As we celebrate Veterans Day, let's commit to integrating veterans fully into American society. In our experience at Bunker Labs Minneapolis, which works with veterans locally and is part of a nationwide network, lack of integration is the biggest challenge facing military veterans who are entrepreneurs.
After World War II, veterans were quickly absorbed into American society because military service was so prevalent. As a result, 49 percent of veterans came home and started a business. Today, only about 7.3 percent of Americans have served in the military, with just 1 percent of young Americans enlisting. And while 25 percent of veterans want to start their own business, only 6 percent of those coming off active duty actually do.
Yet America needs business growth, and veterans are well-suited to it: They are young, technology-savvy, smart, risk-taking, world-traveled and experienced in solving complex challenges. To better integrate veterans into business and entrepreneurial environments, we need more highly connected communities, where people of all backgrounds have access to the resources they need to start businesses. Key steps they should take include:
First, focus on building entrepreneurial ecosystems — community cultures that encourage and support entrepreneurship. These ecosystems are emerging nationwide.
Here in Minneapolis-St. Paul, one bright example of this is Twin Cities Startup Week (TCSW), which was brought to life in 2014 as a way to coordinate a small number of existing events that supported entrepreneurs. As of this October, just a few years into existence, TCSW has grown exponentially and now curates a list of more than 150 events.
Second, make sure these ecosystems are broadly inclusive. Reach out to veterans' organizations and deliver relevant information to veterans in a way that allows them to engage with the broader community.
Third, energize talent. While veteran unemployment is declining, veterans remain a group with high turnover rates, reflecting a sense among veterans that their jobs are not always equivalent to their skill set.
Veterans are used to being involved in a team — they are naturally inclined to collaborate. They also have a clear sense of identity and purpose, ingrained by the branch of service of which they were a member. When they take their uniform off, for some the most important part of their identity is stripped away.
