This episode features a conversation with Emily McMahan ‘01, Co-founder and General Partner of Academy Investor Network, a seed-stage focused venture fund that invests in dual-use technology and military veteran-led startups. She has a passion for working with startups and connecting people, technologies, and companies solving tough national security, civic, and social challenges for good.
This episode features a conversation with Emily McMahan ‘01, Co-founder and General Partner of Academy Investor Network, a seed-stage focused venture fund which invests in dual-use technology and military veteran-led startups. She has a passion for working with startups and connecting people, technologies, and companies solving tough national security, civic, and social challenges for good.
Before founding AIN, Emily was a startup founder. She led a military veteran-focused incubator, Capitol Post, which advised hundreds of startups to leverage the region's strong business and startup community. Emily holds an MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating from West Point two months before 9/11, she was commissioned as a U.S. Army military police officer and deployed in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Noble Eagle.
In this episode of On Point, Emily talks about her experiences at West Point and in the military, and how they impacted her professional work and focus after transitioning into civilian life. She discusses the successful path she followed in her post-military career in entrepreneurship and being a venture capitalist. Emily also emphasizes the importance of creating a space where service academy graduates and the entrepreneurial community can deeply connect, listen, learn, and ultimately support each other.
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“I think you have to know yourself when you're transitioning to know who you are and what you like. And, I hope that all the work we've done up until that point prepares us for that. So knowing yourself and who you are is really important because you have to be careful that you don't choose something based off of other people's expectations of what you should do. I see a lot of folks that are transitioning often that sort of have this expectation of what they're supposed to do. You have to know yourself and kind of go through that process.” - Emily McMahan ‘01
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(02:18) Segment: AAR - Emily’s decision to attend West Point
(04:35) Cadet type
(05:19) Walking hours
(05:56) Classes and studies
(06:39) Mentors at the academy
(08:20) Choosing a branch
(10:58) First OBC assignment
(11:21) Emily’s military career
(13:50) Segment: Sit Rep - Emily’s civilian career
(16:01) Starting Capitol Post
(16:55) Merging Capitol Post with Bunker Labs
(17:45) Co-founding the Academy Investor Network
(23:41) Leveraging and investing in opportunities at the network
(31:00) West Point Entrepreneurship Summit
(34:10) Lessons from volleyball at West Point
(36:33) Segment: SOP - Routines for success
(40:34) Day-to-day in venture investing
(42:39) Mentorship
(48:22) Segment: Giving Back
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West Point Association of Graduates
[00:00:00] Narrator: Hello and welcome to On Point. This episode features a conversation with Emily McMahan ‘01, Co-founder and General Partner of Academy Investor Network, a seed-stage focused venture fund that invests in dual-use technology and military veteran-led startups. She has a passion for working with startups and connecting people, technologies, and companies solving tough national security, civic, and social challenges for good. Before starting AIN, Emily was a startup founder. She led a military veteran-focused incubator, Capitol Post, that advised hundreds of startups to leverage the strong business and startup community.Emily holds an MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating from West Point two months before 9/11, she was commissioned as a U.S. Army military police officer and deployed in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Noble Eagle. In this episode of On Point, Emily talks about her experiences at West Point and in the military, and how they impacted her professional work and focus after transitioning into civilian life. She discusses the successful path she followed in her post-military career in entrepreneurship and being a venture capitalist. Emily also emphasizes the importance of creating a space where service academy graduates and the entrepreneurial community can deeply connect, listen, learn, and ultimately support each other. Now, please enjoy this interview between Emily McMahan, and your hosts Tim Hsia and Lance Dietz.
[00:02:00] Tim Hsia: Welcome to on point founded by Eddie king west point class of 2008. I'm Tim Hsia, West Point class of 2004.
[00:02:05] Lance Dietz: And I'm Lance Dietz, class of 2008.
[00:02:10] Tim Hsia: And today we're joined by Emily McMahan class of 2001. Emily, how are you? I'm good. Thank you. Awesome. We're very lucky and fortunate to have you on today's podcast.
Let's get into our first segment AR or for our non-military listeners after action review. In this segment, we'd like to touch on specifically what other veterans can learn from you, your process and your journey first and foremost. Could you please tell us about your decision to attend west point?
[00:02:24] Emily McMahan: Sure.
