Posted on Sep 10, 2014

Military Veteran Entrepreneur / Small Business Loadout

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Before each block of training that my platoon would start, I would always talk with our training cadre and put together a "loadout" list of personal and platoon gear that we would be responsible for on day one. I have been putting together what I call a military veteran startup loadout list of books and software to use. Here is part of the list, contact me for more info

Books
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
The Startup Owners Manual by Steve Blank
The Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Software
Sprout Social - social media management software
Foundersuite - startup online toolkit and investor CRM
Wrike - program management software for teams

I would love to hear others suggestions.

I highly suggest any veteran considering entrepreneur block off an entire day and read as much as you can on SteveBlank.com - then read it again!

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Small Business

Posted 10 y ago

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Responses: 3

MAJ Gregory M.

Posted 10 y ago

I have tried a number of software packages while starting my own business, Google, Wix, Wordpress, Quickbooks... believe it or not I believe the best one is Microsoft Office 365. I would recommend anyone starting a business get an Office 365 small business license as one of your first purchases. That's one of our core focuses at VetFoundry, which is a non-profit we are starting to help veterans start their own businesses.

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MAJ Gregory M.

10 y

Also, a top book to read as a start-up CEO, and a recommendation from many successful small business CEOs I've met with, is "The Rockefeller Habits"

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LT Sean McIntosh

10 y

I have heard that veterans can give Office 365 at a discounted rate, do you have info about that program? Dell has a similar program startups of any kind, I have that info somewhere. Will post shortly

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MAJ Karl Monger

10 y

Nonprofits get Office 365 for free.

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CPT (Join to see)

10 y

Hard to beat the value of Office 365. Good pick.

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SFC Joseph McCausland

Posted 9 y ago

I would like to add - The Prior-Service Entrepreneur by Michael I. Kaplan. You can find it on Amazon Books.. The numerous comments of those who read the book supports its 5 star rating.

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Capt (Join to see)

Posted >1 y ago

Sean, great list. I also recommend resources to entrepreneurs. There are so many out there that guiding via recommendations seems to have a lot of value.

Bob Moran
venturedad.us

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