, through this failure, Sonny learned the value of simplicity and listening to customer needs. In regards to Limelight, Sonny shares his insight as to when to know when to call it quits on a failed venture, something that some entrepreneurs struggle with.

After Limelight, Sonny founded another company Anvil. Sonny also  took some time to learn coding in order to sharpen his abilities as a tech entrepreneur. Sonny eventually had to walk away from Anville after a falling out with his co-founder.

Instead of giving up his dreams as an entrepreneur, Sonny doubled down on Tech by attending a coding academy and learning how to code for four months. This experience led him to learn the skills and make the connections that would form this basis of his current company, Ronin Dev. On the business, side, continued his entrepreneurial path by assisting another West Point grad with an industry product called Anvil. To keep the lights on at home while working on Anvil, Sonny built up Ronin Dev which offers a scalable way for non-technical founders to create Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) for their business ideas/ventures. Thus far, the Ronin Dev team has worked with over 950 companies through the products that they have created and the ideas that they have developed.

Sonny's biggest advice to Veterans leaving the military or Veteran entrepreneurs: Write a business plan that for your life at Age 50. Or, imagine what you want your lifestyle to look like 20-30 years from your transition point, and reverse plan from there.

Sonny recommends the book, "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne. "The Secret" helped him build stronger relationships and live life with a positive attitude. Sonny also uses the app, Calm, to meditate.