BUNKER LABS NFP INC

Bunker Labs aims to grow our nationwide impact for veteran entrepreneurs over the next three years by achieving the following goals:

1) Deliver an impactful entrepreneur support model by:
• Continuing the nationwide rollout of our Bunker Brews and CEOcircle programs, and growing participation in Launch Lab Online by 25% year-over-year
• Cultivating strategic national, regional, and local partnerships and investing in ecosystem mapping to ensure that Bunker Labs entrepreneurs have easy access to the people and resources that they need
• Establishing two new national leadership roles – Director of Programming and Partnerships & Director of Chapter Operations – to ensure the success of our entrepreneur support model and continued expansion

2) Establish at least one local chapter in all 50 states by the end of 2021
• Order of city expansion established based on Deloitte-developed expansion strategy (leveraging data on entrepreneurship, veteran population, economic growth/need, and other factors in cities), in-bound interest from key stakeholders and veteran leaders, and partnership opportunities
• Establish regional management model where Regional Executive Directors will manage selection of three-person city leader teams, set up early community-building events, convene local VSO, ESO, & community stakeholders, and oversee chapter launch
• Where possible, Bunker Labs will leverage existing national partnerships with WeWork, Team RWB, the Mission Continues, the Kauffman Foundation, and others to provide a foundation for the local chapter’s community-building and operations

3) Cultivate, train, and support teams of three volunteer city leaders at each Bunker Labs chapter
• Invest in Bunker Labs city leaders by placing them at the nexus of a supercharged business and civic community that can provide tremendous opportunities for their personal development and business careers, and by providing toolkits and technical resources, twice-yearly national city leader convenings, coaching and support from regional staff, and special opportunities
• Create teams of three city leaders in each market (with staggered 2-year terms), purposefully selecting teams which collectively have the entrepreneur-support, community-building, and operational capacity to execute our program model locally
• Establish a robust process for onboarding, ongoing professional development and leadership transition to make each 2-year term for a city leader as effective as possible

Bunker Labs provides entrepreneurship programming leveraging best practices from the startup world and convenes a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs, subject matter experts, investors, and business partners where veterans can build the connections that they need to succeed. Our Launch Lab Online program allows veterans and military families to learn about entrepreneurship and begin to develop their business at any time and from any place, making our programs accessible to those with work and family commitments, as well as more geographically-distant or homebound disabled veterans and caregivers. Our CEOcircle program addresses the needs of later-stage entrepreneurs through a year-long cohort-based program that helps them to work on their business, rather than just in their business.

Our new chapter launches are supported by our robust process for selection, ongoing professional development, and leadership transition for local city leaders; this process is purposeful in building teams which have the entrepreneur-support, community-building, and operational capacity to effectively execute our program model locally. Furthermore, we have established a scalable partnership strategy wherein the Bunker can leverage existing national partnerships with corporations, veteran organizations, and entrepreneurship organizations to provide a foundation for the local chapter’s ecosystem.

Bunker Labs’ Director of Chapter Operations is a Marine Corps veteran and entrepreneur who launched the highly successful Bunker Labs chapter in Minneapolis before moving into his current role. Our continued expansion benefits from his expertise, as well as that of our Regional Executive Directors – all of whom are veteran/military spouse entrepreneurs who previously led outstanding local chapters.

Bunker Labs has a strong record of launching local chapters, having expanded to twenty-seven cities (and counting) since 2014. We know this expansion has been successful because of ongoing engagement by veteran entrepreneurs in local programming, other organizations’ interest in partnering, feedback from the entrepreneurs we serve, and numerous inbound requests to launch chapters in additional cities. As stated above, Bunker Labs has developed a four-stage program model; hosted thousands of veterans and businesses leaders at conferences, pitch competitions, and networking events; and built a national network of mentors and subject matter experts who support veteran entrepreneurs to grow their businesses in-person and online. Since 2014, Bunker Labs has provided programming to more than 1,010 veteran-led startups. So far these startups have generated $117,463,328 in revenue, created 1,954 jobs and 418 jobs for military veterans, and raised $80,120,447 in capital.