Going from SEALs to startups: Special Ops drawn to Silicon Valley
SAN DIEGO — Keith David spent years flying around the globe on covert missions, making life-and-death decisions and overseeing multiple units unleashing airstrikes against insurgents. The former Navy SEAL now realizes it was the perfect training for a career in Silicon Valley.
A growing number of U.S. special forces veterans are veering off the traditional path of working for private security firms and law enforcement agencies, and instead are heading into the tech industry. Companies are discovering their abilities to build teams and think outside the box make them a good fit for the innovative businesses.
“It’s very adaptable and flexible, especially a startup, so it’s kind of like the Wild West where there are not a lot of rules,” David, 32, said of Silicon Valley, where he has worked at a robotics startup since October. “It’s more about getting things done and executing them. It’s very much like the SEAL teams in that there is not a lot of control from the top down.”
There is no hard data, but anecdotally, Silicon Valley businesses and special forces veterans say they are seeing more former SEALs, Army Rangers and other former special ops soldiers seeking jobs at the likes of Facebook, Airbnb and small startups.
“Special ops work in this blend of a big traditional structure and a small agile team. They grow up in this gray area that is a mix of big and stable and fast and light,” Chris Fussell, a former SEAL and managing partner of the McChrystal Group founded by retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The consulting firm works with Silicon Valley companies.
Former Marine Don Faul said he estimates 100 former special ops soldiers have gone into the tech industry in the past year or two. Faul — who served in a Force Reconnaissance company, which is similar to the SEALs — has worked at Google Inc., Facebook and Pinterest, and now is COO of Athos, a wearable technology startup.
The military veterans fill a gap in leadership skills for many tech companies, especially startups that formed around an idea and are thin on structure, Faul said.
Garret Unclebach, a SEAL who just left the Navy, said among his ambitions is to work for an independent lab called X that is run by Google’s new parent company, Alphabet Inc.
He never considered the tech industry until he met an X official through the foundation. They talked about the lab’s 2-year-old “Project Loon” program, which aims to get people internet access in remote areas of the world by deploying clusters of balloons about 60,000 feet above the Earth that act as floating cell towers. When a balloon is ready to come down, a parachute attached to the top is deployed.
As a master jumper, Unclebach, 26, saw a good fit since he knows how to ensure parachutes deploy correctly, something his life depended on in the military.
“It would be an incredible opportunity to work there,” he said.