Where it began

In 2007, seventeen veterans walked into a classroom at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management. The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) was one of the first programs of its kind, built on the premise that the discipline, adaptability, and mission focus veterans acquire during military service translate well to business ownership. Seventeen became a hundred. A hundred became a thousand. By 2011 Syracuse University launched the Institute for Veterans and Military Families with the mission of serving all veterans and their families as they create their very best post-service lives, including those chasing entrepreneurship. IVMF’s entrepreneurship portfolio added programs as it identified gaps. A national university consortium pushed the footprint beyond Syracuse. IVMF has come a long way since the first cohort of 17 veterans, but the mission hasn’t changed, just the scope and scale.

IVMF is built different

Programs Backed By Research

Most veteran service organizations count participants. IVMF tracks what happens to them. As a part of Syracuse University, an R1 research institution, IVMF maintains one of the only longitudinal datasets on veteran entrepreneurship in the country, following alumni businesses over years to measure real outcomes. That research doesn’t just validate what works. It shapes federal policy, informs non-profits and programs across the country, and even gets presented to Congress.

When veterans and military spouses walk into an IVMF program, they benefit from the experience of every participant before them. In IVMF’s latest alumni survey, 93% of respondents are still in business. That’s a result of always-improving programming that puts participants at the center of everything IVMF does.

Programs for Every Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship looks different at every stage, and IVMF’s eight programs are built around that reality. Every program is designed to surround IVMF’s veteran and military spouse participants with people who share their experience, not just their military background, but their business stage, and in some programs even more commonalities. IVMF participants get an experience built around the challenges they’re facing right now. It also creates a community that bonds over shared challenges and supports each other in achieving their goals.