A Military Veteran Transitioning to the Private Sector Needs to Act Like a Startup
Editors note: This is an article written by Craig Cummings that originally appeared in medium
As a venture capital investor with Moonshots Capital, I am in the business of reviewing startups which means I hear a LOT of elevator pitches and see a LOT of pitch decks. My partner in the Fund, Kelly Perdew, and I receive between 1,500 and 2,000 deals a year of which we will invest in 5–6. It goes without saying that the elevator pitch (outlining the idea) and the pitch deck (outlining the business) need to be good, like really good, if you want to catch our attention. In addition, the vast majority of the companies we ever invested in were first introduced to us by an existing or former portfolio CEO, one of our investors, or by someone in our personal or professional networks.
I now advise transitioning veterans to follow the same process as a startup, because a transitioning military veteran really is a “startup.” The transitioning veteran needs:
A compelling elevator pitch.
A polished LinkedIn profile and resume.
A forwardable email for warm introductions.
To reach out to your military and civilian networks to make warm introductions.
To track the process in a Google Drive Spreadsheet (or similar platform)
1. The Elevator Pitch. When I started exploring career opportunities as I began my transition out of the Army, I literally put all of my evaluation reports on a table so I could see everything I had done in the Army. I looked for experiences and accomplishments that I could pull out and package into an interesting story for a non-military audience who would not understand much of the language that typically describes a veteran’s roles and responsibilities. Here’s what I said for my elevator pitch:
“I have a Bronze Star from my service in Afghanistan, a Ph.D. from an Ivy League University, and a Top Secret Clearance from the National Security Agency. The Bronze Star means that I can lead and perform in a high stress environment. The Ph.D. means that I can read, write, think, and speak coherently. The Top Secret Clearance indicates that I have the trust of the Nation with its most sensitive secrets. There are only 12 people in the Army that have those three things, and I know the other 11.”
That’s it. I took a 17-year career of approximately two dozen intense jobs in locations around the world and boiled it down to those three highlights. For the record, I have no idea if there are 12 people with those three things, but it was an honest guess and made for a compelling finish to the pitch. I would further say that those three things mean I can do just about anything in the private sector — lead, follow, learn, sell, close, operate — just give me the mission and some resources, and I will accomplish it.
The elevator pitch is a difficult exercise that I challenge every transitioning veteran to develop. There are so many experiences a veteran can call out that it can seem overwhelming. But there are literally about 200,000 military members transitioning out of service every year so you have to distinguish yourself not only from your fellow veterans, but also in a way that is relatable and exciting for private sector companies. You want the reader to say, “Wow, I’d like to meet this person.” Here are three more elevator pitch examples:
The Special Operations Soldier. I gave the “elevator pitch challenge” to an Army Colonel I served with in Afghanistan. This officer had an unbelievably successful 25 years in the Army having served in the military’s most elite units. His first attempt at his elevator pitch was a page and half long — super impressive but just too long. We worked to shorten it and add “sizzle.” Here is where he landed:
“5–15–75. I’ve led over 5 thousand people in my career, I’ve deployed into combat zones 15 times, and I have commanded the Army’s most elite unit, the 75th Ranger Regiment. I think I can do just about anything the private sector challenges me to do. 5–15–75.”
The Engineer. A long-time close friend and West Point classmate transitioned out last year after a 25-year career in the Army Corps of Engineers. His elevator pitch was:
“I’m the CEO of an organization with 700 people and a 200 million dollar budget, I’m a trusted advisor to military and political leaders at the highest levels, and I have technical expertise ranging from economics to engineering. I’m comfortable with complex environments and have a proven record for negotiating and solving tough problems.”
The General. Another good friend recently transitioned after 30+ years in the Army as a Lieutenant General (a 3-star general). Talk about someone with an accomplished career and countless experiences to share. I challenged him to write an elevator pitch, and he took me up on it. Here is his elevator pitch:
“My sense is I have key tools to contribute to an enterprise wanting to change or grow to this end. I have demonstrated leadership during my 34 year career not only rising to Lieutenant General but also being awarded a Bronze Star (w/valor) and leading a 45,000 person enterprise at Fort XXXX driving $200M in investments; I have been driving the Army’s modernization effort for the last five years, drafting the vision and strategy and enabling fundamental change for the future across this 1.4 million person enterprise; and my time serving in the White House on the National Security Council Staff enabled the skills to integrate the very complex dynamics across the inter-agency for the President.”
Note that the elevator pitch “exercise” is about more than just a few catchy sentences. The exercise itself is about reflecting on your experiences, your strengths, and, essentially, your own clear vision of yourself so that you can best articulate your potential to future employers. It will take work to get an entire career boiled down into a tight summary — as Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) once said, “I apologize for such a long letter — I didn’t have time to write a short one.”
2. A polished LinkedIn profile and resume. I don’t think I need to say much here. LinkedIn is the go-to site to view your professional credentials so you should do as much as you can to “peacock” your profile. Add color where you can by sharing accomplishments, articles, recommendations, and more, and be sure to use non-military language to the extent possible. The photo should look as good as it can and don’t take chances with a risky “look away” or humorous take on yourself. And don’t use a photo of yourself in a military uniform.
