In today’s episode we talked with Daniel Rau, Co-founder and CEO at Veterati, about how his member-led growth has led to the success of the leading networking and mentorship platform for the military community.
In today’s episode we talked with Daniel Rau, Co-founder and CEO at Veterati, about how his member-led growth has led to the success of the leading networking and mentorship platform for the military community.
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Hatchet Ventures website: https://www.hatchetventures.com
Hatchet Ventures LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hatchet-ventures/
Chet Lovegren’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chetlovegren/
Connect with Daniel Rau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielprau/
Check out Veterati’s Website: https://www.veterati.com/
Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/36ub3fpy
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/ystuxubt
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[00:00:00] Narrator: 1, 2, 3, 4. Are you a founder, co-founder, aspiring entrepreneur, or just someone who loves to hear about how companies are built? Then join us as we talk with founders and CEOs who have been there and done that. Welcome to the Founders Formula Podcast. Sponsored by Hatchet Adventures and now your host, Chet Lovegren
[00:00:32] Chet: hello and welcome one welcome all to the Founders Formula Podcast, the show that is designed to bring you the latest and greatest insights for founders and CEOs worldwide who have been there and done that made possible by our sponsors over at Hatchet Ventures, the one and only I'm thrilled about today's guest.
Because he's a former Marine who had then worked in the US Department of State as a personal security specialist. He studied economics and has an MBA from Emory University, and he's here talking about Veterati, which is the leading digital membership platform for the military community. Please welcome c e o and founder of Veterati Daniel Rau. Daniel, welcome to the show.
[00:01:08] Daniel: Thanks, Chet, it's a real pleasure
[00:01:10] Chet: to be here. Yeah, I'm excited to dig into your background, um, as well as the story of Veterati and then, um, you know, looking forward to learning a little bit as a first time founder about some of the things you've noticed along the way, some of the ways that you manage your mindset as a founder and some of the, what we call founders formulas for success, uh, that you can share with the community here.
So let's dig into your story. So former Marine um, again, thank you for your service as well. We appreciate that. I, I love talking to veterans. And then you moved into the US Department estate as a personal security specialist and then decided to jump into this venture called Veter. But before we jump, uh, jump into veter, let's talk about, let's talk about your service record and, and some of your story and, and how you, between being a Marine into working with the US Department of State and some of the experience that you've had up to that point of founding veter.
[00:01:58] Daniel: Yeah, thanks so much, Chet. It's been an honor to serve and, um, I joined the Marine Corps in 2003. Really saw, you know, after nine 11, uh, felt a strong sense of, um, you know, duty to preserve the freedoms that we'd enjoyed up until that point. Um, and I felt, if not me, then who is gonna go do that? So, you know, me and many other people have served since.
Um, I started out as a radio technician, um, repairing radios, satcom, kind of technical hardware side. Transitioned over to be a marine security guard, guarding diplomats in Japan, India, and Yemen, uh, a year each and each country. It was a really fascinating experience where I got to, you know, work hand in hand with Department of State protecting diplomats and be a part of the international diplomatic process.
Um, and it really opened my eyes to geopolitics in a different way. Um, so that was really fascinating and something that, you know, I was able to bring with me in, uh, business and startups. Just the, the poise that other ambassadors had, or, you know, seeing diplomats, uh, engage, uh, with their counterparts really gave me an appreciation for interpersonal relationships.
The importance of trust and relationship building. So I got out in oh eight, uh, went back to my hometown of Atlanta, wrapped up in undergrad in finance, and then, uh, first kind of queue into the power of mentors. I was exploring launching a career in finance in 2009, 2010, while I was wrapping up my undergrad.
Meanwhile, financial markets are imploding. So I'm talking to mentors of mine, uh, asking them questions, uh, like, Hey, I'm applying to JP Morgan and these other banks. What's going on? All right, look, let me level set. We're laying off people by the thousands. It's not gonna happen. It's the wrong time. It's not really you just.
Move forward in your life, adjust to the environment. And so that was a really powerful, powerful learning. In hindsight for me, you know, I decided, you know, I need to parlay my security experience and went to work overseas, um, as a contractor supporting department of state, protecting diplomats, conducting their mission overseas in Afghanistan.
I did that off and on for the next five years. Um, and through that experience, , uh, and picked up an MBA at Emory University along the way. Uh, so near near the end of 2015, I was out in western Afghanistan, um, looking for a, uh, to really re-engineer my career direction. and started reaching out to people on LinkedIn to understand, you know, how I've, you've built businesses or what have you done in your career and how has that, you know, how have you really built and crafted that career?