[00:02:25] Emily McMahan: So a little bit about me, my background, I was born and raised in a town about 20 minutes north of Boston, Massachusetts called Boxford. Um, and I have to give some background on that because, um, I had no family that was in the military or had. Served from an area that didn't have a lot of people go into the military sort of post high school.
[00:02:45] Emily McMahan: I was really lucky because at the time I had an older brother, an older sister who were looking at colleges. And so I was the youngest and probably like many people who've had to endure the college tour process. Their parents think they're helping by [00:03:00] dragging them along, regardless of what age they were.
[00:03:02] Emily McMahan: And I was very fortunate. You have an aunt live very close to west point. Notice I say aunt cuz I'm from, uh, Massachusetts, but my aunt Judy Kelly lived very close and we went to see her when I was in seventh grade, over our February vacation, which is what we had. and I share that story because we were actually really thinking my brother was gonna be interested in attending west point potentially at the time, given his interest in, you know, the military and the FBI and things like that.
[00:03:33] Emily McMahan: And it actually really had an impact on me surprisingly. And so throughout the rest of that time, junior high and high school, I did a lot of research and reading and was really interested at the end of the day, I think by the challenge and just the. Just sort of the feeling that I got when I went and sort of just like, I wanna be a part of this.
[00:03:51] Emily McMahan: I don't know if I necessarily understand the military or like have that perspective, but I just sort of felt this sense of challenge and [00:04:00] felt this sense of sort of like, I wanna be a part of this yet. I don't necessarily know if I have the words or experience to. Explain that. And, uh, I do have to give a shout out because my brother actually works at west point now.
[00:04:11] Emily McMahan: So we come full circle and, uh, I always love to share that now. So he's working at the G one at west point, which is super exciting and prepping for graduation as we speak .
[00:04:22] Tim Hsia: And what type of cadet were you?
[00:04:24] Emily McMahan: Great question. So I think I was kind of just like squarely in the middle, one of my west point classmates, Alex Gallo, who I just recently worked with and continue to work with, describes it.
[00:04:37] Emily McMahan: As you know, there's really this bell curve of cadets, you know, you've got the folks that are just like the star res and going on to be road scholars. And then you have sort of maybe the other end of the curve of like the folks who are maybe a little more. Struggling disciplinary, you know, just some of the challenges.
[00:04:53] Emily McMahan: I think I was pretty much like, kind of in the middle, not very remarkable, nothing really. [00:05:00] just pretty average if I'm honest and just sort of trying to keep my head above water. Did you walk
[00:05:05] Lance Dietz: any
[00:05:05] Emily McMahan: hours by chance Emily? So I did, I did have hours when I was a PLE. So as my roommate chassis Shafer can attest to, and some of my other, I won't go into all, all of my, uh, trials and tribulations, but I did leave milk on the window sill, which is probably one of my lightest infractions, but it was actually great.
[00:05:24] Emily McMahan: I, I played volleyball, so I, I got to do study hall, which is probably, um, More of a silver lining for me, just in terms of, you know, having to go up to whatever the sixth floor in Washington hall and study. But I definitely got some hours I was not immune. So,
[00:05:40] Tim Hsia: and what classes did you take? What was your major?
[00:05:42] Emily McMahan: So I was a human and regional geography major, which I just wanna give a huge shout out for. It is one of the best majors at west point, and I continue to tout it to anybody. I talk to. I loved it because I really felt like I came into my own cow year, junior year. I felt [00:06:00] like one of the best things about human and regional geography is you could take a lot of classes from other departments, which wasn't necessarily something that every major had.
[00:06:11] Emily McMahan: I got to take a lot of classes in the history department, like cherry pick, the ones that I wanted to take, which was fantastic. And I really enjoyed my cow in first year because of.
[00:06:21] Tim Hsia: West point. Did you develop or find any mentors?
[00:06:24] Emily McMahan: I did actually. I played volleyball, which I think one of the things we're really lucky is we have, you know, ORs office of representatives that travel with the team and are there to sort of support you.
[00:06:35] Emily McMahan: And I was really fortunate because I had, um, Colonel's like Maureen and Joe LaBuff. I don't know if you guys remember them. Colonel LaBuff was the master of the sword and then Colonel Joe LaBuff was in, uh BSNL and both fantastic. They were also my plebe sponsors so in addition to that, you know, I would go over their house a lot and have a lot of great stories.
