July 27, 2025 • 29 mins
Cut The Tie Podcast with Scott Packard
What happens when your job title, rank, or uniform becomes your whole identity? In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Scott Packard—a Marine Corps veteran turned startup executive—who shares his journey of shedding institutional expectations to build a second life in innovation, energy, and entrepreneurship.
From defense contracting to quantum networking to repurposing EV batteries, Scott proves that skills are transferable, identities can evolve, and success has to be defined by you—not your resume.
About Scott Packard
Scott Packard is the VP of Business Development at Smartville Inc., a startup that repurposes electric vehicle batteries into smart energy storage systems. A retired U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer with 20 years of service, Scott has transitioned from defense contracting into commercial tech and clean energy leadership. His career has spanned everything from NATO program management to chaos-proofing early-stage startups in quantum computing and battery innovation.
He’s also a published writer, an outdoor enthusiast, and a firm believer in servant leadership and lifelong learning.
In this episode, Thomas and Scott discuss:
- The trap of undervaluing yourself after military service
Scott opens up about how defense contractors use military retirement as a salary justification—and how he had to cut that toxic mindset. - The moment he reclaimed his voice
Writing for Gear Patrol helped Scott rediscover that he had something valuable to say outside of the military bubble. - From infantry to innovation
Despite not being an engineer or scientist, Scott’s leadership, curiosity, and adaptability helped him thrive in chaotic startups in clean tech and quantum physics. - Stoicism and empathy in business
He shares how learning from competent female colleagues taught him emotional intelligence and conflict navigation in high-stakes environments. - Why chaos is an advantage—not a barrier
Scott reveals how his Marine Corps mindset helps him embrace startup uncertainty, break through silos, and thrive without needing to “stay in his lane.”
Key Takeaways:
- You are not your former rank
Transitioning out of uniform means redefining your value—and demanding full compensation for it. - Transferable skills are real
Leadership, decision-making, and adaptability transcend industries. - Imposter syndrome is normal. Do it anyway.
Scott took a job he thought he wasn’t qualified for—and crushed it. - You don’t have to be an expert to contribute
Curiosity and chaos-tolerance are just as valuable as technical credentials in startup life.
Connect with Scott Packard:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-packard-usmc/
Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cutthetie
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.
Dive into real, unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders, minus the BS.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast.
Hey, I'm your host, thomasHelfrich, and I really
appreciate you listening beinghere today.
We're on a mission, as youprobably know, to cut the tie to
whatever it is holding you backfrom success, of which you
define for yourself.
Today, we're joined by ScottPackard.
Scott, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Fine, I'm doing well.
I'm in lovely San Diego,California.
It's a bad place to be so happyto be here.
Weather's terrible Just overthere Sunny.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
The living's hard too , right?
Well, it is expensive, though,but that's okay.
There's a reason for that.
Scott, take a moment, introduceyourself and what it is you do.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, I'm Scott Packard.
I am currently the vicepresident of business
development for a small startup,smartville, that repurposes
electric vehicle batteries intobattery-engined storage systems.
I'm a former Marine Corpsofficer.
We can get into that and howthat's kind of been a big part
(00:57):
of my challenge with cutting thetie.
But I'm a dad, I'm an outdoorenthusiast.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I don't know what else to say.
Those are all great things, um,when you're in in the, in the
business you're in, and what itmakes like, what separates your
company or your product from,maybe, your competition so most
people um loosely familiar withbattery energy storage uh, you
know, connected to solarresidential battery storage or
(01:29):
larger scale.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
What makes us different is we repurpose second
life EV batteries that wouldotherwise be going to a landfill
or waste stream to be shredded.
Most people don't realize thatthose batteries have up to 10
years and 2,000 cycles ofchemical energy still in them
(01:51):
that can be put to use.
Our current methodology is akinto taking a bite of the
sandwich and throwing it away,and what we do is we eat the
whole sandwich and employ it,and it keeps material out of
waste streams, provides lowercost energy storage systems, and
(02:11):
it also reduces our nation'sdependence on foreign supply to
the entire economic offeringwhen it comes to energy storage.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Well, and before we kind of get into your journey
and the stuff you had to do toget there, to be successful, how
do you define success?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
For me, success is not so much those things you
list on your resume but thethings that people will say in
eulogy when you pass, and I'mstill struggling with shifting
that mindset.
Uh don't necessarily translateto well-life, well, well-lived
life, um and uh.
You know, having uhwell-adjusted uh, kids, having
(03:17):
having a wife who knows you,therefore, um, having friends
who can call on you and uh uhfor help, uh or support.
For me that's success and Iwill say that that has been part
of my journey is making thattransition, because where I came
(03:38):
from, it was very muchtask-oriented task, task
oriented um and uh, being morepeople focused is, was, was a
thing that uh that.
I had to learn.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, let's talk about your journey a little bit
and in in, in as you'veprogressed, with the biggest,
you know metaphoric ties ofspeak is that you've had a cut
to to find that success youdefined.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah that you've had to cut to find that success you
defined.
Yeah, so, coming out of theMarine Corps, I did 20 years in
the Marine Corps as an infantryofficer.
