All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. Good
day. I'm Jim Fossone. I'm the Officer of the
Deck today here on Veterans Radio and thanks
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.com. We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today
Mike Sherbakov, who is a Marine veteran. We're
going to talk about that military service, but
we're also going to talk about the venture fund
that he is involved in as a general partner.
Mike, welcome to Veterans Radio. Jim, thanks
so much for having me today. Well, let's start
with how did a nice kid like you from California
end up in the Marines for five years? Yeah, well
it's a bit of an interesting story. I grew up
in the Bay Area and first -generation immigrant.
I have two older sisters and a younger brother
and with my family the path was always You get
great grades, you go to a great college, you
get a great job, and that's just that's your
life path. So my oldest sister went to Stanford.
My sister after that got a full ride to William
and Mary and then got her doctorate in neuroscience.
My little brother ended up getting his master's
from Berkeley. And I'll tell you this, Jim, I
remember exactly where I was when I heard about
the planes hitting the towers and. It shook me
and I knew I wanted to do something. Combine
that with a number of other factors, including
seeing my family again as first -generation immigrants
start in this country with nothing and through
entrepreneurship, through hard work and discipline.
make an incredible life for themselves. My parents
now live in the Bay Area. They have a farm and
horses and chickens and goats. And again, seeing
what my family was able to do in one generation
in this country, seeing an attack on our soil.
And I had one of those Marine posters in my room
of the scout sniper, you know, the force recon
team. And I just felt like although everything
in my family is telling me to go this one path,
which my siblings did, I was going a different
way and so without telling my parents I actually
went to the recruiter's office. didn't know much
about the Marines. I just wanted to do the hardest
thing I could and join the Marines in June 2003,
which was kind of the peak of the war. It was
really, you know, we had to kind of insert ourselves
into Fallujah in April of 2003. And I was on
active duty for five years. I went in originally
as a comm tech enlisted Marine, ended up teaching
their version of hand -to -hand combat called
MCMAP, the Marine Corps Marshal Arts Program.
and was very grateful for my time in service,
met a lot of incredible people, always interestingly
part of non -deployable units to make sure there
was the consistency in the training. And in 2008,
at the end of my active duty time, I also knew
it was time to transition out. There were a number
of things and I wanted to implement during my
time in the Marines, things that would make processes
much more efficient. I was essentially shut down
when I tried to bring new innovative ideas on
ways we could save ourselves so much time and
money. And that's ultimately, we can fast forward
a lot and talk about the parts in between, but
that's ultimately what led me to entrepreneurship.
I ended up doing my undergrad after the Marines.
I had started and sold two companies in the health
and wellness space. But I fell in love with entrepreneurship.
And now, obviously, with what I do, investing
in great startups that are advancing this great
nation of ours. Well, let me back up to the family
for a minute, because everybody, clearly your
parents valued education. The other siblings
all kind of went off to that direction. How was
it received when, I don't know, what were you,
18 years old or something, when you walked into
the house and said, hey mom, hey dad, guess what,
I joined the Marines. It was a surprise. Yeah,
it was a surprise to everyone in my family and,
you know, combine that I'm kind of giving the
the wave tops of this, right, but underneath
were a number of other factors. You know, I remember
going into the recruiter's office and I don't
know if they still do this strategy, but it worked
quite well on me. The recruiter put out a bunch
of placards with words on them like camaraderie,
adventure, brotherhood, patriotism, and said,
put these in order of what's important to you.
I remember thinking I can't even put them in
order because they're all important to me. So
in addition to the wave tops of what I shared
was happening in the country and with my family,
it was also a sense of independence for me. It
was a sense of wanting to push myself and try
something I haven't done, create that separation
from my family to prove what I could do in addition
to the patriotism and wanting to defend our great
nation. Yeah it was it was very unexpected and
i remember not long after it was only about a
month from the time i first walked in the recruiter's
office took the asap did all of the i forgot
what they call it all the the screening and everything
to be shipped off about a month from the time
i first walked into the time i was stepping on
the yellow footprints at mcrd san diego and i
remember just three months later graduating boot
camp as a squad leader and. kind of peeking out
of the corner of my eye and seeing my family
sitting on those benches there on the parade
deck in San Diego and it was a very proud moment.
