vetcon

By Debbie Gregory.

Northern California played host to the VETCON conference that was held in March for veteran entrepreneurs.

The percentage of Veterans who are starting their own businesses is steadily declining. Today’s veterans are not launching companies at the same high rate as past generations. More than 40 percent of veterans returning from World War II and Korea began their own businesses, as compared today, where that number is less than five percent.

Important takeaways regarding veteran business owners/entrepreneurs from the conference include the following:

  1. Veterans build different kinds of companies than  civilian entrepreneurs
  2. Veterans have a desire to create social impact in their communities, rather than just making money
  3. Veterans often stumble into great entrepreneurial opportunities and leverage their military experience
  4. Veteran overcome challenges and execute at a world-class level.
  5. Veterans will work together to help fellow veterans, and those who are successful want to see other veterans succeed with their own companies.
  6. Veterans tend to build revenues, and are not big fans of venture capital.
  7. There is diversity among veteran owned  businesses, and more women are becoming veteran entrepreneurs

Veterans have the discipline, work ethic, leadership skills and other dynamic traits to succeed. I believe the best is yet to come, and veteran entrepreneurship will be growing and at a rapid rate.  In the future, we should be seeing more and more veteran business owners in all types of businesses.   And it is a fact that Americans trust veterans, and truly want to do business with them.