[00:06:59] Emily McMahan: I've stayed in [00:07:00] touch with them even well into AEN. And so my, my current venture. Colonel bill mathy. He was in BSNL as well. I did sort of an experiment on my CTLT where I was to report back and keep a journal of my experience and sort of have somebody sort of ask questions and test me a little bit. And he was fantastic.
[00:07:18] Emily McMahan: And someone that I've kept in touch with to this day and then Colonel Carlos. Perez was also an econ professor. I don't know if you guys know him, but he was also fantastic. So a lot of people, I mean, I feel like it's hard to not, there's so many people there that are fantastic. So when
[00:07:33] Tim Hsia: I was APLE you were first C and the person that scared us was of course the LaBuff.
[00:07:38] Tim Hsia: But then how about Colonel ado? Chick?
[00:07:40] Emily McMahan: Oh my gosh. Yes. I can tell many his stories. I actually got stopped by Colonel adopt trick. One morning. I was out before you know that you couldn't leave your room. I, you know, had him kind of like come up behind me in his Jeep. And I just remember being, like, I never felt that fear, you know, and I don't even know how many beats a minute my pulse was, but it was [00:08:00] probably well over 200.
[00:08:03] Tim Hsia: what branch did you decide and
[00:08:04] Emily McMahan: why? So I ended up branching military. Which was heavily influenced by my time at CTLT, I did CTLT at Fort drum and I share that as probably one of the most impactful times at west point, because I think like many people that do DCL T or CTLT over, you know, whatever summer I had just such an amazing experience.
[00:08:29] Emily McMahan: So for CTLT, I basically did everything you could do as an MP in four. But now that I look back, I realize it was not sort of a normal experience. I'll just say the Lieutenant I was supposed to shadow was not there. So I got to pretty much do everything. And I think that that experience impacted me enough that I decided I wanted to branch MP.
[00:08:49] Emily McMahan: And I just have to put a shout out because. Every single person that was in that unit or battalion, I saw at some point in my military, like in my RV career, which is also a good [00:09:00] reminder, you will run into these people again. so it was great. Everyone from enlisted soldiers, all the way up to battalion commander, I ran into again on deployments and service.
[00:09:10] Emily McMahan: So that was really cool to be able to have that community already.
[00:09:13] Lance Dietz: And Emily, you graduated in 2001, a few months before nine 11. Really curious to hear what that was like, what Bullock was like. And so.
[00:09:23] Emily McMahan: Well, that is a fantastic, we didn't actually have Bullock when I graduated. And so I am often so curious to hear from people who graduated post nine 11 you're right.
[00:09:36] Emily McMahan: My class graduated nine 11. I even remember ours. Speech was all about like the future and terrorism and the potential of all these activities sort of leading up. There were some things that had happened in the Gulf. Like I remember, um, when the coal was bond, the USS coal, for instance, in October of the year before, I'll just share that.
[00:09:55] Emily McMahan: Nine 11 happened when I was in OBC at the officer basic course for MP [00:10:00] school. And I feel like in a way it was like everybody was just off to the races. And I feel like there was just such a seriousness and sort of intensity from that moment forward. Everybody knew that they were gonna be going off to something right after C and there was even a feeling like might we get sent earlier, which, um, we didn.
[00:10:21] Emily McMahan: It was just really interesting because most of our professors had served in desert storm or a lot of folks in Bosnia. And so the backdrop of our. Lessons learned and stories were really from that lens. And so I'll just share, my first assignment out of OBC was at the Pentagon after nine 11. So they had activated active MP units to support the Pentagon as part of operation noble Eagle in the United States.
[00:10:48] Emily McMahan: Yeah, it was a really interesting time, I think in terms of service immediately after nine 11, I can't imagine being at west point and sort of with that backdrop, that's an experience that we didn't have. [00:11:00]
[00:11:00] Tim Hsia: Can you walk us, uh, a bit more through your military career after being stationed at the Pentagon,
[00:11:05] Emily McMahan: like many people who served.
[00:11:07] Emily McMahan: And I feel like my story is very similar to a lot of folks, not only in my class, but the classes beyond. So I ended up going to the Pentagon right after I was commissioned. Coming back. I was stationed at Fort Stewart and the third infantry division as an MP. I was in a core unit, meaning we're kind of like free agents.
[00:11:25] Emily McMahan: We would get tasked and sent to a lot of different places and a lot of different units. And then from there I ended up getting sent to Afghanistan. And primarily in Bogram to do a lot of work with the detainee operations over there, and then as well, just a lot of missions with the 82nd, which were fantastic.
