Gerald Pygott was in the military in the '70s, not by choice. His father thought it would "make a man" out of him and landed Gerald doing POW recon in Vietnam. Those stories he'll save for another time... He then was sent by the Navy to Hawaii and was very excited about his upcoming vacation. The vacation turned out to be 10 months at sea! He became a SeaBee (Construction Brigade) and was fixing up sea going ships around the Pacific Rim. Discharged in '79, Gerald started a career with HFC and wound up in Alaska. The company went under so Gerald turned that into seven years of putting in power plants for the local villages. Next was starting his own PSC marketing group. Adapting to the times, PSC shows their clients who to give to COVID-19 causes and PSC gives 5% of its money to help homeless veterans.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your host Josh Carter

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

Return guest Tonio DeSorrento grew up in a military family and had family members who served in the Marine Corps and had fond memories. Tonio went to the Naval Academy and went to the Marines where he was assigned to Artillery, being an officer for six years before transitioning to a lawyer then an entrepreneur. He was deployed "a couple of times" but not in combat areas. Then he went on to teaching field artillery teaching Army and Marine Corps lieutenants. Out of the service, Tonio was looking at both the financial world and law and chose to become a lawyer. What he took away from that experience was the high degree of perfection and quick turnaround required in the global financial arena. Then the pay-for-success concept came into his life and he was hooked. Helping students choose a school that will charge tuition based on the future the student winds up living. So the school bets on the student, and the student bets on the school.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your host Josh Carter

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

Lito Villanueva immigrated from the Phillipines with his family and started with the Air Force. With his typical entrepreneurial background, authority was sometimes difficult to swallow, so after his commitment, he went to a defense contractor and worked with the Army Signal Command. That gave him deployments in Afghanistan. He then decided to go full time into his consultancy, which he started doing in college, but needed a focus. He chose mental health and in particular, suicide prevention, which was his passion. Battle Buddy was his company's name. He had gone through his own depression and PTSD-type symptoms, so he knew the pain he could alleviate for his military brothers and sisters. And he has gone through the same battles being an entrepreneur, fighting off the failures and setbacks. It's the shame and fear of battle and the unspeakables that haunt so many veterans and the helping hand from Battle Buddy that is saving so many lives now.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your host Josh Carter

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

Former CEO of Bunker Labs, Todd Connor knows from his military background that there comes a time for a changing of the guard. After leading Bunker Labs, a non-profit organization of veteran entrepreneurs helping other military connected veterans start their business, to new heights, he recently turned over the reigns. Todd went through ROTC and served four years in the Navy on the SS Bunker Hill. Then he went to business school, did some management consulting and onto his entrepreneurial path. He started Bunker Labs in 2014 to boost up the business startup numbers, which have been dropping, with a focus on ex-military. As per usual, he and his team knew the "why" they were doing the Labs, but the "how" was a learning experience. And if there's one great lesson to learn from Todd and his team, it's that the "how" is ALWAYS an experiment, every day is a new day if you want to keep learning and growing.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your host Josh Carter

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

A military brat, Brian St. Ours went to hospital corpsman school in the chilly part of the year on the lakes around Illinois. Very cold. But he survived and wound up working with both Navy and Marines. He took his medical background and got a degree in advertising. Sounds odd, but as a corpsman he put together a health awareness monthly aware area. And learning how to get people's attention really interested him, leading to the advertising degree. He got a job with a New York agency after college and then went on to a graduate program. He ended up in Florida where his girlfriend got a job. At a trade show, someone asked if a certain company was Veteran owned. When Brian asked why, he learned about the government support of Veterans. Then he put the thinking cap on, and Veteran Owned Business dot com was born. Now in their 12th year, started on Veteran's Day of course, and they are helping 34,000 plus members already.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your host Josh Carter

