In the 18 months since it was launched, Next Studios has carved out a niche working with underserved entrepreneurs and startup companies, many of them in the tech space.
The Indianapolis-based venture studio is now partnering with Bunker Labs to work with an underserved group that might not be top-of-mind: military veterans.
“In the time since we launched and in the short time we’ve worked with Bunker Labs, we’ve learned a lot,” says John McDonald, a longtime local tech executive and co-founder of Next Studios. “If you are an underserved founders’ community, it’s a real hand-to-hand combat struggle … to get the support you need to take an idea and turn it into a company. And military vets are definitely underserved.”
Bunker Labs provides community, programs and courses to help military veterans and military spouses start and grow successful businesses and startups. The non-profit organization has 40 chapters across the nation, including one in Indiana headed by former U.S. Army Ranger Shawn Gardner.
Gardner, who graduated from Indiana University’s ROTC program and served in the Army from 1995-2018, explains there was once a proud tradition of U.S. military veterans going to work for themselves. Today, that tradition has waned.
“After World War II, 50% of vets started and owned their own businesses,” Gardner says. “Today, only 5% of post 9/11 vets own their own business. Our goal is to take the skillset veterans have acquired in the military and help them get into thriving businesses.”
Next Studios, in conjunction with Bunker Labs, is hosting one of its Discovery Week programs specifically for military veterans during the first quarter or early second quarter of this year. McDonald describes Discovery Week as an intensive bootcamp-style business accelerator that helps take entrepreneurs through the ideation phase of their company so it can march into startup mode.
McDonald is convinced that Next Studio’s Discovery Week program can fill a big void for the state, and military vets can be a part of the solution.
“We don’t have enough startups here,” McDonald emphasizes.
Despite a number of rankings that site Indiana as a great place to start a business, the state ranks in the bottom 10% of U.S. states in the actual number of startups launched, according to the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation.
“It’s new businesses, not small businesses that are creating new job roles in the economy,” McDonald stresses. “No new businesses means no new jobs. And if we’re not replacing jobs lost by automation, it’s effectively a death sentence for the state.”
Next Studios has run its Discovery Week template for other sectors and groups, including women, people of color and certain tech sectors such as educational-technology-minded entrepreneurs.
“We have a real focus on being supportive for underfunded communities,” McDonald stresses. “This program is designed to serve as the friends and family an entrepreneur doesn’t have.”
Friends and family are often the first line of support for an entrepreneur, offering advice, ideas, a sounding board and financial backing.
“For underserved communities, there’s less than a 10% chance of getting your startup company funded in Indiana,” McDonald says.
“Many of these programs are 14 to 18 weeks. The people we’re working with don’t have 14 to 18 weeks to figure out if their idea is a good one,” McDonald stresses. “Discovery Week is an accelerator. It’s one week. It’s intense and intentional.”
As part of the Discovery Week, McDonald hopes to introduce participants to potential investors. Next Studios began working with the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership in early 2021 to raise funding for underserved entrepreneurs and startups through the newly established Next Community Impact Fund. McDonald said the goal is to establish a $10 million fund, but said Next Studios officials won’t wait until that amount is raised to start investing.
“It’s difficult to get pre-seed money for anyone,” McDonald states. “For minorities, it’s impossible. Even $10,000 to $15,000 is very challenging to raise. If a startup comes from an underserved community, investors deem it riskier even though it isn’t.”
Bunker Labs is looking to build a relationship with veteran entrepreneurs that goes far beyond one week. Nationally, Bunker Labs has a strong Veterans in Residence program, and Gardner is hoping to kick-start that locally this summer.
“This is our call out for veteran entrepreneurs,” Gardner says. “We’re looking to get 15 Indiana applicants for Veterans in Residence, and to put seven to 10 in the first cohort.”
Gardner, who previously served as chief operating officer of local computer coding school Eleven Fifty Academy, says many of the companies coming through the program will be tech or tech-enabled, but they’ll come from a wide range of sectors.
The two cohorts in the statewide program will run January through June and July through December. The Veterans in Residence program will consist of weekly events, including seminars, speakers and networking opportunities with potential funders and others within the cohort. At maturity, Gardner would like to have up to 20 veteran-run companies going through the program annually.
“We think Next Studios’ Discovery Week will be important in helping us select and vet the right entrepreneurs and startups for the Veterans in Residence program,” Gardner says. “We’re looking for some good veteran startups that we can really help grow and flourish. This program, in partnership with Next Studios, can be good for veterans and the Indiana economy.”