[00:11:44] Emily McMahan: So we had like a Schorge board of missions is kind of my point. It was a fantastic experience because we got a lot of different exposure to. Things that we, you know, trained on, but really didn't even intend to be doing over there, you know, before we got our first set [00:12:00] of orders, so to speak, I was at Fort Stewart for a brief time and then, you know, transitioned into a, a staff officer.
[00:12:07] Emily McMahan: And then I ended up going to the captain's career course. I think that's maybe what they still call it. and immediately knew I was gonna be coming back and going over to Iraq, which was kind of a fascinating backdrop. So again, kind of to this concept of seriousness, it was nice to sort of be connected with all these other officers who had already been over.
[00:12:26] Emily McMahan: And then from there, I ended up going back to third ID and I deployed with the division again, doing just a lot of different missions over in Iraq, primarily with respect to the police and supporting and training the police force and a lot of like force protection and different activities over there.
[00:12:42] Emily McMahan: And then from there, I actually ended up transitioning from active duty. My husband, I got married during that period and he had orders. I do have to put a plug. We were together for a period of our time in Iraq, but he had orders to go back to Iraq before we left. It was that time when. You know, units were just going [00:13:00] back and forth.
[00:13:01] Emily McMahan: And so at that point, I, I decided to transition out. I ended up going into the reserves from there as an MP and doing some work up in Washington DC. But yeah, so that's a little bit of like my brief time, but kind of very, very interesting period. And I know, again, it's the same for so many people who served during that era of so much.
[00:13:20] Lance Dietz: So Emily, now we're gonna move on to, uh, the next segment, which we call the sit rep or the situation report. And this is where we dive into essentially what you're doing today and how you're transforming the future. So do you mind giving us a brief overview of your civilian career, post the army, and then we'll dive into a few different segments
[00:13:37] Emily McMahan: there.
[00:13:38] Emily McMahan: Yeah. So I will say my civilian career has been wonderful. I didn't know specifically what I wanted to do when I transitioned. And so really tried to just take opportunities as they presented themselves and go with them. So I'll be very brief in terms of my post-military career, but I ended up transitioning while my husband was deployed and I moved [00:14:00] up to Washington DC at the time for a year.
[00:14:03] Emily McMahan: To support a startup that my west point classmate Don Halfacre started for those of you don't know, Don Don is also a west point class of 2001 grad military police officer Don was injured in Iraq in, uh, 2004. And upon her recovery from Walter Reed started basically a gov tech company in Washington, DC post service that's gone on to do so well.
[00:14:26] Emily McMahan: She recently was acquired by S a I C last year. And so I was very fortunate to join Don in the very early stages of that. I primarily served as a chief, uh, financial officer for the organization and was with her for about seven years. And I think the piece that I will say from that is one of the things that Dawn did a fantastic job on was connecting with other military veteran owned companies.
[00:14:50] Emily McMahan: And I felt like for those who know Don, she's very, um, she's someone who you wanna help and support and just rally behind. And she did a great job of sort of [00:15:00] opening a lot of doors with other business owners that were very generous and gracious to us. And I give her a lot of credit for kind of creating this.
[00:15:08] Emily McMahan: Military veteran community of business owners that were sharing things and trying to look at different opportunities, looking at different lessons learned. And that was also at a time where I felt like that generation of veterans was trying to pass the Baton on to kind of this I, what I'll call like maybe post nine 11 generation of military veteran, um, owned businesses.
[00:15:28] Emily McMahan: And so from that experience, I ended up starting a military veteran focused incubator in Washington, DC called capital post. And that was very much focused around a period in DC that was really heavily influenced by sequestration. So a lot of folks were getting out of the military 20 13, 20 15 time period.
[00:15:48] Emily McMahan: And so we did a lot of work around. Helping military veterans start and grow businesses, but also folks that were interested in just career stuff. Like how [00:16:00] could you use some of the entrepreneurial frameworks to take a look at your life and skills and sort of apply that to your career. And from there I started.
[00:16:09] Emily McMahan: A chapter of, um, an organization called bunker labs, which is a national military veteran business focused organization, and very much focused around entrepreneurship, community and education. And then in 2019, I ended up merging capital post and bunker labs together and kind of doing what I'm doing today, which I feel like definitely comes full circle.
