VeteranCrowd Spotlight on Taylor McLemore – Building technology companies with impact
Nine years ago, Taylor McLemore penned a blog article about how we, as a startup community, could do more to support veterans. The “germ of that idea” came from family members who had been in the military, and Taylor’s resulting passion to “serve those who served.”
Taylor was surprised when a tweet directed at David Cohen, one of the co-founders of Techstars, elicited a very direct response. David said, “Cool idea. What do you think we should do?”
That call to action set the Patriot Boot Camp in motion.
We asked Taylor to step into the Spotlight on the VeteranCrowd Network.
Builder, connector and investor
So today Taylor McLemore is a venture builder, scale operator, community connector, and investor. He currently serves as the Managing Director of the Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator in Denver.
And Taylor is also the founder and a board director for Patriot Boot Camp, the spawn of his blog post, the nonprofit that supports military veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs. Patriot Boot Camp programs have worked with more than 1,000 military veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs to build technology companies of impact and scale.
These companies have raised more than $110 million in venture capital and created more than 2,000 jobs.
I met Taylor in Chapel Hill in 2015 when I attended Patriot Boot Camp as a speaker and mentor for the first time. Over the course of additional PBC events in places like Detroit and Austin, I watched this weekend seminar have a profound impact on veterans and military spouses starting all manner of businesses.
And I also grew to appreciate Taylor’s talent and passion for the military community.
The VeteranCrowd Spotlight
In this episode we cover:
– Conviction is a more powerful motivator than capital gain.
– Entrepreneurs are made, not born.
– The power of a team aligned on the right mission.
– The impact of COVID 19 and the tech answers coming from it.
– Mentor driven entrepreneurial models and much more.
And we talk about the impact of the Patriot Boot Camp – learn more at the PBC Web Page
Subscribe to the VeteranCrowd Network and stay in touch
About Techstars
Techstars is a global platform for investment and innovation. Founded in 2006, Techstars began with three simple ideas—entrepreneurs create the future, collaboration drives innovation, and great ideas can come from anywhere. Today the mission is to make innovation accessible to everyone, everywhere. Visit the Techstars web page
More about Taylor McLemore
You can see Taylor’s Profile on LinkedIn
Previously, Taylor was Managing Director of Able, a venture and product studio. While at Able, he was a co-founder and investment lead for Codeable, a coding school in Latin America. Taylor serves on the Colorado Banking Board.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Spanish, Phi Beta Kappa from Davidson College.