A variety of experiences there,most, you know, just kind of
dull and you know not moviehighlight to highlight real
(04:25):
activities, some of that.
But coming out of the MarineCorps went right into the, the
defense contracting arena, anddid that for for a period of
time just because I had thisidea that this is, this is what
I've done and this is what Iknow.
And how would I ever, uh, gointo the, into the commercial
(04:49):
world?
Uh, and this is, this is partof the.
The cut the tie is, you know mymindset was, you know I, I know
military, I know defense, I knowyou know I've got the skills
for that.
You know I've got the skillsfor that.
And the defense industry reallytakes advantage of that for the
(05:16):
bulk of their workforce andtends to look at you in the
light of what you came from,what your rank was, what your
skill sets were, and can kind ofpigeonhole you.
The other thing that they do isthey tend to appropriate your
retirement.
(05:36):
So the people who retire fromthe military get a portion of
their, their pay and kind of inperpetuity, as long as you did a
certain number of years, you'llget a certain percentage and
defense contractors tend toinclude that in your
compensation.
(05:57):
So you know, normal person becompensated up to here, you are
compensated up to here and theyfill that gap with your
retirement.
Um, and yeah, yeah, that's likeyou're like hey, listen, I
should.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I've already earned that money.
Thank you, um.
Why don't we pay market valuefor my?
Wow, that's really shitty um,and that's bad.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Shifting out of that mindset and it's kind of a thing
that I do tell.
I tell people who aretransitioning all the time I
said that retirement is yoursand you should never indulge
that conversation where they say, well, you already have, you
know, X amount of money everymonth.
That's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Like I'd be like go fuck yourself.
I'd be like no, you're're gonnapay me market value for the
skill set, right, yeah, that'dbe.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Oh yeah, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Wow, that's actually offensive.
I'd be like you're like, youknow, murder you right now.
You realize this came from aunit anyway.
Um, and it would be acceptable.
I think we'd all understand youget off the jury.
We'd be like, yeah, I mean forsure.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I gotta say that yeah , but most, most people are most
people coming out undervaluetheir skills.
They think, well, hey, I wasmaking that much and now I'm
making that much.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You're right, colonel , getting $3,600 a month, and
you're like, oh, I was onlymaking, you know, $8,000 and now
I'm making $16,000, but youshould be making $24,000.
Yeah, it's an option.
So the getting over that was abig tie for you.
To come out of military mode,work for defense, that whole
mindset of what you're just kindof guided in, that's what
(07:35):
everyone does Remember themoment when you're like, yeah,
I'm not doing that anymore orI'm going to make, I'm gonna
break free.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It was.
It was definitely kind of a, a,a gradual thing.
I was fortunate coming out withuh kind of my first, uh, my
first real job, if you will, inthat I had a former boss who,
who mentored me in um in thecompensation conversation, so I
was able to negotiate because I,just I, I, I, I was playing a
(08:08):
different formal approach to mywriting.
You know you write littlearticles and whatnot and I had a
(08:33):
focus that was called DefenseJournal.
That was obviously gearedtowards my experiences.
But I also wrote other stuff,some of it kind of douchey
product review stuff, pseudoproduct review, but you know I
mean some, some, certainly my,my military, because there's
(08:55):
this whole false mystique aboutthe military, um and uh just
kind of really started to shift,uh, my shift, my voice and see
(09:22):
that there was, there were folkswho were interested in, in that
I had more than just this, thismilitary experience, to, to, to
share Um and uh, you know justwell, just interest, the
interest that I was a bitmystified about Um and so that
(09:42):
kind of opened the aperture forme and thinking about what else
have I been?
Completely this idea that I'm,I'm a defense contractor, you
know I'm, I'm, I'm bounded by bythese sets of skills, as
opposed to all the transferableskills that that I had learned
(10:04):
over the course of.
You know a?
Uh, you know a, a misfit lifeor or whatever.
And, um, that that started toget me, get me thinking.
And then I just had again that,the, the friends, the network
that said, um, hey, um, you seemlike you could do this and we
(10:25):
need a person who can do this,and would you be interested in
doing this?
And it pays twice what you'remaking as a defense contractor.
And I was like, yes, hey, thatsounds I'd be interested in that
.
Yeah, more of that one.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Listen, it's one thing to know the tie to cut,
it's another thing to see themoment, but the biggest is in
the how.
So how did you, like you talkedabout a little bit there, but
how did you really make thatmove?
Because it's it's a disruptionto your world.
Right when you, when you seethe need to do, you go, do it.
And now you're like impostersyndrome everywhere.
I'm like what am I gonna do?
Who am I?
So you know, speak to you howyou did it, with the idea that
(11:05):
there's someone listening going.
Yeah, I have that exact samething going on right now.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, so I, I came back from uh living overseas, um
, we were in Germany, um, I wasdoing uh work with uh, with NATO
and and the army, and um, meand um, we moved back and I had
(11:30):
kind of this this three months,you know, not not really doing
any any work, um, my company waslooking for opportunities and
just nothing really aligned withwith my interest, um, and and
so I just kind of said, hey,I'll, I'll find my own way.