I definitely had a tear coming out of my eye
just because I knew how proud they were even
though it was a very unconventional path from
my family. Well I think unconventional path maybe
is a good title of your book when you write it.
You went from you know high school into the marines
for five years where you get a lot of uh you
know off book education uh you you meet a lot
of people you know you get to you get some income
and get to flex your wings a little bit but as
you said you didn't go and get your uh college
degree you you ended up attaining a bachelor
of science from san diego state university until
post marine corps if i understand it that's right
so when i got out of the marines um But just
a few weeks after my date of separation started
at San Diego State University, my last duty station
was at Camp Pendleton. And so I knew I wanted
to stay in San Diego. And I studied kinesiology
and psychology because it was kind of what I
knew at the time. And as I was going through
my studies, I knew I wanted to pursue entrepreneurship.
I didn't end up studying it. I just knew I'd
kind of learn it on the job. So just within a
few months of graduating from San Diego State
University, I actually started my first business
in the health and wellness space called HMS Fitness.
It was a franchise model of FitBody Bootcamp,
if anyone's familiar with that company. And we
talked a little bit about this before hitting
record, Jim, but it really just was a function
of hard work and discipline. And getting it done
and which is really a large part of the thesis
now of the venture capital fund that i started
and run with three of my partners called the
veteran fund we invest in founders like me it's
kind of the thing i wish existed at that time
because i know that military veterans possess
a leadership resilience and purpose. that your
kind of average civilian may have, but they've
tested it and proven it, and that's why we invest
in those types of founders. So yeah, that's what
I did after my studies at San Diego State University.
After I sold that first company, I started a
second one, joined a venture -backed startup,
and then helped another company ultimately go
public via reverse merger. And that was the end
of my kind of operational founder experience.
I transitioned then full time to the investor
side of things. That's what I've been doing for
the last decade. And I want to get to this term
internal fire because there's nothing in the
Marine Corps, you know, a hand -to -hand combat
area or a degree in kinesiology from San Diego
State where you'd go, oh, this guy's going to
end up in the venture world. But you had an internal
fire or drive and really that's what everybody
needs and really accounts for success in the
long run, doesn't it? Jim, you're spot on. And
this actually comes full circle to the story
of watching what my parents were able to do in
one generation. with hard work and discipline
and drive. And I really believe this is the only
country in the world where you can do that. You're
absolutely right. You look at my path and it
is not a traditional one for venture capital.
It was traditionally, you know, you go out and
Go to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, you get your MBA,
you work as an investment banker, you eventually
kind of work your way to be maybe an analyst
and associate and you spend a decade in a firm
and you finally make partner, you break through.
And as you can see in my path was nothing like
that. And only in this country is that possible.
But when I find something and I imagine, Jim,
this is the same thing for you. When I find something
I'm interested in, I go all in. I've read every
single book there is on venture capital. I still
listen to every podcast. I talk to everyone about
it. There's this insatiable curiosity for me
and quite honestly, the folks that are also in
this industry. I'm surrounded in venture capital
by big thinkers, by people who solve problems.
I want to slow you down a little bit because
I want people out there who think... Well, I
can't I got this idea, but I can't do it. I don't
have the right education I don't have the right
connections. I don't have the Whatever they think
is holding the back unconventional past work
if you have as you said hard work driving curiosity
That's more important than some of those other
factors, isn't it? 100 % One hundred percent
jam this is also why our investment thesis is
what it is that the better fun we invest in.
military veterans running critical technology
companies. We're not necessarily, some of them,
yeah, they graduated from Stanford and Harvard
and Yale and all those places, but that's not
what we're looking for. We know that, again,
they have the leadership resilience and purpose
to be focused on a mission set and accomplish
it. And so, again, I think anyone, it doesn't
matter what your background is. It doesn't matter
where you're starting. It doesn't matter whether
you have the network, the connections, the resources,
or the knowledge. If you have the curiosity and
the drive to do it, this country allows you to
do that. And you hit a number of things along
the way that I want to point out to people again
as to, well, how do I build my pathway, my unconventional
pathway to this goal? Well, you get involved
in everything. Everything interesting in that
field that you want to be in, you get involved
in. You were brand ambassador for Bunker Labs.
