SEAL Future Foundation Selects Brave Capital As Its Tech Industry Partner
New York, NY (PRWEB) June 14, 2023 -- SEAL Future Foundation, the premiere military transition partner for U.S. Navy SEALs, has expanded its partnership with San Francisco-based venture fund Brave Capital to support the next generation of businesses led by U.S. Navy SEAL veterans and their families, by announcing Brave Capital as the Foundation’s Tech Industry Partner.
As part of the partnership, U.S. Navy SEALs served by the SEAL Future Foundation will gain exclusive access to “Brave Convenings.” Brave Convenings are events that Brave Capital hosts to accelerate current and prospective portfolio founders. The gatherings are focused on company-building, leadership lessons, and industry/market trends. They range from dinner salons to site visits and webinars.
Brave Convenings provide U.S. Navy SEALs with exclusive access to Silicon Valley influencers, networks, and opportunities that have been historically unavailable or hard to reach.
“Our U.S. Navy SEALs complete the challenging combat missions necessary for national and global security. SEAL Future Foundation has played a critical role in helping our nation’s heroes through their health, career, education, and transition,” said Ernestine Fu, general partner at Brave Capital. “Brave Capital is excited to strengthen our partnership with the Foundation and the broader Naval Special Warfare community.”
“Brave Capital’s Ernestine Fu has been a military spouse to a U.S. Navy SEAL, and she understands first hand the challenges that our elite service members face when transitioning to the private sector. She has already helped dozens of SEALs, and we’re excited to support her in continuing these efforts with what Brave Capital is doing,” said Paul Thoma, CEO at SEAL Future Foundation and a former U.S. Navy SEAL.
Brave Capital recognizes the value that military veterans can add to the workforce and how the tech ecosystem can benefit from their talent. Accordingly, these Convenings not only provide unique opportunities to elite veteran participants, but they also connect these uniquely-skilled individuals with founders who are looking to partner with the best and brightest minds in our nation.
“We have always made sure that our Brave Convening events allocate seats to SEALs and other veterans. We’re excited to now formalize what we’ve been doing and continue our commitment to helping military veterans gain access to and thrive in the innovation economy,” said Joel Beam, community lead at Brave Capital and a former U.S. Navy SEAL. He is also a director at Brave Capital’s MilVet Angels, a network of military veterans and their families investing in technology startups.
Brave Convenings take a variety of forms, including:
Company Building Sessions
While every startup is unique, many face similar challenges when it comes to topics like company/team formation, customer acquisition, and scaling a business. The Convenings leverage Brave Capital’s network and unique perspectives to maximize key topics in company building. These sessions cycle through the following themes:
- Starting Off On The Right Foot: Problem, Solutions, Team, Motivation. What’s The Big Idea?
- Customers & Building Value: Customer Engagement, Monetization Model
- Iterating Product & Market Strategy: Target Markets, Sales, Channels. Evolving Product Strategy.
- Business Data: Tracking, Managing, Responding To The Data Of Our Business
- Scaling Our Business: Rethinking Organizations, Product, Sales
- Doubling Down On Success: Reinvest In The Business Or Pursue Acquisition?
Leadership Lessons Sessions
The Brave Capital team’s experience running and supporting growing companies has helped it identify and address consistent challenges around leadership, team dynamics, mental health, and talent. Brave Convenings distill these lessons down to a handful of themes, targeting all types of founders—from first-time founders to serial entrepreneurs. These sessions cycle through the following themes:
- HR 101: HR Basics For Early Stage Organizations
- Company Culture: Understanding And Defining Culture
- Making The Team Work: Executives, Board, And Partners. How Do We Create A Winning Culture?
- Leadership: The Role Of Leadership, Leading vs Managing
Events Focused On Industry/Market Trends
Decisive technologies like explainable AI and next-generation robotics are appearing at a faster pace than any before, and their impact can make or break a variety of companies. Staying ahead of technological innovation—as well as market trends such as boom-and-bust cycles in tech—provides an exceptional advantage for founders and startups. To date, Brave Convenings have covered subjects like:
“We've already partnered on several initiatives. I attended Brave Capital’s Innovations in Defense event and was impressed by the network we were connected with at the event, including the former chairman of In-Q-Tel. We’ve received overwhelmingly positive responses from SEALs who attended and have received demand for more events,” said Michael Hetrick, Business Development Director at SEAL Future Foundation and a former U.S. Navy SEAL.
In addition to exclusive access to Brave Convenings, SEAL Future Foundation and Brave Capital will continue their partnership with more exciting programming. SEAL Future Foundation is a partner to the upcoming Building Across America Summit hosted by Brave Capital, which will focus on the convergence of public sector needs and private sector innovation—in today’s new world order with changing geopolitics and new market dynamics, government and industry collaboration is more important than ever to accelerate private sector innovation and shape the future of technology. The Building Across America Summit will take place in 2024. Guests will include business executives, military veterans, venture capitalists, government leaders, and emerging technology researchers.
About SEAL Future Foundation
Founded in 2012, SEAL Future Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public nonprofit organization and the premiere military transition partner for U.S. Navy SEALs. Its mission is to provide Navy SEALs with a foundation that supports their well-being, education and career to continue a life of service within their communities. For more information, visit http://www.sealff.org.
About Brave Capital
Brave Capital is a venture capital firm that partners with founders to build category-defining companies. For more information, visit http://www.bravecap.com.
Contact Information
Caleb Forman, [email protected]
Twitter: @sealfuturefndn, @brave_cap
Caleb Forman, SEAL Future Foundation, https://sealff.org, 1 (646) 883-8733, [email protected]
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