And friends came up and said,hey, we need a person.
(11:50):
We won this big contract.
We need a person who can runthings.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
This was a program up in the.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Bay Area to provide basically program management for
a program that doespreventative radiological
nuclear detection, basically acounter-threat program in the
bay area, get it up and runningand and then release it into the
wild for the government to kindof take over.
And and that was a good kind oflike middle middle thing.
(12:28):
I was dealing less with federaluh folks and military folks and
more with, you know, localgovernment, uh, state and and,
uh, state, county and city, umand and and and you know kind of
kind of running things, um, butI did that for a little bit and
(12:49):
then a friend who's COO forstartups said, hey, we won this
big contract and we needsomebody to run it.
And this was in quantumnetworking.
And you know, as RichardFeynman says, if you think you
understand quantum, you don'tnobody understands it.
(13:11):
But the thing that was key forme was, again, transferable
skills provide little structureto the brilliant uh the
scientists and engineers, helpthem stay on task, keep, keep
the budget in line, the scope,schedule and cost program
management type stuff.
But just a, a, a incrediblyinteresting world but in a
(13:36):
startup which is incrediblychaotic and you know, from one
day to the next is is, you know,you don't know where things are
going to go.
Um, that that I worked withsome, some great folks, folks
who who you know, incrediblybrilliant, exposed to Nobel
(13:58):
laureates, exposed to, you know,entrepreneurs who are making a
go of it.
That company successfullyexited and then it's kind of
like, well, what am I going todo now?
Well, onto another startup youknow, it's just out of the pan
into the fire kind of thing andagain found that I'm not really
(14:21):
an expert at anything.
I'm certainly not an expert atquantum mechanics or quantum
physics, I'm not an expert inbattery chemistry or you
chemistry, or I don't have anelectrical engineering degree,
but what I have is an appetiteto learn.
I'm curious, I'm a littleautodidactic in that I teach
(14:46):
myself and I am okay with chaosand I'm okay with hey, don't
know if we're still going tohave a company in right In in a,
in a few few months.
And there've been situationswhere it's like for month to
(15:11):
month, it's like maybe months,not years, and that uncertainty
for people.
Now again back to I haverecurring income with my
military retirement.
That gives me a buffer, asecurity blanket that a lot of
folks don don't have and I'mvery uh, I'm grateful for that
(15:33):
well, you've earned it too right, and I think I, as I you know,
we're talking a little offline.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
uh, I think it's a great transition from those
coming out with some type ofbuffer to become entrepreneurs,
because you get a little.
Uh, you get the buffer you needto be able to survive, eat, pay
, rent, whatever, if you knowmortgage and stuff, so it gives
you a shot.
So when you're burning throughsavings and other things like
that, it's harder, but you get alittle something there.
Take advantage of that, becauseit's basically like a funding
(15:58):
that you've provided foryourself that's not going to get
turned off, which is great.
Who are you most grateful for?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I'm grateful for friends and family who have been
patient with me.
I'm uh, I'm not the easiestperson to um live with.
Uh, I am pretty, I can be veryjudgmental and I can be very
impatient with uh, with things.
Um, in some aspects, you know,I try and find the good and and
(16:26):
reflect on where things areproviding opportunities.
So my impatience means I I doset high standards for myself
and hopefully that also providesan example for my kids and my
coworkers.
But, yeah, patients.
I'm grateful for a patient wifeand patient friends because
(16:50):
I've certainly tried it on on anumber of occasions.
I'm also grateful for myparents.
My father set just a reallygood example for me for a life
of physical activity and comfortin the outdoors.
(17:11):
We used to backpack extendeddistances.
As a kid, you know I was arunner, my father was a runner,
cyclist, my father was a cyclist, my mother was a swimmer, I was
a swimmer and you know lifelonginterest in just moving and
(17:35):
activity, healthy living, andwhich you know, the Marine Corps
kind of runs, you know kind ofparallel, and they expect you to
be active.
But not all of the, thecultural mores are, are uh
oriented towards healthy living.
Is, you know, tobacco use,alcohol, those, those are kind
(18:00):
of uh things that are mostpeople, I think that's that's
been on the decline as peoplehave gotten more more aware of.
You know long-term, short andlong-term dangers of that.
But, um, you know I got, I wasinto some of those.
Those bet not tobacco use, butyou know it's just every event
(18:22):
uh involved.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, what's alcohol?
Yeah, some quick fires for you.
So so who gives you inspiration?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
That's the.
The probably number one is myfather.
I also have a number ofcolleagues from the Rancor I
stay in touch with.
One of them is currently athree-star general and the thing
that is counterintuitive is heis a just a voracious scholar.
(18:54):
He is also.
He reflects on his decisionswhere I tended to be a little
more impulsive I don't knowimpulsive and that pause or that
stoic review of things.
(19:16):
I learned a lot from him.
I won't mention him by namehe's not quite a public figure,
but I'm a little more on theliberal side and I don't want to
get him in trouble, no worries.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
But that's great.
Somebody you work with yourespected.
You know it's a great person todraw inspiration from.
And somebody who's differentfrom you right A little bit, so
you learn from their behaviors.