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

Scott Painter of Bird's Eye Aerial Drones, is a repeat guest; we're checking back in on his business. He realized in the military that drones were the future, and in 2014 he started the company. A disabled veteran owned business, gathering aerial data. Their niche is unmanned, aerial data collection, and utility companies are a big part of their business. The utility companies are worried about their rural, forested assets starting fires and so monitoring them is highly critical, keeping the utility lines safe from fires. A California headquartered company, Scott's first customer was a California high school. They had re-done their football field. From the ground view, it looked like they had a botched job. So Scott suggested aerial views of the field, which showed it to be a beautifully laid out facility. There is one big concern for the business: They fly China-made drones. There has been scrutiny about being able to protect data and not let it get into the wrong hands. And while Bird's Eye has its clients sign off to the awareness of the issue, it is still something they have to keep their eye (no pun intended) on the situation constantly.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your host Josh Carter

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

A Georgetown graduate who was there on an ROTC scholarship, Karly Murphy joined the Army in the 82nd Airborne, spent time in the Middle East and went through the war effort there. Coming home, Karl took a job in sales and then starting talking with a "buddy", as the story goes. They bought a car wash, started to build a chain of them. Along the way, changes in the economy and the ubiquitous presence of iPhones led them to pivot their business model and in 2014 Spiffy was born. Mobile, on demand car care and maintenance service is the business and they seem to have hit a trend. Their thesis was to go to the customer's home, take care of their car when the car was sitting. What they found out was the customer really wanted to them to serve the car when the customer was at work. When Karl and his partner coordinated the service with the building admin and the customer, it has worked out well. It also has blossomed into taking care of the customer's car when they were at the gym or the laundry. They added on oil changes to cleaning and that in turn led to fleet service in addition to individual cars. And cleaning went from individual cars to working on rental cars and decontaminating them to a sweet, clean smell for the next rental customer.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your hosts Josh Carter and Carmen Nazario

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

Matt Lembright's experience started in the Army with the military intelligence group and operated in eastern Baghdad. He enjoyed tactical work and started cyber units for the Army. The cyber missions force was his first "startup". With so many variables and uncertainty involved in those operations, it was perfect training for an entrepreneur. And great training for the sheltering in place going on now. The change in the military's attitude toward technology's place in battle. As they embraced technology and its sensitive information, more emphasis was put on its importance and obviously, keeping the information safe. That meant security and was the beginning of Matt's opportunity in the private sector. Understanding how the DOD works and its requirements, Matt started Enabled to guide technology companies through the DOD maze and be able to show they could keep their data safe and secure and comply with the department's requirements. This involves a great deal of education as well, and working on their message and the influencers in their sales process also has been an education for Enabled, and the partners are turning that into a science.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your hosts Josh Carter and Carmen Nazario

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

John Gossart grew up in Boston and wanted to go to Boston College. Money was an issue, as with most everyone, and the Army gave him a scholarship in the ROTC program. His father was an Army vet and served in Viet Nam, so was quite supportive. Although he didn't plan on a military career, John stayed 22 years including working in counter-terrorism in the Pentagon. He spent time overseas and met people along the way who got into a startup and invited him along for the ride. Having so much time away from home, he took them up on in and they all jumped into a tech firm. They operated at a golden time for tech startups and received funding from Daimler. The company was eventually acquired and the experience was terrific for John and his family, and led to starting GoodWorld in 2015. They are still a "seed startup", but have turned the corner. The company makes donating easier and increase conversion rates for organizations creating content for their fundraising.

Veteran Founder Podcast with your hosts Josh Carter and Carmen Nazario

We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

Listen to the Veteran Founder Podcast live on-air every Friday at 1:00pm pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

Brandon Shelton comes from one of those long lines of military and he was ROTC in college, then active service, then reserves. He was a bond trader and landed right in the middle of the financial crisis so he has seen much, if not all. Their firm is a tech VC firm backing B-B, SAS companies that have security businesses with leaders that make good decisions under pressure. And they have that pressure now - and all have responded well so far. Matt Abrams was a board member for one of the portfolio companies and has become a strong member of the firm. Also from a military family, Matt has spent the last years in enterprise software. This current "downturn" is the third he has witnessed, so he is a veteran of more than just the military. Remote working is nothing new to Matt so the current lockdown situation is pretty transparent. For Matt, we have a tremendous opportunity now to rethink how we do business moving forward from the COVID impact. In the meantime, Brandon feels that only an amazing company, with a great investment price tag, will induce them to make any new investments. For now, they'll focus on the companies they currently back.