Successful entrepreneurship requires stepping outside your comfort zone – sometimes way outside it. It also tends to attract a lot of hype – I deal with startups and entrepreneurs constantly and sometimes I just want the hyperbole to end. On the flip side, every once in a while you run across that refreshing startup that is fixing a real problem, led by a charismatic but humble CEO, solving a meaningful market problem.
Photo by Marsha Miller, source utexas.edu
That CEO is Michael Sarraille and his startup is Vetted Foundation. Highlighted in a recent University of Texas at Austin article, he is a military officer pursuing his MBA in preparation for civilian life and a commercial career. As part of that program he spends a lot of time watching and listening to transitioning veterans and their challenges moving from military careers as stewards of money to commercial careers as makers of money.
From an entrepreneurial standpoint, Vetted Foundation is solving a classic two-sided market problem. On the supply side we have well qualified, highly trained and disciplined military officers; on the demand side are hiring corporations wanting to tap veteran skill sets and their well-honed leadership traits. Vetted Foundation is the market maker between these constituents. They serve transitioning military officers with an accelerated graduate-level executive education program that transitions their skills to the commercial sector. Once trained, they provide MBA-class placement services to corporations looking to hire commercially trained veterans.
Like all startups, the organization is actively fund raising, working with educational institutes that supply its content and developing the first release of the program. For anyone interested in helping fund this organization, providing a source of commercial sector jobs, or nominating veterans for the program, the details are available at http://www.vettedfoundation.org/.