Think of the event as a kind of boot camp for anyone with connections to military life — active-duty military, veterans or military spouses — who might want to start a business.
Army veteran Nicholas Ripplinger, founder and president of Dayton’s Battle Sight Technologies, recalled his challenging start, being hit with a trademark infringement warning a couple of weeks before his young company launched a key product.
Ripplinger won the dispute, but it wasn’t cheap. Today he has seven trademarks and several patents.
His advice to those attending at the Hope Hotel or listening virtually: Network. Lean on the knowledge of those around you at this event or in daily life.
“I couldn’t imagine starting a technology company anywhere else in the world,” Ripplinger said of Dayton. “It’s 1,000% the place to be.”
Lisa Coker, an Air Force veteran and chief executive of Dayton business consulting services firm Infinite Management Solutions, advised listeners to focus on excellent customer service.
“The best way to grow is to perform at an excellent level, so your customers become your evangelists,” Coker said.
The USPTO is leading a military outreach across all bureaus or geographic areas covered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Wright-Patterson is the 12th military base the office has visited this year.
“Why wasn’t Wright Patterson first,” asked Kathi Vidal, director of the USPTO as well as under secretary of commerce for intellectual property. “Why are you 12th? This base is just so phenomenal.”
Vidal said veterans and military family members are often uniquely suited to the rigors of entrepreneurship, having lived a life that requires supreme adaptability.
“You know that failure is not an option,” Vidal said. “You’ve got to have a Plan B.”
“Military service for sure has an ending,” Col. Dustin Richards, commander of Wright-Patterson’s 88th Air Base Wing said in opening remarks. “Figuring out what’s next for you is really important.”
With a nearly $4 billion annual budget, the USPTO grants patents and registers trademarks to protect inventions and product ideas.
But in an interview with the Dayton Daily News before the day’s events, Vidal said this “road show” to military bases offers much more to anyone thinking of starting a business.
“We also partner with the Small Business Administration, with local communities that are supporting the military, and then we bring in success stories so that those in the military can hear from people like them what it takes to be an entrepreneur.”
“It’s not OK just to fail and give up,” she said of life in the military. “There’s just a mentality.”
Among the day’s panelists was Brian McJilton, director of small business and the deputy director of the strategic partnering directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory, which is headquartered at Wright-Patterson.
AFRL will always depend on small businesses with smart ideas, McJilton said.
“Without you, we would not be able to create the next game-breaking technologies,” he said.
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