Today’s guest is Jake Bullock. Jake is the founder and CEO of Ravn, a defense technology company building next generation technology for military personnel. Their platform, built from the ground up for use on the front lines, delivers mission-critical intelligence to service members when they need it most. The inspiration for Jake to start Ravn came from his experience as a Navy SEAL. On his first deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, Jake made a mistake on the battlefield as a result of poor information. That mistake weighed pretty heavily on Jake, and after several more deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan he knew that he had to solve this problem of poor information and communication on the battlefield. In this interview, we get into why Jake wanted to become a Navy SEAL, his time in the SEAL Teams, human performance as an operator vs an entrepreneur, and all things Ravn.
Timestamps
00:02:11 Interest in joining the military
00:04:36 How he prepared for BUD/S
00:07:35 His mindset going into and at BUD/S
00:09:52 Biggest takeaways from going through BUD/S
00:13:20 How many years he was in the Navy and where he was deployed
00:16:08 Optimizing his performance as a SEAL
00:19:10 What surprised him the most when he was in the SEAL Teams
00:20:07 How serving as a SEAL changed his perspective on life
00:21:43 What the transition into civilian life was like for him
00:25:23 Inspiration to start Ravn
00:27:13 Ravn overview
00:29:45 The problem with introducing disruptive technologies to military personnel
00:33:36 Augmented reality and how it applies to Ravn
00:38:37 Theoretical use case of Ravn
00:43:26 Applications of their technology outside of the military
00:44:18 Ultimate vision for Ravn
00:46:46 Biggest lessons he's learned so far about entrepreneurship
00:49:03 Why he's pissed at where history has gotten us
00:50:10 His daily routine
00:51:16 His driving force
00:53:07 Parting words of wisdom for the aspiring entrepreneur
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