In 2007, 17 veterans arrived at Syracuse University for a new experiment: an intensive entrepreneurship program designed specifically for those transitioning from military service to business ownership. Twenty Syracuse cohorts and more than 3,300 EBV graduates nationwide later, that experiment has become one of the most enduring veteran entrepreneurship programs in the country and helped lay the foundation for Syracuse University’s D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF). This year, Syracuse University hosted its 20th cohort of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans program.
Two Minutes Changed Everything
Dr. J. Michael Haynie joined the Martin J. Whitman School of Management as an assistant professor of entrepreneurship in 2006. At the time, he was a recently retired Air Force officer and new to academia. He was only two months into the job when he brought the idea that would become EBV to then-dean of Whitman Melvin Stith, a Vietnam veteran himself.
Haynie has described the exchange as a two-minute conversation. Stith supported the idea, and told him to go figure out how to do it.
A main component to the program pitch posed a steep hill to climb financially, as Haynie was determined that cost could not prevent veterans from participating. Tuition, travel and lodging would all be covered, which meant the fledgling program first had to find funding. With overwhelming support, Whitman alumni funded the early cohorts, and when a gap remained, Martin J. Whitman, a World War II veteran and the school’s namesake, wrote a check to close it. Haynie has said Whitman made a point that stayed with him, that Syracuse is an institution that gives people a chance when others would not. The first cohort ran the following summer.
A Model Built To Last
The program still runs the same three phases it ran in 2007. Thirty days of online instruction in business fundamentals followed by a nine-day residency on campus. Participants also benefit from a year of mentorship and support after completing the program.
The in-person residency is demanding, with early starts that run late into evening, and instruction that comes from faculty, working entrepreneurs, and subject matter experts. Cohort sizes remain small enough that instructors know every business in the room. And perhaps most importantly, the program is still offered at no cost to participants.
Growing a Consortium
It wasn’t long before EBV garnered national attention for its training program. Inc. magazine listed it among the best college-based entrepreneurship training programs in 2011. EBV was featured that same year as part of a White House initiative, and in 2013 the work became the subject of a CBS News 60 Minutes feature.
EBV originally launched as the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, designed for post-9/11 veterans with service-connected injuries. Eligibility later broadened, welcoming all veterans and some military spouses starting in 2017. The original Syracuse program soon became a national model. Beginning in 2008, other universities started to join Syracuse University in delivering EBV, creating a consortium that has brought the program to veteran entrepreneurs across the country. The EBV program began gaining traction at UCLA Anderson, Florida State University’s College of Business, and the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. Others quickly followed and now exist at ten college campuses nationwide.
The model has also evolved to include tailored EBV experiences serving military family members through EBV-Families, and Wounded Warrior Project alumni through EBV-WWP.
Inspiring an Institute
Syracuse founded the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families in 2011, with JPMorgan Chase as founding partner, and Dr. Mike Haynie as executive director. EBV demonstrated what was possible when a university combined academic expertise, private-sector partnerships and a deep understanding of the military-connected community to address challenges beyond the classroom. That model helped inform what came next.
What began as a two-minute conversation about helping veterans become entrepreneurs ultimately helped shape something much larger: an institute built around the idea that transition from military service should open doors to economic opportunity. Now known as the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), and hosts a robust portfolio of entrepreneurship programs. It also provides career training and world-class research on issues facing veterans and their families. IVMF has since impacted more than 235,000[KK5.1] veterans, service members, and military family members, and EBV at Syracuse University has graduated 467 entrepreneurs as of the end of its 20th cohort.
An Enduring Legacy
Nearly two decades after teaching that first EBV cohort, Haynie returned to the program this summer in a different role: Syracuse University’s 13th Chancellor and President.. His formal investiture takes place this September, and EBV continues to serve veterans and military family members exploring entrepreneurship and realizing their dream of owning a business.
At the EBV SU class of 2026 graduation, he described what has kept him with the program for twenty years.
Are You Ready to Grow Your Business?
Over 3,300 veterans and military family members have experienced the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV), taking foundational entrepreneurship skills from the classroom back home to their businesses. Learn from real experts, and spend nine days focused on your business at one of our consortium campuses.
Learn more about EBV and when the next cohort near you is taking applications.