A lot of our listeners will know what Bunker
Labs is. You've been a brand ambassador and strategy
consultant for different types of big name entities.
FitBed, Lululemon are two that are listed. But
you also did something that I thought was interesting
because I'd never heard of it. You went to VC
University to go through a cohort in 2023, I
think it is. to say, yeah, I want to learn more.
This is where I'm going. I'm driven in this direction.
What can I do? And it's really about doing it
all almost, isn't it? That's exactly right. And
that's a perfect example. BC University is just
one of many resources out there. Again, I asked
everyone in this world of venture capital and
angel investing, what are the resources that
they recommended? Every book someone mentioned
I'd order every podcast they mentioned I'd listen
to and find which ones I resonated with every
course I could do again I just wanted to immerse
myself in it and then all of a sudden over time
now it's everyone in my world I've been doing
it for a while now but everyone in my world professionally
is I kind of look at the network around and see
wow there are. Incredible people here that i
have no idea would be in my life a decade ago
incredible investors from all types of firms
and angel investors and just the most interesting
humans and it came from following my curiosity
and jim an important note here is a lot of those
resources are also available for free. In fact,
as an example, it was four years ago where I
started, there's a program called Founder Institute.
It's the world's largest startup accelerator.
I still run that program and I give all veterans
a fellowship to go through that program for free.
If you have an idea for a business, you go what
we call from zero to one, which by the way is
a really great book by Peter Thiel called Zero
to One for anyone interested in starting a business.
But I say that because there are so many incredible
resources out there available to the entire community.
But for veterans, they kind of have a head start
because so many of these programs offer partial
or full scholarships for the veteran community.
And so whether it's starting a business or any
other pursuit that they may have, I would encourage
everyone just get curious and pursue that curiosity.
You'll be surprised at who you meet along the
way. Okay, perfect segue because we talk a lot
with veteran business owners who have like When
you're in the military you have one network,
but it's all military network. It's not business
associates It's not fraternity brothers running
the bank. It's a different network and it takes
a while to build your for veterans to build their
civilian employment or passion network and that's
part of what you were doing for I don't know
what was it 10 years before you really kind of
broke in seriously into the venture world but
you got to do that you got to build a new network
don't you that's right and yes and that come
though it's it's a byproduct of what I just said
which is ask yourself what it is you're curious
about and then follow that curiosity relentlessly
And you may you'll be surprised when you wake
up one day and look around and see the incredible
people in your life i think about this all the
time how grateful i am to have these incredible
people these investors and founders and dreamers
and doers and builders in my life and that just
came as a function of following that curiosity.
So each and i look back at all these dots that
connect right i had an incredible built incredible
relationships in the military during my time
in the marines of course many of which i still
stay in touch with now i just had a call last
week with someone i was in the mill in the marines
with and then you know going and doing my undergrad.
I'm still in touch with, I was in a fraternity
there. I was part of the student veteran organization.
So I still stay in touch with people in that
network. And then when I was a startup founder,
I obviously met a lot of people in that world.
So I got to build upon all the different networks
that I built in all of these different projects.
Naturally, when you follow that curiosity, you're
going to meet other people that are curious about
the same thing. And again, you wake up one day
and you just. I'm amazed at now, all of a sudden,
the quality of people in your life. Before we
turn to the venture fund in a little more detail,
I want to talk a little bit, because you've mentioned
it a couple of times, Mike Shurbakov. The family
role here and appreciation for what your parents
have been able to do in a generation and what
your siblings are doing now. Seems to be a real
motivator for you. Tell us a little bit about
your where's your parents come from? What what
what rooted them into? Hey, this is where we
can build the family's future Well, interestingly,
yeah, especially given the nature of what we
invest in at the veteran fund Which is critical
technology advancing America. I was born in Russia
So my parents, my mom's family extended families
from Ukraine. My dad is his family's from Belarus.