I think that's a great lessonfor people.
What's some of the bestbusiness advice you've received?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
um, oh boy, that's that is a, is it?
That is a tough one.
Um, probably, probably the thebest was was in transitioning
out of the, out of the.
The military um was to set someof the cultural approaches
aside.
The Marine Corps appreciatesvery blunt interaction,
(20:23):
bordering on asshole oftentimes,and sometimes they celebrate
those individuals who are knownto be assholes.
Um and uh.
I had the.
The benefit of working withvery competent um women who I
learned a softer approach fromum one I currently work with our
(20:48):
COO, uh Retz, who is justphenomenal in her ability to
keep track of multiple things,but also her ability to manage
difficult personalities.
And it's not, you know, it'snot direct or confrontational,
(21:08):
it's, you know.
She deflects, she kind ofapproaches things obliquely as
opposed to head on, and I thinkthat is um, especially in.
You know, tense, um, you knowhigh value interaction
circumstances certainly has mademe better in business
development, because I don't youknow it's not like everything
(21:30):
is is, um, you know, one plusone, it's, you know right, one
plus one equals the can equalthree, Um, if you bring the
right, right approach.
So empathy, um by more, byosmosis, I've, I've absorbed it
by watching.
Uh, folks who are good at and II didn't come in are good.
(21:53):
I didn't come out of 20 yearsjust completely everything's a
brick wall that I have to smashthrough or anything.
I think people are moresuccessful in any leadership
position or any cultural milieuhave to have a diversified kit
bag.
But I did have some bad habits,for sure, in my experiences,
(22:21):
but because the environment didsupport it.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, and it sounds like that's one of the biggest
ties you had to cut too is thattransition away from what was
normal and accepted to what youcould be become beyond, beyond
just what you're told you areand who you are and how you'll
need to act, and and it's, it'shard.
I mean, like you, you youtalked a little, you know, about
the support network being inothers who've served the
(22:46):
struggles you go through andhave that extended piece.
I think that's, I mean, it'sinvaluable, right?
If there was maybe one questionI should ask you today, and I
didn't.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
What would that question have been and how would
you answer it?
I know you've in the past haveasked folks what's you know, if
they recommend a book oranything like that, because I
was thinking about that and Ihave a very non-standard answer,
particularly for folks who arein an entrepreneurial setting or
are dealing with chaos.
Mcdp-1, warfighting MarineCorps Doctrinal Pub.
(23:24):
Warfighting, it's partially SunTzu, it's partially Clausewitz.
Warfighting, combat is chaos.
It's the ultimate chaos.
Situation really helps withmindset, um.
(23:48):
It helps with techniques, it ittalks to, to leadership.
You know your role in, in, um,not controlling but but riding
the, the dragon of of chaos, um,and being, you know being like
water, lout says.
(24:08):
You know, be like water flow,accept the dynamic, but you know
also work to effectively toinfluence and impact the
situation.
So when you get your hands on acopy of it Marine Corps
Doctrinal Pub 1, warfighting outin uh, I want to say 87 or 88.
(24:35):
It was recently updated and, uh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So that's great.
What are all Marines requiredto read this?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yep, yep, do all, do all of them read it.
I mean, one of the one of the Iused to write doctrine and one
of the things we said is nobodyreads doctrine except the folks
who wrote it.
But, yeah, every.
I mean, I got, I got a copy ofit as a second lieutenant and
was expected to be able to speakon it and, uh, also, I was
(25:07):
expected to impart the knowledgeon on my Marines.
Um, and then, as I progressedup to, to reinforce that as a
foundation for, for juniorofficers and and expect them
also to be conversing in it.
Um, and I do believe that thatpublication or that mindset, as
(25:32):
well as the, you know, never saysomething like not my job In
the Marine Corps.
That gets slapped upside thehead hey, that's not my job, I'm
not doing that.
I filled sandbags, I filledsandbags, I.
I've dug, dug, ditches as asenior to feel great off.
Um, because there is no suchthing as, as you know, white
(25:56):
collar, blue collar jobs.
It's right, what needs to bedone?
right, takes what it takes yeah,yeah, and, and that's that's,
that's the startup, that's theentrepreneur.
It's like oh hey, I'm, I'm notthe guy who does X.
Well, today we need you to be,and so you are, and for me, I
(26:18):
think that's one thing thathelps.
I'm thinking of Marines, butpeople who have that mindset, I
think, are successful becausethey don't go well, gosh, I
don't do that because I'm uphere and that's beneath me, the
(26:43):
ones who do what needs to bedone so I like that a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I like that you're always a Marine, never retired.
That's another thing too.
This is great, never former,just a break.
Who should get a hold of you,by the way, and how should they
do that?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
probably easiest to hit me up on LinkedIn.
I'm pretty I'm on there everyday because I also do on the
business side.
I don't do a lot of, I don't doas much personal stuff on there
because I'm a little bit morethe face of the company, but
(27:21):
certainly we can go from thereand transition into other modes
of communication.
