Transforming military vets into founders.
The Veteran Startup Challenge Boot Camp helps warfighters, veterans, milspouses, and Gold Star families launch impactful startups.
Help veterans launch startups and begin careers in tech, with hands-on training, expert mentorship, and a community of fellow vets.
We provide hands-on training, expert mentorship, and a community of fellow vets to explore and collaborate with.
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Vets & the military community→ 02Partner
Military Units, Universities, & Non-Profits→ 03Fund a Scholarship
Donors, Foundations, & Institutions→Five weeks. Zero to venture.
The VSC Boot Camp is an intensive 5-week entrepreneurship training program that transforms military veterans, military spouses, and Gold Star family members into founders.
During this course, our vets learn the best practices of startup creation while getting their hands dirty ideating, validating, and launching their very own venture.
In addition to teaching vets how to build startups, we help them network into and navigate the tech world, a community with a culture, language, and set of customs vastly different from the military's.
From our graduates.
"Coming from the Marine Corps, Special Operations, and JSOC, I've been surrounded by world class people my whole life... Since that course my company has secured multimillion dollar US Government Contracts. I can confidently say that I can look at my attendance in this course as directly correlated to my business successes."
"As a former Marine Raider, my experience with VSC Boot Camp instructed by Will Gregory was a valuable step in my military transition process, helping to develop my foundational understanding of the entrepreneurial process... I highly recommend VSC with Will to my peers as a tool to improve their likelihood for success as they enter the entrepreneurial space."
"I started the program with virtually no experience or framework about getting a startup business off the ground. By the end of the course I had a workable baseline complete with a functional mock-up for the app I designed and a clear understanding of my next steps forward... My only real critique was that I wish the course was longer."
"The course of study was rigorous, but there was no chaff. Everything was on point, and added value to the startup process."
"In my military career, I spent almost half a decade working as a high risk training instructor. It's safe to say that I developed a keen eye for passion driven individuals who excel at instructing complex topics to professional students. Will is certainly that!"
Who can apply.
If we missed you, apply and tell us why you should be eligible; our rule of thumb is that if you served, you are part of this family and we want to include you.
Graduate into the VSC community.
Successful graduates receive a certificate and membership in the VSC community, with access to VSC resources and the opportunity to engage and collaborate with other members.
Proven where it counts.
15+ cohorts delivered and hundreds of vets and warfighters trained and mentored, with university and military partners including William & Mary and the U.S. Marine Corps.
Will Gregory.
Founder of the Veteran Startup Challenge, Will was on the founding team of the U.S. Department of War's National Security Technology Accelerator, where he built programs training national security innovators and producing dual-use ventures. He began his career in Helmand Province, Afghanistan as an anthropological advisor on the DoW's Human Terrain Teams. He has advised startups in industries ranging from fintech to space and has advised startup accelerators including Y Combinator and Techstars. Will is a graduate of Oxford University.
