July 2024 News & Events

Hi, Military Veteran Startup (MVS) Community,

Summer is in full swing, so let's jump into the upcoming events, news, and resources we have for you this month.

Left to right: Angie Parker, Holden Lindblom, France Hoang, Brendan Aronson, Will Swenson, Tim Hsia, & Sukin Yang

Late last month (June 2024), our team was in Manhattan and met with founders, fellow veteran VCs, and existing portfolio company founders during the 3rd JPMorgan VetVC Summit. This year's event was the best one yet.

The Summit opened with a fireside chat between JPMorgan's Chairman of the Board and CEO, Jamie Dimon with Kelly Perdew of Moonshots Capital. Dimon starts his day reading at least five newspapers–New York Post, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, plus Axios, Politico, the Economist, and tons of internal trading and risk reports.

During the conference we also enjoyed listening and learning from our very own Context-backed/supported/invested startup founder, France Hoang of BoodleBox, who moderated the panel on AI and innovation.

Earlier this week we hosted a Happy Hour in D.C. It was a great turnout and we are thankful for everyone who attended. It was awesome to see so many veterans connecting and we are excited for our upcoming events (Seattle Happy Hour - next Friday)! We want to thank our wonderful sponsors at Amazon and KPMG for their support in making the D.C. event a success.

We also had a great time at the inaugural Naval Academy Entrepreneurs Summit that just finished. Attendees and portfolio founders had a fantastic experience.

Seattle Tech Week Event - Join Us on Friday in Downtown Seattle (8/2/24)

Join the Context Ventures, The Military Veteran, VetraFi, and Perkins Coie teams as we host civilian allies, veterans, spouses, founders, investors, and operators to meet and mingle in downtown Seattle. We have a great group of attendees (over 50 people have already registered) and hope to meet many more!

The event will be held at the Perkins Coie office from 1700-1900 PST on Friday, August 2nd.

Join Us!

The DiverseVC Emerging Managers Conference, September 12th (Thursday) in San Francisco at the Marines Memorial

Register

MVS 2025 February 5-6, 2025 San Francisco

MVS 2025 (Feb 5-6, 2025, Wednesday & Thursday), in San Francisco at the Marines Memorial

Register

We have a number of upcoming events beyond those listed above, from Seattle to San Antonio to Dallas to Austin to San Francisco

One of our upcoming events is a Military Veteran Live podcast recording with Mike Maples (investor in Twitter, Lyft, Airbnb, and others) & Peter Ziebelman. Both are VCs, and both have written the book Pattern Breakers. This live podcast is on 8/13/24, Tuesday, from 1345-1445 PST. This live recording will either be in Palo Alto or San Francisco. Register here!

> See & Learn About All of our Upcoming Events <

We have had incredible guests and have even more fantastic upcoming guests. Here are a few of our upcoming podcast guests:

Richard Haas, the former President of the Council on Foreign Relations
Ilya Strebulaev, a Stanford GSB professor and the author of "The Venture Mindset", a fantastic book
Nicholas Thompson, the CEO of Atlantic Magazine/Media
Rich Clark, the 12th Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command

Check out this link to listen to our podcast episodes.

Please reply to this email if you have any suggestions/recommendations on other guests to invite to our podcast!

The Military Veteran helps high-growth companies hire exceptional business leaders who previously served in the military. Our clients include PE and VC backed companies who believe that talent is a key differentiator in growing their business and building a winning culture. Reach out to brendan@themilvet.org if your organization needs great teammates and leaders.

> Check out all of The Military Veteran job postings here <

Startup Founders: Meet with Context Ventures

If you are a founder and would like to meet with us, then please email us at startups@contextvc.com. We enjoy discussing all things entrepreneurship: business plans, decks, startup hurdles, customer acquisition, recruiting, etc...

Request: Connections to Military Recruiters

A Context Ventures incubated startup is conducting interviews with military/DoD recruiters to validate assumptions and solicit feedback on a fintech we are building. If you know any recruiters who would be willing to chat, then please have them reach out or connect them with David Lee at david@contextvc.com or at outreach@contextvc.com.

More Events

Military Veteran Startup Syndicate

Join more than 65 other investors who are part of our military veteran startup syndicate. This syndicate primarily focuses on investing in military veteran founders.

How does this work? We source deals, write deal memos, and offer the chance to invest in startups across different industries. If you're interested, you can invest. If not, you can pass.

Learn More & Apply to Join

Military Veteran Founder Showcase

Join an online event where five outstanding US Military Veteran startup founders will pitch their innovative companies to a panel of investors and venture capitalists.

Why Attend?

Pitch Presentations: Watch 5 top-tier veteran startup founders showcase their companies.
Investor Panel: Our panel features highly respected venture capitalists who will provide insightful feedback.
Learn and Network: Gain valuable insights into what investors look for in a startup and connect with entrepreneurs and industry leaders.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, an investor, or simply passionate about startups, this event offers a unique opportunity to see the future of innovation coming out of the US Military Veteran community.

Military Veteran & Startup News

"I Served" Veterans Day Campaign 2024

Context Ventures and The Military Veteran are teaming up to organize the "I Served" public service announcement for Veterans Day 2024. This campaign aims to showcase and raise awareness about the benefits of US military service. We secured participation from numerous well-known veteran leaders, and we would love for you to join us as well! It takes less than a minute to join.