Um, reached out to my co-founder, Diana Sai, who was out in Shanghai at the time, running a branding agency, and she had launched several Impact business. So we got in touch. I started picking her brain about, um, about what her experience had been like. And we saw this through these conversations that, you know, uh, spanned several months.
We saw an opportunity to really make a positive impact for the military community by, uh, really creating, uh, network that the military community could simply drop into and connect with successful professionals for career convers. That provided advice, community and connections to move forward in their career journey.
And the challenge that, the main pain that we saw, you know, in that process, you know, a pain that, um, many people leaving the military, uh, community experience is that transition can be an isolating, frustrating, and, um, lonely experience. You know, that's ineffective. So it was our vision to really reinvent that.
Conversations of hope, empowerment, and freedom that support people, uh, at their transition from the military community and at every subsequent, subsequent transition thereafter.
[00:06:18] Chet: Yeah. And it, it probably is someone who's never served on my end, it probably sounds like me talking outta my ass, but , I think that a lot of times when people think of transition, they look at like, you know, movies like American Sniper in that scene where Chris Kyle's sitting there and his kids are just running around, he's looking at the TV with a beer in his hand and he's just not even, there's nothing on the tv.
He's just back in, in Afghanistan. Right. And people think like, oh, that's, that's, that's why it's hard cuz people have that trauma and all that stuff that's going on. Mm-hmm. , but I know plenty of people. They've, they've ver never, never gone anywhere internationally. They just the normal day-to-day life of a service member.
Um, it's just a completely different world when you leave that, you know, the way that things are done, even the way that people communicate. I was talking to a family relative of mine who just finished, uh, his three years, about two months ago, and he was moving back across the country to the east. And I was like thinking, man, this guy, you know, he's, he's smart.
He's a hard worker. He is prompt, right? He has all the traits that you learn when you serve all the things that you're taught that you build upon. And I was like, he would probably be really good in like tech sales or something like that. Hmm. And I know, you know, there are a lot of, um, a lot of apprenticeship programs that help people transition from the, the military world and veterans, uh, into tech, sales and sales specifically.
And I was like, man, I could get 'em plugged into one of these programs, but then I. Here in a way that he, you know, he talks to like his superiors and how they interact and how his mindset is. And I was like, it's a completely different world. I mean, he's telling his bosses to go f off and he's doing all these things, all these things to people that he works with.
And I was like, yeah, go go to a tech sales company in San Francisco. That's not gonna fly. You know what I mean? Like, you can't say some of the things that you're saying, it's a different culture and that's not everybody, but it's, it's a completely different culture and it really is almost like, I've heard some people say that it feels like culture.
in that transition process. And it, it's not just for the people that are, you know, on the grounds doing a lot of battle. It's, it's everybody. Cuz it's just a completely, it's a completely different world. It's run completely differently. Um, and that's cool that. You know, twice in your life you had kind of leveraged that need for that mentorship, that q and a, that direction, that guidance, and essentially, I feel like that's kind of what led you into the mission of Veter oti.
So let's, let's talk about veter a little bit. What is it? How does it work? You know, we covered a little bit of who you help, the military community. Let's dig into the story of veter about how that kind of came together, how that's been built over time, and then more importantly, like the mission and the values and what you're doing and how you're helping the military community.
[00:08:51] Daniel: Yeah, yeah. So Veterati is the leading digital mentorship platform for the military community, right? And what that means is, and what we're doing is we're connecting Active duty service members, veterans and military spouses direct with industry insiders. You know, people like yourself, Chet that you know, have experience in the civilian sector and are willing to be a mentor.
And through those career conversations, um, you are assisting somebody move forward in their career journey. Um, each conversation, right? So these conversations provide, uh, advice, community and connection. Uh, which are three really powerful, uh, pillars of, uh, social and economic empowerment for an individual that's navigating through.
The transition experience you did hit on, uh, you know, the, that scene with Chris Kyle, that's a real thing, like mental wellness and you know, how people manage, um, health and wellness is a factor, but it's not the only factor, right? It's an additional layer that is, uh, complicates the transition experience from the military into a civilian sector.
There's other, other factors. Um, one primarily that other people experience as well in any transition experience they have is transitioning into a new identity. Many people who joined the military, um, you know, maybe they joined younger in their formative young adult years, and it's easy to latch onto the military identity as a core piece of who you are as a person intrinsically.