I'm not going to drop mypersonal phone number I already
get a ton of spam, as it isRight and that.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
But yeah, linkedin is probably the easiest, Good,
great place to start and thenyou can take the conversation
where you need to from there.
And the people who should goolder are they looking on the
battery side, or what's thebusiness connection, or who do
you want to be the people thatactually reach out?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Yeah, the interesting thing.
I mean I take all comers.
I have a very wide and diversenetwork of folks who are big
fans of the currentadministration folks.
Well, I think the other end ofthat spectrum um quantum
physicists, energy folks, formerMarines, um politicians, uh the
(28:19):
thing.
But you know I I am currentlyfocused in the uh the battery
energy storage, uh thing, and uhthat you know folks thing, and
uh that you know folks.
Folks are looking you know,looking for potential
partnerships, collaborations.
Uh, who are interested in havinga conversation on circular
economy?
Or how can we provide asolution If you've got a a bunch
(28:43):
of electric vehicles and you'rethinking, uh, hey, what am I
going to do with the batteriesOnce they?
Um, I've got a solution for you.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That's awesome.
Thank you so much for coming ontoday, Scott.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yep, thanks for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Awesome, and listen everyone who's still here.
You rock for being here.
This is your first time we getin.
Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast.
Hey, I'm your host, thomasHelfrich, and I really
appreciate you listening beinghere today.
We're on a mission, as youprobably know, to cut the tie to
whatever it is holding you backfrom success, of which you
define for yourself.
Today, we're joined by ScottPackard.
Scott, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Fine, I'm doing well.
I'm in lovely San Diego,California.
It's a bad place to be so happyto be here.
Weather's terrible Just overthere Sunny.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
The living's hard too , right?
Well, it is expensive, though,but that's okay.
There's a reason for that.
Scott, take a moment, introduceyourself and what it is you do.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, I'm Scott Packard.
I am currently the vicepresident of business
development for a small startup,smartville, that repurposes
electric vehicle batteries intobattery-engined storage systems.
I'm a former Marine Corpsofficer.
We can get into that and howthat's kind of been a big part
(00:57):
of my challenge with cutting thetie.
But I'm a dad, I'm an outdoorenthusiast.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
I don't know what else to say.
Those are all great things, um,when you're in in the, in the
business you're in, and what itmakes like, what separates your
company or your product from,maybe, your competition so most
people um loosely familiar withbattery energy storage uh, you
know, connected to solarresidential battery storage or
(01:29):
larger scale.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
What makes us different is we repurpose second
life EV batteries that wouldotherwise be going to a landfill
or waste stream to be shredded.
Most people don't realize thatthose batteries have up to 10
years and 2,000 cycles ofchemical energy still in them
(01:51):
that can be put to use.
Our current methodology is akinto taking a bite of the
sandwich and throwing it away,and what we do is we eat the
whole sandwich and employ it,and it keeps material out of
waste streams, provides lowercost energy storage systems, and
(02:11):
it also reduces our nation'sdependence on foreign supply to
the entire economic offeringwhen it comes to energy storage.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Well, and before we kind of get into your journey
and the stuff you had to do toget there, to be successful, how
do you define success?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
For me, success is not so much those things you
list on your resume but thethings that people will say in
eulogy when you pass, and I'mstill struggling with shifting
that mindset.
Uh don't necessarily translateto well-life, well, well-lived
life, um and uh.
You know, having uhwell-adjusted uh, kids, having
(03:17):
having a wife who knows you,therefore, um, having friends
who can call on you and uh uhfor help, uh or support.
For me that's success and Iwill say that that has been part
of my journey is making thattransition, because where I came
(03:38):
from, it was very muchtask-oriented task, task
oriented um and uh, being morepeople focused is, was, was a
thing that uh that.
I had to learn.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, let's talk about your journey a little bit
and in in, in as you'veprogressed, with the biggest,
you know metaphoric ties ofspeak is that you've had a cut
to to find that success youdefined.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah that you've had to cut to find that success you
defined.
Yeah, so, coming out of theMarine Corps, I did 20 years in
the Marine Corps as an infantryofficer.
A variety of experiences there,most, you know, just kind of
dull and you know not moviehighlight to highlight real
(04:25):
activities, some of that.
But coming out of the MarineCorps went right into the, the
defense contracting arena, anddid that for for a period of
time just because I had thisidea that this is, this is what
I've done and this is what Iknow.
And how would I ever, uh, gointo the, into the commercial
(04:49):
world?
Uh, and this is, this is partof the.
The cut the tie is, you know mymindset was, you know I, I know
military, I know defense, I knowyou know I've got the skills
for that.
You know I've got the skillsfor that.
And the defense industry reallytakes advantage of that for the
(05:16):
bulk of their workforce andtends to look at you in the
light of what you came from,what your rank was, what your
skill sets were, and can kind ofpigeonhole you.
The other thing that they do isthey tend to appropriate your
retirement.
(05:36):
So the people who retire fromthe military get a portion of
their, their pay and kind of inperpetuity, as long as you did a
certain number of years, you'llget a certain percentage and
defense contractors tend toinclude that in your
compensation.
(05:57):
So you know, normal person becompensated up to here, you are
compensated up to here and theyfill that gap with your
retirement.