They met in Moscow University. And I remember
speaking with my dad about this, but he knew
that there wasn't opportunity there. He knew
he wanted to leave and he did get an incredible
opportunity to come to the U .S. He's very, very
smart. My dad was one of the first ones that
invented the personal computer in Russia. And
so he was recruited by a company that knew about
him in the United States in the Bay Area. And
so they were very intentional about coming to
the Bay Area because they knew that was kind
of where the center of tech was. It was where
the most opportunity existed. We moved to first
a town called Berkeley. Then we moved to Mountain
View, California. This is before I think Google
had just planted a seed there. They certainly
didn't have the kind of campus or footprint they
do now. But my parents were very intentional
in setting us up for success. And I shared this
actually with them this last Thanksgiving is
how grateful when I look back how grateful I
am for them about the sacrifices they made. my
parents have always put us as the kids first.
They really, every move that they made was with
their kids in mind, and how can we set them up
for success? And so I'm very, very grateful to
them. And interestingly, my third year in the
Marines, when I ended up getting my secret clearance,
I renounced my Russian citizenship, turned in
my passport. Yeah, just grateful. Well, you're
all in. I mean, that's sort of the message of
my group. Hey, he's all in. When he's into something,
he's all in. Yeah, and I actually remember them,
you know, in my interview process asking that
question. I think it's just formality and I understand
it. And they asked the question of if we ever
get into some kind of kinetic conflict or conflict
with Russia, whose side are you on? And I almost
said, are you kidding me? I like I bleed red,
white and blue. I love this country. It's in
my DNA. I love America. I love everything America
stands for and I obviously will lay my life on
the line to protect that way of life here. Well
what caught my attention was a press release
or a news article on the Venture Fund. which
had got fully funded. I think it's first round.
And I'll just read this, and I'll ask you to
explain it. The Venture Fund is dedicated to
advancing America through venture capital. It
focuses on sectors where technology meets the
mission, like cyber security, AI, drones, space,
advanced computing, and additive manufacturing.
What a variety of cool, interesting, important
areas. But tell us, for those who are going like,
look, this is such a California thing. I don't
know what the hell venture capital's about or
venture funds are about. Can you give somebody
the venture fund 101? Yeah, let's very simply
put, as I mentioned, in addition to the veteran
fund, I also run the veterans program for the
world's largest startup accelerator. This is,
again, companies. and founders, startup founders
that are going from zero to one. They have an
idea. We say ideation to MVP, to minimum viable
product, but to make it even simpler, Jim, we
help people that have ideas start businesses.
Now, when those businesses start to grow and
scale, especially for us, the ones that are advancing
our country. I mentioned some, you mentioned
some of them, but we love what are called critical
technologies, directed energy system, hypersonics,
integrated sensing, human machine interfaces,
advanced computing, renewable energy, space technology.
I like to say investments that matter. When those
companies get to a certain point, venture capital
comes in and says, we love this. We are going
to infuse it with capital to help this grow.
Our target is we come in at a certain stage of
the company called the seed stage, very early.
We come alongside them, we help them grow, and
then we want to get that technology either into
the hands of the war fighters or depending on
the industry. As an example, just a few days
ago, one of our companies, Lone Star Lunar, did
its second successful landing on the moon. And
this company is on a mission to put data centers
on the moon. So we are building and investing
in technology that's advancing this country.
We come in with the capital, the resources, and
the network to make sure they succeed. Does that
make sense, Jim? Absolutely. I mean, this is
where venture capital steps in where banks fear
to tread, right? There's a lot of risk. It's
still scaling up. We don't really know if it'll
all work. Somebody has to put some money in and
take on some risk that this thing will either
grow like crazy or explode like crazy. And venture
capital and those who fund it are willing to
help support that growth and take on risk. That's
exactly the right way to put it. Yeah, it is
an inherently risky asset class. Obviously, we
come in very early, but with high risk comes
high reward. And that reward is not only the
financial incentive, which every single investment
we make has, we do not invest if we don't see
the potential for it to 100X. Every single investment
we look at through the lens of, can this company
100X from where it is today? Yes, the financial
incentive is a great one. But in addition to
that, as I mentioned, these are technologies
that we want to see exist in the world. So it's
not necessarily the safe bet, but it's the bet
that we make that we want this to exist. We want
these space companies to continue to innovate.
