Veterans are not only great for serving our country, they are also great at running technology businesses. Due to the stress and discipline needed to serve in the military, veterans have an advantage to the business world.
The selection is based on influence, the uniqueness of their tech business, diversity of employees and potential of future growth. Here are the top 5 emerging veteran tech founders of 2017.
1. Jeff Shuford Ph.D., President of Tech From Vets
Dr. Shuford's technology company Tech From Vets has been making major waves in the technology industry for the majority of 2016. Named "The Future Of Veteran-Owned Tech Companies" and "The Best Veteran Owned Tech Startup of 2016," Tech From Vets has also been featured by the Jacksonville Business Journal and awarded the "Community of Heroes Award" by the Disabled American Veterans.
Dr. Shuford has been very influential in not only the technology industry but also in the veteran community. Tech From Vets is short for Technology From Veterans.
The uniqueness of Tech From Vets is that the technology company not only merges military veterans but also NFL veterans (Drayton Florence and Mario Butler) together in the tech space.
Dr. Shuford served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and earned a Combat Action Badge for his heroic efforts in combat at age 18. Tech From Vets is currently developing Virtual Reality applications and they are planning on launching their innovative VR software at universities worldwide.
2. Donald Coolidge, CEO of Elemental Path
Donald Coolidge founded Elemental Path in 2004 and is also the creator of CogniToys. CogniToys is a wifi enabled smart toy that helps kids develop learning skills through fun, educational, speech based play experience.
CogniToys are changing the way kids learn and play for an entire generation of kids who have grown up with cell phones and tablets. It give a dynamic, personalized, speech based play experience without the need for a screen - and a lot more.
CogniToys Blends educational and emotional intelligence to create a true learning companion. Serving in the US Marine Corps Donald's passion led him to start a business that helps kids throughout the world become better students.
3. Zachary Iscol, Founder of Hirepurpose
Zachary understood that finding work out of the service was extremely difficult and wanted to do something about it. Enter Hirepurpose, Zachary's business provides technology enabled hiring solutions, innovative talent searches, and job marketing for employers to find and hire the best and brightest military talent.
Hirepurpose is a state of the art job site, that looks beyond the resume to better match military veterans and family members with jobs and internships at great companies.
4. Tommy Sowers, CEO of GoldenKey Networks
Tommy Sowers served with the US Army's Special Forces and has a deep passion for helping people in need. Tommy is the driving force behind Goldenkey.
GoldenKey is a no commission real estate network that works for everyone. Tackling the broad inefficiencies in the $1.7 trillion U.S. residential real estate industry, GoldenKey leverage's technology to unbundle real estate transactions, allowing consumers to purchase the services they want, on demand.
5. Dyan Gibbens, President of Trumbull Unmanned
Trumbull Unmanned focuses on data processing and UAS integration for the energy sector. In 2015, Fortune named Dyan as one of the women shaping the drone industry and was recently named a CNBC up-and-comer.
Trumbull uses drones to provide data acquisition and analytics for oil and gas and environmental efforts. A US Air Force Academy graduate, Dyan has a decade of technical experience leading acquisitions and aerospace program management within the Department of Defense.
Adeyemi Adetilewa is a highly skilled and intelligent information worker who writes about technology and digital marketing. Join his community of entrepreneurs on ideasplusbusiness.com.
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