And so when you exit the military and that identity is removed from you, then you're, you have this void that you're trying to figure out how to fill. In addition to the simple logistics of job search, job hunt, and translating your story and skills to potential employers or to pursue whatever direction you're looking to.
And so those, those three factors, you know, mental, mental health, um, shifting the identity you had into a new identity and the logistics of it is the real pain that a lot of people in military transition face. Um, an additional factor is really the loss of mission. A lot, lot of people that are serving in the military, commu in the military, uh, have a really acute sense of mission.
And having that mission suddenly not be in your life anymore, can leave people fe really adrift, you know? And so when they get out of the military community, It's a, um, process to rebuild, well, what's my mission now in life? What is my identity now in life? What's my community now in life? And you know, there's a lot of different ways people are doing that with Veterati we're providing this with mentors on demand, but, um, You know, you can build community in so many other ways.
You see a lot of people from the military community either joining organizations that are really fitness based or, um, you know, very active lifestyle based, um, skydiving or rocking or, um, you know, shooting organizations or um, getting out in service organizations.
Being of service is another way that you see a lot of folks from the military community, reinstill mission in their life being of service to uh, you know, the civilian world. That's the transition experience and the main pain we are, uh, solving. Uh, how Veterati got started. I was saying once, uh, Diane and I linked up, um, we had this vision that, you know, we could really do something about this pain point by connecting the military community with professionals that have experience in the private sector.
So it was, uh, May, 2015. Uh, we met up in LA started, um, working on the business and working on the concept and ideas. Started reaching out to potential advisors, investors, um, friends and family, anybody that would hear our story and hear what we're trying to accomplish.
Um, through that experience, uh, we looped in another co-founder who, um, was another marine. And, uh, he heard our story, believed in what we were doing, and donated and sponsored his tech team to help us build our first M V P. So we got heads down, started building, um, our v p from April from May, June, and went and launched that in October of 2015.
A couple months later. Um, In January, we had a few hundred users, you know, in our mentor mentee, mentor marketplace. Um, started making, uh, connections and learning what we could learn from that. Um, shortly after that, two months later in February, uh, we got called inbound from, uh, the head of military programs at Verizon, and he had been a mentor on our platform.
Saw. A consumer product that we had and had a B2B instance, uh, in mind that could be helpful to his job at, at Verizon. And the use case that he saw really was how can he connect crowdsourced employees at Verizon that wanna do more than just say thank you to service members as mentors. Potential incoming military talent that's, uh, exploring jobs and careers at Verizon.
And so that segued us into, or kind of clarified how we were thinking about, well, what's our business model here? We have this B2C platform and now we're working with Verizon on this pilot and how do we make this all work? So it, uh, evolved from there into. A B2C tob platform where we serve the military community with our mentoring platform.
And we also support large military friendly employers with their military engagement strategy by pre creating almost a gray version, uh, gray, gray scale version of veter OTI for them to use, uh, to. Uh, have one-to-one human conversations with potential incoming talent. It's something that's missing in the HR process at a lot of these companies that are looking to engage with military talent.
So that's how we got up and running. Um, since then, it's been an incredible journey. We've worked with some of the largest brands, um, out there. Uh, currently we're sponsored by U S A A. They've sponsored us for the last five. Uh, we're working with Amazon, Salesforce, the U s o United Health Group, and have worked with, you know, many other enterprise companies over the years, um, that we're looking to support, engage, attract, and retain military talent.
Um, we've grown the, uh, consumer platform to, um, I'll say 50,000 users and, um, bootstraps since founding, and that's really been an amazing journey. early days, we started pitching, you know, tier one investors out in, uh, out in Sandhill Road. And, um, those early conversations were, you know, an amazing experience.
Nothing but respect for all the venture capitalists that we had discussed. But, you know, um, our, our model at that time just wasn't matching up with what their investment thesis was. And so, you know, we learned what. We learned from that and just kept building, you know, how can we serve our community? How can we continue, you know, building a sustainable business and um, you know, continued approaching enterprise customers.
Uh, you know, and one customer led to the next one. And we just continued year over year, um, growing slow and steady that way.
[00:17:01] Chet: That's awesome. I love that. And it, it sounds like one of the founders formulas for success you probably experienced there, was the networking, um, the ability to meet these different people and lead your way into their networks was, was a really big part of just spreading the reach.
Cuz marketing is such a hard part of standing something up like mm-hmm. No matter if you're an expert, subject matter expert and you're selling a course on LinkedIn, or if you're founding a company, like really marketing and the ability to generate what they call, you know, in the A I D A funnel, the awareness at least of what you're doing, like interest.