I mean, imagine if Elon Musk with everything
he's doing now, if no one believed in him, imagine
if he didn't believe in himself because he wanted
to be more rational or said, no, there's no way
we can get to Mars or there's no way we can build
better electric vehicles or we can create brain
computer interfaces. But imagine what our world
would be if we didn't have innovators and if
we didn't have folks like us as VCs to back those
innovators and builders and believe in them.
I want to, before we run out of time, and this
always goes faster than you think it should,
I want to at least mention your other general
partners because it's not a one -man show and
everybody brings something else to the table.
So tell us a little bit about your other partners.
They are, first of all, they are my best friends.
I've known them since before we started the fun
together and we've only grown closer during our
time running this. This absolutely would not
exist and you're absolutely right, this is not
a one man show. What's even more important is
in addition to my three partners, which I'll
touch on briefly in a moment, we have incredible,
they're called LPs, limited partners, investors
in the fund from a four star gentlemen, Crystal.
to folks like Deepak Chopra and the owners of
the New England Patriots. We have incredible
people that learned about our mission and decided
to come alongside us. And as we just talked about,
it's a risky asset class. They're taking a bet.
They're investing in us because they believe
in our mission. And I'm always grateful for that.
I never forget about that. So just very quickly.
One of my partners, Justin Ahama, a Marine officer,
federal prosecutor for five years, helped scale
CrossFit when it was just 10 gyms to what it
is today. He was Deepak Chopra's lawyer, incredible
human. I cannot say enough great things about
Lisa real estate investor built a sixty million
dollar real estate portfolio one miss nevada
use that as a platform and ran for congress set
a fundraising record for the state of nevada
in her congressional run she's a member of ypo
which is an incredible organization i cannot
say enough great things about her. Ryan Micheletti
also served in the military. He built a personal
equity portfolio of 700 startups. That's how
many are in his personal equity portfolio. So
we all bring a very different set of experiences
and network and resources to the Better Fund.
I think that really is what makes us successful
is our very unique and diverse backgrounds. So
you've mentioned Founders Institute and how to,
if somebody says, oh, that's interesting. I want
to dig a little more. Do you have a website for
that? We do. So it's very simple, fi .co slash
veteran. When they go to that, they'll see me
on the homepage. They'll actually see because
of JP Morgan Chase that all veterans receive
a fellowship to go through that program for free.
Again, fi .co slash veteran. And if they want
more about the veteran fund, where do they look?
Yeah, we made our website as easy as possible,
veteran .fund. And they'll find all of our partners
listed on there. They'll find all of our portfolio
companies, our thesis. And if there's someone
listening that has a company looking for investment,
we write $500 ,000 up to $1 .5 million checks
into companies. So if they feel like they have
a great company that kind of fits that mold,
as I talked about, that's venture backable, that
has that 100x potential that's building in critical
technology, I certainly encourage them to go
to our website and apply for funding. It's really
an interesting story and an interesting focus
and niche and I wanted you to talk about your
partners because in part it drives home this
idea that this is a bunch of former military
folk who understand this space, trying to do
good, great limited partners, can bring some
money to the table but can more importantly bring
expertise, guidance. I mean, just because you've
got a great idea on critical technology, you
may not be skilled in all the things associated
with scaling it up. And that's part of what I'm
sure the Venture Fund brings to the table. Yep,
we do. We come alongside our founders and we
make sure that they're successful. Well, I want
to say thanks again, Mike, for taking some time
to talk about the... Veteran Fund here on Veterans
Radio. We had to move things around to squeeze
this in, but I'm glad we did. And I know you've
got another commitment I got to get you to. So
again, Mike Sherbakov, thank you for your service
in the Marine Corps, but more importantly, for
the focus that you're doing now with the Veteran
Fund. Jim, thank you for the great work you're
doing with Veterans Radio. I'm very grateful
to be here. And I want to thank everybody for
listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim Fossone.
It's been a pleasure to be your host. I'm a Veterans
disability lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans
and you can reach us at 800 -693 -4800 or legalhelpforveterans
.com on the web. You can follow Veterans Radio
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