Um, and yeah, yeah, that's likeyou're like hey, listen, I
should.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I've already earned that money.
Thank you, um.
Why don't we pay market valuefor my?
Wow, that's really shitty um,and that's bad.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Shifting out of that mindset and it's kind of a thing
that I do tell.
I tell people who aretransitioning all the time I
said that retirement is yoursand you should never indulge
that conversation where they say, well, you already have, you
know, X amount of money everymonth.
That's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Like I'd be like go fuck yourself.
I'd be like no, you're're gonnapay me market value for the
skill set, right, yeah, that'dbe.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Oh yeah, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Wow, that's actually offensive.
I'd be like you're like, youknow, murder you right now.
You realize this came from aunit anyway.
Um, and it would be acceptable.
I think we'd all understand youget off the jury.
We'd be like, yeah, I mean forsure.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I gotta say that yeah , but most, most people are most
people coming out undervaluetheir skills.
They think, well, hey, I wasmaking that much and now I'm
making that much.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You're right, colonel , getting $3,600 a month, and
you're like, oh, I was onlymaking, you know, $8,000 and now
I'm making $16,000, but youshould be making $24,000.
Yeah, it's an option.
So the getting over that was abig tie for you.
To come out of military mode,work for defense, that whole
mindset of what you're just kindof guided in, that's what
(07:35):
everyone does Remember themoment when you're like, yeah,
I'm not doing that anymore orI'm going to make, I'm gonna
break free.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It was.
It was definitely kind of a, a,a gradual thing.
I was fortunate coming out withuh kind of my first, uh, my
first real job, if you will, inthat I had a former boss who,
who mentored me in um in thecompensation conversation, so I
was able to negotiate because I,just I, I, I, I was playing a
(08:08):
different formal approach to mywriting.
You know you write littlearticles and whatnot and I had a
(08:33):
focus that was called DefenseJournal.
That was obviously gearedtowards my experiences.
But I also wrote other stuff,some of it kind of douchey
product review stuff, pseudoproduct review, but you know I
mean some, some, certainly my,my military, because there's
(08:55):
this whole false mystique aboutthe military, um and uh just
kind of really started to shift,uh, my shift, my voice and see
(09:22):
that there was, there were folkswho were interested in, in that
I had more than just this, thismilitary experience, to, to, to
share Um and uh, you know justwell, just interest, the
interest that I was a bitmystified about Um and so that
(09:42):
kind of opened the aperture forme and thinking about what else
have I been?
Completely this idea that I'm,I'm a defense contractor, you
know I'm, I'm, I'm bounded by bythese sets of skills, as
opposed to all the transferableskills that that I had learned
(10:04):
over the course of.
You know a?
Uh, you know a, a misfit lifeor or whatever.
And, um, that that started toget me, get me thinking.
And then I just had again that,the, the friends, the network
that said, um, hey, um, you seemlike you could do this and we
(10:25):
need a person who can do this,and would you be interested in
doing this?
And it pays twice what you'remaking as a defense contractor.
And I was like, yes, hey, thatsounds I'd be interested in that
.
Yeah, more of that one.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Listen, it's one thing to know the tie to cut,
it's another thing to see themoment, but the biggest is in
the how.
So how did you, like you talkedabout a little bit there, but
how did you really make thatmove?
Because it's it's a disruptionto your world.
Right when you, when you seethe need to do, you go, do it.
And now you're like impostersyndrome everywhere.
I'm like what am I gonna do?
Who am I?
So you know, speak to you howyou did it, with the idea that
(11:05):
there's someone listening going.
Yeah, I have that exact samething going on right now.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, so I, I came back from uh living overseas, um
, we were in Germany, um, I wasdoing uh work with uh, with NATO
and and the army, and um, meand um, we moved back and I had
(11:30):
kind of this this three months,you know, not not really doing
any any work, um, my company waslooking for opportunities and
just nothing really aligned withwith my interest, um, and and
so I just kind of said, hey,I'll, I'll find my own way.
And friends came up and said,hey, we need a person.
(11:50):
We won this big contract.
We need a person who can runthings.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
This was a program up in the.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Bay Area to provide basically program management for
a program that doespreventative radiological
nuclear detection, basically acounter-threat program in the
bay area, get it up and runningand and then release it into the
wild for the government to kindof take over.
And and that was a good kind oflike middle middle thing.
(12:28):
I was dealing less with federaluh folks and military folks and
more with, you know, localgovernment, uh, state and and,
uh, state, county and city, umand and and and you know kind of
kind of running things, um, butI did that for a little bit and
(12:49):
then a friend who's COO forstartups said, hey, we won this
big contract and we needsomebody to run it.
And this was in quantumnetworking.
And you know, as RichardFeynman says, if you think you
understand quantum, you don'tnobody understands it.
(13:11):
But the thing that was key forme was, again, transferable
skills provide little structureto the brilliant uh the
scientists and engineers, helpthem stay on task, keep, keep
the budget in line, the scope,schedule and cost program
management type stuff.
But just a, a, a incrediblyinteresting world but in a
(13:36):
startup which is incrediblychaotic and you know, from one
day to the next is is, you know,you don't know where things are
going to go.