[00:16:31] Emily McMahan: I have to kind of go back to the problem I was trying to solve, or initially interested in one of the themes is this concept. Community and people giving back and helping. And one of the jokes that I would always tell when I was a capital post, is when I would ask for people to raise their hand and help.
[00:16:47] Emily McMahan: It was a lot of service academy grads, and really a lot of west point grads that were very, very helpful in giving of their time. Almost like I, it was almost like, what did these people do all day that they're so generous. They were really great. [00:17:00] And so this concept of like, how do you harness this community of service academy graduate?
[00:17:04] Emily McMahan: Was something that I sort of experienced the goodness of, but also thought like, what can we do better? And so initially there was a west point grad class of 94, Brad Harrison, who was really determined to figure out. How can we bring grads around the venture capital asset class, I'll just say broadly and do a better job of helping grad entrepreneurs and helping grads that are, um, you know, have capital and are looking to invest in companies.
[00:17:35] Emily McMahan: And so that was sort of the original premise of academy investor network, which I'm doing right now. I ended up co-founding that with a Naval academy grad named Sherman Williams, who has a fantastic background in finance and M and a. Healthcare really his lifelong dream has been in to get into venture capital.
[00:17:52] Emily McMahan: So it's just been such a great, um, partnership and, and. In a relationship. And so we started academy investor network back in [00:18:00] 2020 with the help of Brad Harrison, as well as a gentleman named, uh, west Blackwell who's Naval academy, grad and also partner, uh Brad's at scout ventures. And in summary, what we were originally trying to do was.
[00:18:13] Emily McMahan: Harness the energy of this service academy community. And by that, I mean, graduates of the five publicly funded service academies and invest in two types of companies. So our thesis is around, first of all, dual use companies and dual use is for those who aren't familiar with the term is companies that can do, I'll just say business, both with the government and commercially.
[00:18:36] Emily McMahan: And sort of have an application for two, and I can talk more about that. And we are interested in both civilian founders and veteran founders in that dual use category. Our second group that we invest in is military veteran founded startups, officer enlisted, you know, just ultimately, how can we help those veteran startups?
[00:18:54] Emily McMahan: And so we initially rallied this group around investing in those types of companies. And then [00:19:00] about a year ago, we started raising for a dedicated venture fund, um, called AI venture. The goal is AI ventures and the academy investor network syndicate can invest alongside together in these types of companies.
[00:19:13] Emily McMahan: And we really feel passionate and excited about harnessing this community to kind of continue to help like both our nation and the types of tech technologies and the challenges we have against some major threats like Russia and China, and some of the things that are coming down the pike, technologically in the future.
[00:19:30] Emily McMahan: But also, you know, how do we continue to harness the goodness of this community and business, and also their service for good in this.
[00:19:40] Lance Dietz: So many things I'd like to double click on the first, maybe as you were transitioning and decided to go to half acre, what sort of led mainly to that decision versus pursuing something like is a bit typical over the past few years, like consulting or
[00:19:54] Emily McMahan: banking.
[00:19:54] Emily McMahan: So I had an offer at Booz Allen and Hamilton, and I will say I had a very typical, I [00:20:00] did like many folks do. I went to Bradley Morris, right? Like I didn't necessarily have this vision from age 12 plus, you know, it was a time when. I have to be honest, like I wasn't sure. My husband was deployed. And that was part of like the 12 to 15 month deployment.
[00:20:17] Emily McMahan: So I had a lot of uncertainty, like, what is his future gonna look like? What is my future gonna look like? What is both of our futures gonna look like in terms of this kind of this tempo of all these deployments in his career. But I have to say one of the things that I realized is I'll give a shout out to a grad named Kate Kohl static class of 96, who talks about these opportunities.
[00:20:37] Emily McMahan: And I think. So many like smart, hardworking people, but you often get these opportunities passed in front of you. And like, those are those kind of sliding door moments. And I feel like what I realized was like, this is an opportunity that is so like once in a lifetime to be able to join a startup and, and just kind of like throw myself into that experience.
[00:20:59] Emily McMahan: But I, I wanna share, [00:21:00] like I did have it offered to Booz Allen Hamilton in DC, who knows if I would've come to this journey, maybe like, I don't know, but. I do wanna share that that's something that was really part of my experience. Like many people that are transitioning.
