BusinessFlare Take

Veteran Entrepreneurs Are Fighting The Wrong War – But Winning Anyway While I’m dodging PowerPoint bullets at the Veterans Florida Conference in Tampa, here’s the truth bombs about veteran entrepreneurship: Veterans own over 1.7 million businesses generating $1 trillion annually, with 80% considering themselves successful. Yet bureaucracy and outdated support systems are sabotaging the next generation. Only 4.5% of GWOT veterans start businesses compared to 49.7% of WWII vets – not because they lack skills, but because we’ve built a support ecosystem that’s more fragmented than a Taliban IED. Cities, stop treating veteran entrepreneurs like charity cases and start recognizing them as the economic powerhouses they are.

Street Economics Insights

The Bureaucratic Minefield That’s Killing Veteran Businesses Here’s what the regulatory crowd won’t tell you: 46% of veteran entrepreneurs say navigating local resources isn’t easy, and the “support” ecosystem is more confusing than military acronyms. Street Economics® doesn’t hallucinate like generic AI – we cut through the red tape reality. Access to capital, regulatory hurdles, lack of mentors, and certification process nightmares are crushing veteran startups faster than cities can hold ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Want real economic development? Fix the bureaucratic maze, not the veterans.

Drama Meter

Tampa’s Economic Development Gets A Reality Check While Tampa Bay celebrates 170 net new residents daily and $1 billion+ in hotel revenue, the real drama is how many local governments fumble veteran entrepreneur support. Last year’s Veterans Florida Expo awarded $17,500 to veteran entrepreneurs – pocket change compared to the corporate welfare we still see in alot of economic development. Meanwhile, cities throw millions at sports stadiums but can’t streamline business licensing for the warriors who actually create jobs. Drama meter: 7/10. It’s not explosive corruption, just bureaucratic incompetence dressed up as “support.”

Book Drop – Red Tape Empire & Gut Sandwich

When Warriors Meet Red Tape, Red Tape Usually Wins A 2025 study found that veteran entrepreneurs’ personal networks mattered more than their education or military experience for success – proving my books Red Tape Empire and Gut Sandwich weren’t just rants, they were prophecy. Military discipline meets civilian bureaucracy, and bureaucracy wins every time unless entrepreneurs learn to navigate the nonsense. Cities: if a Marine can handle Fallujah but can’t get a business permit in under six months, the problem isn’t the Marine.

ECOSINT Signal

China’s Eating Our Lunch While We Play Bureaucratic Shuffle While American veteran entrepreneurs fight permit battles, China’s launching AI-powered satellite networks and building orbital supercomputers. Meanwhile, our veteran entrepreneurship resources are “fragmented and siloed” like we’re still fighting World War bureaucracy. Cities and states bragging about being “veteran-friendly” while maintaining permitting processes that would make the Pentagon blush need a reality check. National security starts with economic security, and economic security starts with unleashing veteran entrepreneurs, not burying them in paperwork.

Red River Flavor (R.E.D. Friday Special)

D-Day at 81: From Normandy Beaches to Bureaucratic Beaches Today marks 81 years since D-Day, when the Greatest Generation stormed Normandy beaches and changed history. Those same WWII veterans came home and started businesses at a 49.7% rate – nearly ten times higher than today’s post-9/11 veterans at 4.5%. What changed? Not the warrior spirit, but the bureaucratic swamp they have to navigate. The guys who took Hitler’s Europe had to fill out one form to start a business; today’s Afghanistan veterans need a PhD in regulatory compliance. On R.E.D. Friday, while we Remember Everyone Deployed, let’s honor D-Day heroes by giving modern veteran entrepreneurs the same “get it done” environment that built post-war American prosperity. Cut the red tape, not ceremonies.

The Music Cities

Nashville’s Growth Squeezes Musicians, But Veterans Keep Rocking Nashville’s boom is pricing out the musicians who made it famous, but veteran entrepreneurs in Music Cities are adapting. They’re building businesses that support creative economies while navigating the same housing affordability crisis that’s hitting everyone. Cities like Nashville, Austin, and Memphis need to remember that veteran entrepreneurs often become the backbone of local creative scenes – the recording studio owners, venue operators, and music tech innovators who keep the music alive.

Space Economy Signal

Veteran Entrepreneurs Are Launching More Than Rockets Blue Origin’s expanding its Alabama rocket factory while SpaceX builds a $1.8B Florida facility, and guess who’s leading much of this innovation? Veteran entrepreneurs who understand both mission-critical operations and risk management. The Vet100 list shows veteran-founded companies dominating growth sectors, from aerospace to cybersecurity. Cities in aerospace corridors: stop chasing flashy startups and start supporting the veteran entrepreneurs who actually understand how to build things that don’t explode.

Purple Cow of the Day

Tampa Conference Irony: Celebrating Veterans While Bureaucracy Crushes Them The ultimate purple cow? A Veterans Florida Conference celebrating entrepreneur support while 46% of veteran entrepreneurs can’t navigate local resources. It’s like throwing a party for firefighters while the fire department’s trucks are broken. The real innovation isn’t another support program – it’s cities that actually streamline processes for the people who’ve already proven they can handle complexity under pressure. Tampa, prove you’re more than conference rhetoric: cut the red tape for veteran entrepreneurs, don’t just talk about supporting them.

About Street Economics Daily Street Economics Daily cuts through noise, jargon, and bureaucracy to deliver sharp, actionable insights for civic and economic development professionals. Blunt, irreverent, and grounded firmly in reality, it’s essential daily reading for city leaders who refuse to settle for outdated strategies.

R.E.D. Friday Reminder: Remember Everyone Deployed – past, present, and those deploying their talents into entrepreneurship.

BusinessFlare | Street Economics | Drama Meter | The Music Cities | Goodnight’s Red River