The resume should be comprehensive but keep it as tight as possible — 2 pages max length. There is only so much you can do with the resume to make it sizzle so make sure it is translatable by the non-military audience. I once got creative with a resume and did it in an infographic (partially displayed here), but I think it is better to just play that one right down the middle and be conservative.
3. A forwardable email for warm introductions. Once you’ve “armed” yourself with the elevator pitch, “peacocked” your LinkedIn profile and tightened up the resume, you need to write the “forwardable email” to send to people in your network who can start to make warm introductions for you. It should include relevant information so that those in your network can quickly click forward, add warm words about you to the top of the email you sent, and forward it to the person of interest. Note that you should not write an email to be copied and pasted into a new email, as if the person making the introduction had written it. Here is a link to an article I wrote called The “Forwardable Email”: How to Tee Up a Warm Introduction. Your forwardable email needs to follow the same format. I’ll copy and paste the steps here, modified slightly for the specific use case of an introduction for a potential job. Your forwardable email needs to include:
Clear subject line of the email. Like “Introduction to Moonshots Capital for a transitioning Army Intel Officer”
Begin with a quick thanks to me for the introduction and specify to whom you are requesting the introduction (this is also a gentle reminder to me to whom you would like to be introduced).
The ask: Remember, less is more, so make the initial ask only for a quick call, Zoom, or meeting with the person or other appropriate person within the target company. If you are visiting the contact’s city, add those details and make them easy to find (ex: “I will be visiting Los Angeles August 25–27 would enjoy the opportunity to meet Kelly or a member of the Moonshots Capital team while in town.”)
Your elevator pitch.
Attach additional materials, namely your resume and include a hyperlink to your Linkedin profile. If you have anything else worth sharing, like an article about you or speech you gave on video, include those as well and call out that they are attached/included.
Send a fresh email. Do not add the forwardable email to an existing email thread.
Ensure all your contact information is in your signature block, to include your mobile number.
Below is an example of a forwardable email. The email includes all the information the transitioning veteran wished to convey to the intended recipient and helped ensure I would forward it immediately because it minimized the need for me to add lengthy context before forwarding.
*****
Craig,
Great talking to you. As a follow up to our conversation, I am rapidly transitioning out of the Army and into the civilian space. It seems there is much opportunity — and even more obligation — if we seek for the nation to remain competitive as we know it.
I have a few exciting opportunities starting to line up and would appreciate an introduction to Kelly Perdew. I have heard good things about him and Moonshots Capital and want to explore potential opportunities in their portfolio of companies.
My sense is I have key tools to contribute to an enterprise wanting to change or grow to this end. I have demonstrated leadership during my 34 year career not only rising to Lieutenant General but also being awarded a Bronze Star (w/valor) and leading a 45k person enterprise driving $200m in investments; I have been driving the Army’s modernization effort for the last five years, drafting the vision and strategy and enabling fundamental change for the future across this 1.4 million person enterprise; and my time serving in the White House on the National Security Council Staff enabled the skills to integrate the very complex dynamics across the inter-agency for the President.
Here are a few additional materials:
My resume is attached.
My LinkedIn profile: Click here.
My speech at the AUSA conference: Click here. My part starts at 18:25 and ends at 34:33
I am looking forward to discussing more. There is a lot to be done.
Thank you and talk soon,
*****
4. Leverage your military and civilian networks. Take the time to map your network — both those still serving in uniform and those now in the private sector. Write down all those colleagues from your many years in service who you know want to help you successfully transition. Reach out to them directly via email or via LinkedIn and let them know that you are transitioning and ask if you could meet on Zoom for 30–40 minutes. Ask their advice and just listen. Allow them to think through where you might be a good fit. If they cannot make introductions, they can at least help you think through sectors where your skills would be especially valuable.
I recommend starting with a trusted list of 3–5 people who can act like a personal “Board of Directors” for you and make, in total, possibly 10–20 warm introductions. The list of people making introductions will grow as will the number of introductions you will receive but it is better to start with a small group that you can manage closely and in real-time. You can possibly work with your “Board” as a team — like an actual Board does — so that you can sequence and synchronize efforts. You will send your team a forwardable email for each warm introduction they are willing to make. Once you land your first position, I recommend you maintain at least some of that Board to use for important career and life decisions where they will be able to assist.
5. Track the process in a Google Drive Spreadsheet (or similar platform). You need a place to organize all the introductions. I would consider having columns for: Priority, Target company, First and Last name of the person you are targeting to meet at that company, the person’s title, a link to the person’s LinkedIn profile, the person’s email, the person making the warm introduction, focus area (like Operations, Sales, HR, etc), industry sector, date of outreach, date of follow-up, notes/next actions, etc. You can share the spreadsheet with your “board” so that they are reminded of work they need to do for the introduction.
The transition from the military to the private sector is an especially exciting process. Think of yourself as a startup and you will be well on your way to your next great professional adventure.