Hey, if, if I can, if I can get it in front of a million people, there's bound to be. You know, three to 5% that are interested just ba purely based off of seeing what we do, um, that we can then pursue the other avenues of the marketing funnel. But just the awareness side itself is just such a hard, such a hard thing to get right.
And that's really cool that you've had that support from your community as well. You have these. You know, former, former, uh, service men and women who are, you know, part of that community and, and being mentors themselves or noticing what you're doing and then finding ways to plug you into their networks.
That's really awesome. Um, cuz again, yeah, marketing is such a hard part, of anything that you try to stand up. It's, it's, it's a, it's a beast. It's like a code you have to crack every single time. Anytime you're taking a product, uh, to market or you're, you're substantially trying to grow. It's just, it's, it's a tough beast to.
[00:18:24] Daniel: Um, absolutely. The, um, you know, and Veterati has a good story, so it was easy to get in front of people and, you know, share that story, the story that, you know, the, the human story that, you know, some people that have been successful in their careers are willing to take a meeting with someone from the military community and share that wisdom and advice.
Yeah. You know, if you make it easy for people to connect, uh, that human spirit will prevail and people are gonna connect and support each other. It's like life supports life. Just, uh, make it easy for people to, you know, get in touch and that's what we're looking to do.
[00:19:00] Chet: Yeah. You, you hit on something too, and we're, we're taking it back to almost the beginning of the conversation, but you hit on something pretty interesting about, um, you know, being able to witness these diplomats whose.
whether directly or indirectly, whether they know it or not, their lives might be on the line every single time they step out of their, you know, out of their office or their home, and you're protecting these people and your life is on the line, right? If, if you're, you're, you're the only thing between them and a bullet at some point, uh, in case something were to happen, right?
That's like the, that's the thing you sign up for when you're in security. , you're the, you're the, you're the bulletproof vest on top of the bulletproof vest. Mm-hmm. they might be wearing, um, as somebody had put it to me in the past and. Learning that poise and seeing that experienced the, that tenure of experience of poise and those diplomats, that had to be, wow, that had to be something.
For you as a first time founder that you were able to take into a business that clearly any building, any business is challenging. Can, can you dig into some of those things that you learned in your past, uh, experiences that helped you as a first time founder overcome some of the standard challenges that we see in business?
Like what are some of the other things that you think you learned from your service time mm-hmm. that really made you a success, the successful founder that you are today?
[00:20:20] Daniel: Yeah. I think, um, Um, uncrushable optimism, um, has really s served well. Just the idea that no matter what happens in the external environment, we're gonna figure it out and work through it and, you know, it's, um, it's not gonna be the end of us, you know, and that, uh, spirit really was supportive through the bootstrapping days.
Um, you know, through, through the genesis of the ups and downs of the startup. Um, on all fronts, you know, whether it, whatever, whatever the issue that came up, um, and the stresses involved, uh, that mindset, um, that, you know, we can, we can learn, we can figure this out. Um, we can grow and continue growing. Uh, that, that was really, really powerful.
Um, one of the things that is interesting is in spite of seeing all of this, uh, you know, poise and polish. in other people, that's a skill you have to develop, right? Mm-hmm. . And as a first time founder, um, coming from the military community, uh, I hadn't really built that up. And so for me, I was very comfortable in the hostile environment, um, uh, scenarios, uh, you know, as a protective, uh, detail member or as a Marine.
And that was kind of where I was comfort. , you know, whether it's, uh, you know, in, in a, the war zone. But it was a interesting experience to just build up the, you know, just talking to other people, share, sharing these, the ideas about business that we are trying to build and trying to figure out, you know, negotiations with them or, um, The ambiguity of crafting opportunity together, um, all of these things were something I was learning on the fly and it was pretty rough at first.
And so, um, I'm really appreciative for the, uh, you know, startup experience as a first time founder because I feel it really surfaces whatever, maybe weaknesses you might have and fractures in, you know, your capabilities as a professional and, um, really forces you to look at those and start addressing those and working through those.
Um, so that was incredibly, uh, it's been an incredible growth process, uh, the entire time of running the business.
[00:22:55] Chet: Yeah. If I was, uh, as a first time founder, I want to get your thoughts on this. If I'm a, if I'm a first time founder and I'm listening to the podcast right now, , maybe I'm an aspiring founder.
What's the one thing, the one challenge you saw in your business that gave you a take key takeaway that you would bring back to first time founders? What's, what's a piece of advice you would give them or something you would say, Hey, this is what I experienced in my business. This is how I handled it. As a first time founder, this is how I would recommend handling it.
