The Patriot Accelerator

As part of the legislative efforts to support veterans returning home, Congress should allocate funds for the creation of a “Patriot Accelerator”.

There are a variety of efforts recently passed or underway at this time:

No matter what a person’s political alignment, I hope there is one thing Americans can agree on:

The service people returning from around the world deserve access to and competitive consideration for good jobs. They have sacrificed in a manner that deserves respect and admiration.

The Vow To Hire Heros Act seems to provide support to a broad range of veterans reentering the work force, but I am certain there is an underutilized portion of these service people.

These veterans can continue to serve our country: they can create jobs by building innovative companies. To do that, Congress (or someone else) needs to support the most entrepreneurial of the veterans.

The model(s) that many startup accelerators utilize would be a capital efficient mechanism to provide employment support to veterans and potentially build companies of value to the greater economy.

Thousands of veterans are returning with leadership and technical skills that can bolster emerging companies in the digital, energy, medical industries. The veterans are imbued with a strong work ethic, a global perspective, and a demonstrated history of dedicated service. Numerous examples exist of entrepreneurial and business leaders coming from a military background (maybe an interesting topic for another post).

Maybe government support is the wrong way to go, or Congress does not have any interest. The Kauffman Foundation seems to operate well at the Federal level. Maybe they can help?

Some smart investors (possibly with a military background) should consider the idea.

Maybe coordination with existing accelerators to find these soldier entrepreneurs is a good option.

I have lots of questions and few answers, but it would be a mistake to not find the Soldier Entrepreneurs.