Um, that that I worked withsome, some great folks, folks
who who you know, incrediblybrilliant, exposed to Nobel
(13:58):
laureates, exposed to, you know,entrepreneurs who are making a
go of it.
That company successfullyexited and then it's kind of
like, well, what am I going todo now?
Well, onto another startup youknow, it's just out of the pan
into the fire kind of thing andagain found that I'm not really
(14:21):
an expert at anything.
I'm certainly not an expert atquantum mechanics or quantum
physics, I'm not an expert inbattery chemistry or you
chemistry, or I don't have anelectrical engineering degree,
but what I have is an appetiteto learn.
I'm curious, I'm a littleautodidactic in that I teach
(14:46):
myself and I am okay with chaosand I'm okay with hey, don't
know if we're still going tohave a company in right In in a,
in a few few months.
And there've been situationswhere it's like for month to
(15:11):
month, it's like maybe months,not years, and that uncertainty
for people.
Now again back to I haverecurring income with my
military retirement.
That gives me a buffer, asecurity blanket that a lot of
folks don don't have and I'mvery uh, I'm grateful for that
(15:33):
well, you've earned it too right, and I think I, as I you know,
we're talking a little offline.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
uh, I think it's a great transition from those
coming out with some type ofbuffer to become entrepreneurs,
because you get a little.
Uh, you get the buffer you needto be able to survive, eat, pay
, rent, whatever, if you knowmortgage and stuff, so it gives
you a shot.
So when you're burning throughsavings and other things like
that, it's harder, but you get alittle something there.
Take advantage of that, becauseit's basically like a funding
(15:58):
that you've provided foryourself that's not going to get
turned off, which is great.
Who are you most grateful for?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I'm grateful for friends and family who have been
patient with me.
I'm uh, I'm not the easiestperson to um live with.
Uh, I am pretty, I can be veryjudgmental and I can be very
impatient with uh, with things.
Um, in some aspects, you know,I try and find the good and and
(16:26):
reflect on where things areproviding opportunities.
So my impatience means I I doset high standards for myself
and hopefully that also providesan example for my kids and my
coworkers.
But, yeah, patients.
I'm grateful for a patient wifeand patient friends because
(16:50):
I've certainly tried it on on anumber of occasions.
I'm also grateful for myparents.
My father set just a reallygood example for me for a life
of physical activity and comfortin the outdoors.
(17:11):
We used to backpack extendeddistances.
As a kid, you know I was arunner, my father was a runner,
cyclist, my father was a cyclist, my mother was a swimmer, I was
a swimmer and you know lifelonginterest in just moving and
(17:35):
activity, healthy living, andwhich you know, the Marine Corps
kind of runs, you know kind ofparallel, and they expect you to
be active.
But not all of the, thecultural mores are, are uh
oriented towards healthy living.
Is, you know, tobacco use,alcohol, those, those are kind
(18:00):
of uh things that are mostpeople, I think that's that's
been on the decline as peoplehave gotten more more aware of.
You know long-term, short andlong-term dangers of that.
But, um, you know I got, I wasinto some of those.
Those bet not tobacco use, butyou know it's just every event
(18:22):
uh involved.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, what's alcohol?
Yeah, some quick fires for you.
So so who gives you inspiration?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
That's the.
The probably number one is myfather.
I also have a number ofcolleagues from the Rancor I
stay in touch with.
One of them is currently athree-star general and the thing
that is counterintuitive is heis a just a voracious scholar.
(18:54):
He is also.
He reflects on his decisionswhere I tended to be a little
more impulsive I don't knowimpulsive and that pause or that
stoic review of things.
(19:16):
I learned a lot from him.
I won't mention him by namehe's not quite a public figure,
but I'm a little more on theliberal side and I don't want to
get him in trouble, no worries.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
But that's great.
Somebody you work with yourespected.
You know it's a great person todraw inspiration from.
And somebody who's differentfrom you right A little bit, so
you learn from their behaviors.
I think that's a great lessonfor people.
What's some of the bestbusiness advice you've received?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
um, oh boy, that's that is a, is it?
That is a tough one.
Um, probably, probably the thebest was was in transitioning
out of the, out of the.
The military um was to set someof the cultural approaches
aside.
The Marine Corps appreciatesvery blunt interaction,
(20:23):
bordering on asshole oftentimes,and sometimes they celebrate
those individuals who are knownto be assholes.
Um and uh.
I had the.
The benefit of working withvery competent um women who I
learned a softer approach fromum one I currently work with our
(20:48):
COO, uh Retz, who is justphenomenal in her ability to
keep track of multiple things,but also her ability to manage
difficult personalities.
And it's not, you know, it'snot direct or confrontational,
(21:08):
it's, you know.
She deflects, she kind ofapproaches things obliquely as
opposed to head on, and I thinkthat is um, especially in.
You know, tense, um, you knowhigh value interaction
circumstances certainly has mademe better in business
development, because I don't youknow it's not like everything
(21:30):
is is, um, you know, one plusone, it's, you know right, one
plus one equals the can equalthree, Um, if you bring the
right, right approach.