If I had to go back to square one, what would.
[00:23:29] Daniel: Square one, uh, be brutally honest with yourself and your co-founders and re really in general every, everyone you're interacting with. But, um, starting there at that place, you know, your motivations, your goals for the business, your vision, uh, the, the core principles and structure of, of that business.
Like those really matter. Like what I didn't do well as a first time founder. Um, And, and our, our team didn't have hard conversations up front to the depth that I think could have really served us well. And that, um, as a first time founder, I would recommend that more than anything to other first time founders.
You know, like is, might feel uncomfortable, uh, but it's necessary and, you know, take that pain up front, uh, versus, you know, whatever. Chaos might ensue later. Mm-hmm. . Cause it's really gonna set you up, build that foundation, um, is one of the most critical things you need to do as a first time founder going zero to one.
[00:24:41] Chet: Yeah. I teach that in leadership stuff all the time, whether I'm working with a first time manager, a tenured manager. One of the key things I look at is tough conversations, both with the people that you know, you're serving as a leader, but also people that you're serving as a collaborator. Is, are you choosing.
Dishonest harmony or are you choosing honest conflict? Because I'm a fan of the latter honest conflict beats dishonest harmony 10 times outta 10. And I would choose that every single day because it might be, hey, it might be a shouting match today, but it's better than what could happen six months down the road if we don't have that shouting match.
Right. Like sometimes it needs to happen. Oh, that's so true, . It's a, you know, take time to make time. It. Problems get a lot worse if you, if you just bury it and, and don't, don't talk about it and don't visit it and don't. Inwardly look at yourself and figure out is, is this the best that we could be doing?
Is this what we should be doing? Are we doing it the best way, best way for our members? Right? Yeah. I'm sure that's a big point of conversation, especially in a member, uh, a member-based, uh, business, right? In a membership economy, it's like, Are we making choices for veter or are we making choices for the members of veter?
And that can be a tough one. Yeah. Uh, I saw that at Pavilion like a lot of times it was, uh, you know, it's a membership economy and it's like, hey, we have to challenge ourselves. Are we doing this for the members or are we doing this for the business? Um, cuz yeah, the business has to thrive in order to their be a business for the members to be a part of.
But, uh, sometimes, you know, we might, we might tow that line the other way because we're trying. To increase profits, but we need to remember what we're in business for. Cause if we, the other side is if we don't have the members, we don't have a business also. Right. Exactly. , uh, Daniel, this has been a great conversation.
I want you to be able to have an opportunity to plug yourself Andrati. If people are interested in connecting with you or the community further, how can they get in touch? What's the best way to get in contact with?
[00:26:32] Daniel: Yeah, absolutely. If, um, anybody wants to get in touch with me, uh, simply email daniel at veterati.com
if anyone wants to check out veterati.com it's, that's it. And we have, um, a LinkedIn page as well, and vetro co on Instagram. .
[00:26:49] Chet: That's awesome. Um, and that's why, again, time and time again, I tell people if you're ever prospecting someone, listen to any podcast they bet on because mm-hmm. , you're like the 11th founder in a row who gives out their business email, um, at the end of the podcast.
And so I always tell people like, if you're having a hard time getting some touch with someone, find their email. Just listen to a podcast they've bet on. Go to the very go to the very end. You'll, you'll, you'll likely get good contact information. It's not that hard, you know, you don't have to listen to the whole 30 minute episode.
You can just go to the last two minutes, you'll be. You'll work it out. Um, advanced Business Intelligence. Oh yeah. It's, well, I mean, all the business intelligence tools will probably give you that information anyway, but sometimes you never, you never know what you might find. Um, I mean, we had the, the co-founder and CEO of a Series C company give out his personal email on the podcast one time and I was like, you sure you want me to keep that here?
He is like, yeah, I don't care. And I was like, okay, this sounds, sounds good. Uh, we'll leave that there. Um, but no, Daniel, this has been great. Really appreciate you. Love what you're doing. Keep it up. Um, for those of you interested in engaging with Daniel or Veterati further, we'll have links to everything in the show notes below in the episode summary section, as well as if you're interested in engaging with myself or Hatchet Ventures with a podcast, we will have links in the description below for you to access.
Again, we appreciate all of our return listeners and first time listeners. That's all for today's episode. We'll see everybody on the next. Thank you, Daniel.
[00:28:06] Daniel: Thanks, Chet.