Michael Burcham, CEO of Startup Tennessee and the Entrepreneur Center kicked off their veterans’ initiative to help veterans launch businesses.

In their bestseller, Startup Nation, Dan Senor and Saul Singer attributed Israel’s booming entrepreneurial ecosystem to the prevalence of its elite military officers. It turns out, according to Senor and Singer, that elite military officers share some fundamental characteristics in common with successful entrepreneurs. We at the Entrepreneur Center agree:

They take calculated risks: Starting a business is a risky endeavor.  You never know what competitor, disaster, or market shift will be the next to try and kill your business, but for elite military officers accustomed to battle, this pales in comparison to evaluating what will be the next way someone tries to kill you.  Our elite military forces are well prepared to evaluate and handle calculated risks. 

They adapt: I once heard an elite military officer say that he knew he was going to have to deviate from even the best battle plan, shortly after the fighting ensued.  That didn’t stop him from making the best battle plan possible.  Entrepreneurs have to be able to do the same with their businesses.  They have to make the best plan they can, but history shows that the successful entrepreneurs are successful because they were able to adapt their plans the best.

They endure: For their businesses to survive, entrepreneurs work long hours at a furious pace that is nearly unrivaled.  Of course, our elite military forces scoff at any endurance challenge, since they’ve been through the toughest challenges a person can survive, to increase their own chances of survival. 

Our veterans offer the greatest possible service to our country.  When they are done taking the ultimate risk, we want to help them.  Which is why this upcoming Monday, we are kicking off our veterans’ initiative with Fort Campbell’s Night Stalkers.  We have no doubt that this group of exceptional individuals will make exceptional entrepreneurs, and will continue to impact our society. 

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The blog post above was contributed by John Murdock, Entrepreneur Center, Turning Ideas into Reality

[photo credit: DVIDSHUB]

tags: Entrepreneur Center, Michael Burcham