So empathy, um by more, byosmosis, I've, I've absorbed it
by watching.
Uh, folks who are good at and II didn't come in are good.
(21:53):
I didn't come out of 20 yearsjust completely everything's a
brick wall that I have to smashthrough or anything.
I think people are moresuccessful in any leadership
position or any cultural milieuhave to have a diversified kit
bag.
But I did have some bad habits,for sure, in my experiences,
(22:21):
but because the environment didsupport it.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, and it sounds like that's one of the biggest
ties you had to cut too is thattransition away from what was
normal and accepted to what youcould be become beyond, beyond
just what you're told you areand who you are and how you'll
need to act, and and it's, it'shard.
I mean, like you, you youtalked a little, you know, about
the support network being inothers who've served the
(22:46):
struggles you go through andhave that extended piece.
I think that's, I mean, it'sinvaluable, right?
If there was maybe one questionI should ask you today, and I
didn't.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
What would that question have been and how would
you answer it?
I know you've in the past haveasked folks what's you know, if
they recommend a book oranything like that, because I
was thinking about that and Ihave a very non-standard answer,
particularly for folks who arein an entrepreneurial setting or
are dealing with chaos.
Mcdp-1, warfighting MarineCorps Doctrinal Pub.
(23:24):
Warfighting, it's partially SunTzu, it's partially Clausewitz.
Warfighting, combat is chaos.
It's the ultimate chaos.
Situation really helps withmindset, um.
(23:48):
It helps with techniques, it ittalks to, to leadership.
You know your role in, in, um,not controlling but but riding
the, the dragon of of chaos, um,and being, you know being like
water, lout says.
(24:08):
You know, be like water flow,accept the dynamic, but you know
also work to effectively toinfluence and impact the
situation.
So when you get your hands on acopy of it Marine Corps
Doctrinal Pub 1, warfighting outin uh, I want to say 87 or 88.
(24:35):
It was recently updated and, uh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So that's great.
What are all Marines requiredto read this?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yep, yep, do all, do all of them read it.
I mean, one of the one of the Iused to write doctrine and one
of the things we said is nobodyreads doctrine except the folks
who wrote it.
But, yeah, every.
I mean, I got, I got a copy ofit as a second lieutenant and
was expected to be able to speakon it and, uh, also, I was
(25:07):
expected to impart the knowledgeon on my Marines.
Um, and then, as I progressedup to, to reinforce that as a
foundation for, for juniorofficers and and expect them
also to be conversing in it.
Um, and I do believe that thatpublication or that mindset, as
(25:32):
well as the, you know, never saysomething like not my job In
the Marine Corps.
That gets slapped upside thehead hey, that's not my job, I'm
not doing that.
I filled sandbags, I filledsandbags, I.
I've dug, dug, ditches as asenior to feel great off.
Um, because there is no suchthing as, as you know, white
(25:56):
collar, blue collar jobs.
It's right, what needs to bedone?
right, takes what it takes yeah,yeah, and, and that's that's,
that's the startup, that's theentrepreneur.
It's like oh hey, I'm, I'm notthe guy who does X.
Well, today we need you to be,and so you are, and for me, I
(26:18):
think that's one thing thathelps.
I'm thinking of Marines, butpeople who have that mindset, I
think, are successful becausethey don't go well, gosh, I
don't do that because I'm uphere and that's beneath me, the
(26:43):
ones who do what needs to bedone so I like that a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I like that you're always a Marine, never retired.
That's another thing too.
This is great, never former,just a break.
Who should get a hold of you,by the way, and how should they
do that?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
probably easiest to hit me up on LinkedIn.
I'm pretty I'm on there everyday because I also do on the
business side.
I don't do a lot of, I don't doas much personal stuff on there
because I'm a little bit morethe face of the company, but
(27:21):
certainly we can go from thereand transition into other modes
of communication.
I'm not going to drop mypersonal phone number I already
get a ton of spam, as it isRight and that.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
But yeah, linkedin is probably the easiest, Good,
great place to start and thenyou can take the conversation
where you need to from there.
And the people who should goolder are they looking on the
battery side, or what's thebusiness connection, or who do
you want to be the people thatactually reach out?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Yeah, the interesting thing.
I mean I take all comers.
I have a very wide and diversenetwork of folks who are big
fans of the currentadministration folks.
Well, I think the other end ofthat spectrum um quantum
physicists, energy folks, formerMarines, um politicians, uh the
(28:19):
thing.
But you know I I am currentlyfocused in the uh the battery
energy storage, uh thing, and uhthat you know folks thing, and
uh that you know folks.
Folks are looking you know,looking for potential
partnerships, collaborations.
Uh, who are interested in havinga conversation on circular
economy?
Or how can we provide asolution If you've got a a bunch
(28:43):
of electric vehicles and you'rethinking, uh, hey, what am I
going to do with the batteriesOnce they?
Um, I've got a solution for you.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That's awesome.
Thank you so much for coming ontoday, Scott.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yep, thanks for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Awesome, and listen everyone who's still here.
You rock for being here.
This is your first time we getin.
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