Are you a service member, Veteran, or military-spouse entrepreneur who wants to learn how to start and grow your business? According to the Small Business Administration, Veteran-owned businesses represent 9.1% of American owned businesses, and studies show that Veterans tend to out-earn non-veteran entrepreneurs.
Patriot Boot Camp (PBC) is a 501(c)(3) providing free, 3-day intensive programs that connects military, Veteran and military-spouse tech entrepreneurs with mentors, education, and a peer network to support their entrepreneurial success. Patriot Boot Camp is presented by Techstars, and sponsored by USAA, the Jared Polis Foundation, Google for Startups, and the MetLife Foundation. The Patriot Boot Camp programs provides world-class speakers, access to funding options, and more than 35 subject matter experts providing one on one mentoring sessions.
The next PBC will be held on August 23-25, 2019 in beautiful Lehi, Utah, near Salt Lake City at MX headquarters.
The PBC program has over 850 military community entrepreneur graduates, five alumni have been featured on Shark Tank, and 12 alumni have been accepted into Techstars (the world’s largest accelerator program). These Veteran and military spouse owned companies have provided more than 1600 jobs and raised over $100 million. PBC also serves Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned businesses (SDVOB).
The unemployment rate for military spouses is a staggering 23% (according to MilitaryOneSource.Mil), which is four times higher than the national unemployment rate. Patriot Boot Camp is working hard to help alleviate this issue for military spouses around the world with entrepreneurship, 24% of PBC alumni are female. PBC offers the 3-day entrepreneur training programs to assist military spouses building a company that can “PCS” with them.
Here is what some of the PBC entrepreneurs and mentors said about the program:
“Patriot Boot Camp was an incredible experience, filled with highly applicable information, insight and suggestions to help fuel the success of Veteran entrepreneurs. I learned more from four hours of mentor sessions than I learned in months of self-study, and made valuable long-term connections who are genuinely interested in my success. I also came away with a truly motivational Team feeling between myself and the other Veteran entrepreneurs, and I look forward to following their successes. PBC gets my highest recommendation, without reservation.” – Jager Von Vlad, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army Veteran, CEO & Owner, Tattoo1Source, Austin Class of 2019
“I was blown away by the quality of the content, the entrepreneurs, the mentors, and the overall execution of the program. Entrepreneurs are not getting this level of information or support anywhere else I’ve seen.” Mentor, Austin Class 2019
“Patriot Boot Camp was the first program to explicitly invite me in as a military spouse founder. Understanding the positioning and life cycle differences between military spouse founders and Veteran founders will make a world of difference for new emerging cohorts of business owners and tech founders from the military spouse community. The mentors I met for just two days at PBC have continued to be strong confidants, advisors, and diehard supporters of all we do. I am grateful for the experience, the acceptance, and the continued support from PBC and their amazing team.” Erica McMannes, COO/Founder of Instant Teams. Denver Class 2017.
“I was part of the second class of Patriot Boot Camp in 2013 held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Back then, there were hardly any programs for Veteran entrepreneurs and none for military spouses. But, Taylor McLemore, the Founder of PBC, always made sure military spouses felt welcome to apply and be part of this program. Without a doubt my company would not have been successful without the mentorship, education and networking that happened at my first PBC and continued through my entire entrepreneurial journey, even after my company was acquired.” Jen Pilcher, CEO, Patriot Boot Camp, Military Spouse, Founder emeritus, MilitaryOneClick
Applications are now open, closing on July 1st, 2019. Attendees must arrange their own lodging and travel.
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Will there be a culmination of a pitch or opportunity to win startup funding/capital?
Happy Wednesday,
Is this camp only open to tech businesses? I am a Life Coach with no business experience and feel that I could gain a lot of knowledge on how to build a successful coaching practice.
Thank yo very much,
Vallerie
Hello Tessa,
Thank you for your interest in PBC.
When filling out the application, please don’t hesitate to type “N/A” if you do not have some of the fields in place just yet.
Have a great weekend,
Danya
I am a retired Marine with 20 additional years of IT security. Do you need speakers at this event.
IT security is always the last thing that new companies think about and it can be the one thing that puts them out of business if they dont do it right. I have a 20 min presentation on password security that I can give. It can extend to a longer presentation with Q&A.
Thanks,
Terry
Hello Terry,
Thank you for thinking of this for our entrepreneurs. Important for sure.
Please email us at info@patriotbootcamp.org and we can chat.
Have a great weekend,
Danya
Is there a registration or attendance fee?
Hello Ron,
There is no registration or attendance fee. This program is free to attend; however, participants are responsible for covering the cost of their travel and accommodations.
Have a great weekend,
Danya
I interpreted the information in the article (based on the first question) as saying the PBC boot camp is also for people wanting to start a business but the application to attend requires a business name, website, linked in account, etc. What if these aren’t in place yet?
I am involved in the financial education/insurance business as an independent contractor. Our parent company has trainings and things like that but i am looking for more. I miss the discipline and teaching that the military gave me and wondered if i was eligible to attend this boot camp. The mentorship from fellow military is something that i believe will help me grow personally. It is not really a tech business but we are branching more into utilizing social media and other ways to reach and teach families. I know i excelled under instruction from my time in the service and want to rekindle that fire for learning.
Hello James,
Thank you for your interest in Patriot Boot Camp. The only requirements are that you are a founder or co-founder of your business and an active duty service mentor, veteran or military spouse.
Please feel free to email us at info@patriotbootcamp.org if you have any further questions.
Have a great weekend,
Danya
aww
Are there any more camps near me?
Hello Pamela,
Thank you for inquiring about PBCs near you.
We will be trying to covering more areas of the country in 2020. We are hoping to hit the East coast and the West coast.
I hope this helps,
Danya