Anne Meree is one of the most impactful people in the military veteran transition space and a person whose impact in my humble opinion has not received enough recognition. She cofounded the The COMMIT Foundation and also led the organization as CEO for roughly a decade. Countless veterans have told me firsthand how much the organization has helped them with their transition.
Read MoreThe transition will be just as difficult as basic training because there’s just as much uncertainty with the transition as there is when you first join the military. There are some people who are naturally gifted at everything but if you are like me then you will have to fail multiple times before you can even be average. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Read MoreOn Thursday at the Context VC office we hosted the first in person public startup board meeting. I’m not 100% sure this is the case but ChatGPT seems to agree with me on this (my only ChatGPT reference).
Read MoreI’ve had the good fortune of working with Christine Schwartz over the past few years through Service to School (S2S). Christine hails from a family that has served our country over decades (her family has served our country for at least the past 5 generations!). She is a military veteran, military spouse, and mother. She is a major reason why there are so many more enlisted veterans at our nation’s top undergraduate institution. I believe S2S is helping to improve civil-military relations at our nation’s schools.
Read MoreI’m excited to share that Amit Jain and team at Luma AI have just closed a $20 million Series A led by David Beyer and Mike Dauber of Amplify Partners and welcome General Catalyst & NVIDIA ventures along with continued participation from Matrix Partners & South Park Commons.
Read MoreAs a military veteran I’m a big fan of military discounts. I make my family cringe sometimes when I ask if a store has one. When we do get a discount I believe it plants the seed in my kids prefrontal cortex that hey, maybe military service is not a bad idea.
Read MoreWe just sent out the Military Veteran Startup email newsletter to thousands of veteran founders, operators, VCs, and allies. Here's the email: https://lnkd.in/gFSY9zwQ
Read MoreThere have been 6 major economic-political-military events in my life since graduating high school in 2000:
Read MoreAt Context Ventures we like to attend and host events. In terms of getting work done and relationship building we think nothing beats meeting people in person (or as the infantry say: boots on the ground).
Read MoreOn Linkedin you can’t avoid seeing advice people have for business, health, leadership, etc…and please let me emphasize (or foot stomp) that this is a great/wonderful thing. This website/platform is a place of positivity. The advice however can be contradictory and so my advice is that most advice is good advice but the best advice is contextual and focused on the individual/company and the environment.
Read MoreSince leaving active duty I've put on several different civilian uniforms/internships/jobs. In the photo are just a few of the business cards I've had since 2009. A bit of my journey has been figuring out what I did not want to do in order to figure out what I wanted to do.
Read MoreThere are few organizations that support the military veterans and the military veteran startup community more than JPMorgan Chase & Co. and we’re grateful to have their support as this years Platinum Sponsor for The Military Veteran Startup Conference.
Read MoreAn event for military veteran (& spouses) founders to meet with many military veteran VCs & VCs that invest and support the military veteran founder community.
Read More“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” - Martin Luther King Jr. (quote at the beginning of Chapter 2 of Black Veteran Entrepreneur)
Read MoreDespite being a millennial I have always been a fan of physical reading: newspapers, books, magazines, etc…most recently I have abandoned pure digital note taking and supplementing it with a physical notepad much like I did as a United States Military Academy at West Point cadet or Junior Military officer in the US Army with a green notebook.
Read MoreWhile traveling with my family during the holidays I have been trying to catch up on family and gym time. I love exercising but the past few years I’ve been prioritizing work over health. Every day over the past few years I’ve been attriting the physical fitness foundation that I built while at United States Military Academy at West Point and in the US Army. One of the major things about the military that is awesome is that it pays you to work and stay physically fit.
Read MoreYesterday Context VC sent out an email to over a thousand military veteran founders, early stage tech operators, VCs, and LPs about the military veteran startup ecosystem. This email newsletter provided an update on the military veteran startup ecosystem, our Military Veteran Startup Conference, & our book on Military Veteran Startup Founders. This email had a unique open rate of over 70% (it’s an engaged community)!
Read MoreAfter graduate school I moved to San Francisco (SF) for my first civilian job at Pocket. My time at Pocket was a fantastic experience where I learned so much and it was great working with Bill Maris, Nate Weiner, Matt Koidin, Jonathan Bruck, & the team.
Read MoreI have loved music and movies for as long as I can remember. I have listened to Pearl Jam’s first 3 albums (Ten, Vs, Vitalogy) countless times, and remember watching Citizen Kane, Yi Yi, & Casablanca as a teenager and even then realizing that they were special films.
Read MoreI spent part of Thanksgiving weekend planning my travel for the first part of 2023. I’ll be going to #CES2023, #CES, #SXSW, #SXSW2023. Flights and lodging booked. I recommend those who are attending these conferences to book their travel and lodging early & asap given how expensive it is to attend these events.
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