[00:21:12] Lance Dietz: What were some of the main things that experience like helping build a company have stuck with you now as you've turned onto the investing side of the house?
[00:21:19] Emily McMahan: Absolutely. I think one of the pieces that I realized in terms of starting a company is it's a team effort and you really do need a very. Diverse and also like robust team with backgrounds. One of the things that was fantastic about Don is such a driver and, um, such a visionary. I think you need that person who really is sort of having that really big perspective.
[00:21:45] Emily McMahan: but I also think you need people equally that can sort of execute and sort of drive things forward. I'll be honest. One of the things I struggled with was like probably most folks that are transitioning is can I do this? Do I have the skills necessary? [00:22:00] I didn't even know what a balance sheet was.
[00:22:02] Emily McMahan: Admittedly, when I transitioned, I remember going into QuickBooks and being like, Okay. Like, I gotta learn all of these pieces, like the income statement and the balance sheet and all of, you know, and so it was this real, like baptism by fire. So I feel like I, I share all of that because I think you need the right team.
[00:22:19] Emily McMahan: I think you need people that have the right skill sets. And then the third piece, I think, is knowing who to ask for help. That's probably the biggest, um, differentiator is having people that you can ask questions and really trust and, um, be able to rely on them, especially during those periods where you don't have the expertise and you don't also maybe have the cash that you have to be able to just get creative and be able to like figure it out is sort of the couple pieces that I've taken with me from that experience.
[00:22:51] Emily McMahan: It's very humbling. If I'm honest. And I think what's
[00:22:53] Lance Dietz: so awesome is now how you're using that to coach and mentor and also support founders. [00:23:00] Now with the academy investor network would love to hear more about that. I know it's grown substantially over the past year or so, but how do you all operate there and how do you leverage the network to find opportunities and diligence them and invest in.
[00:23:15] Emily McMahan: So we started, you know, our first couple years were about just trying to attract grads to the platform, trying to understand. Cause I, I think the thing that's important is not everybody comes out with a background or interest in venture capital or even I, and I say venture capital, I'm saying really the blanket of invest.
[00:23:31] Emily McMahan: Like angel investing or has any sort of finance background. So a lot of what we were trying to do in the beginning, I think was around three categories. One is just investing. So our philosophy is good. Deals are ultimately like what drive our organizations. So rallying behind finding good founders and good companies that are doing things that we ultimately feel.
[00:23:53] Emily McMahan: Are going to be scalable and successful, but then we could also provide value on. So I think that's a, a really big piece. The [00:24:00] second piece was education, and this is one of the things I wanna talk. So fun to talk about with you guys is because again, a lot of people don't have that background. So how do you create a space where people can learn the bell curve of west point also applies to this community there's folks who have a ton of experience, but there's also folks who don't have any.
[00:24:17] Emily McMahan: So, how do you not make that eliminating factor? I think through education. And so we do a lot of, um, speaker series newsletters. We have online training that we do that we offer to everybody to come in and get more background because it's risky. I think that's the other piece is we feel an inherent responsibility for bringing this group together and exposing them to a risky asset class.
[00:24:40] Emily McMahan: There's almost an inherent responsibility to this community that I think is important for us to provide as much education. And exposure as possible. And then the last piece that we're really big on is connecting. So, trying to do different events and promote other activities, Tim, I mean, you do this so well, like trying to share [00:25:00] successes and other folks in this community that are doing great things, cuz we're one of many that I think are trying to bring this community together.
[00:25:07] Emily McMahan: Of entrepreneurs and also investors. And so I think those are really like the three key things, but I do feel like the deals are what drive folks. Is it something that they also see this source of this opportunity? You asked a great question. We get a lot of deal flow through the Syd kit, which is fantastic.
[00:25:24] Emily McMahan: And ultimately we're going through a process right now where we're trying to really hone in on some of our, our areas of focus. And really, you know, bring more people to the table in terms of our diligence, in terms of like the whole life cycle between sourcing and attracting deals, diligence deciding, and ultimately the thing that most grads are excited about is like, how do I help?
[00:25:45] Emily McMahan: How do I support these companies once you invest? Which I think just given the ethos of like support and giving back, a lot of folks feel like this is a great way for them, regardless at the stage of their career to, to support if that makes. [00:26:00] as you're building
[00:26:01] Lance Dietz: the firm now, and you're raising a fund. How do you think about investors in that fund in terms of what resonates.
[00:26:09] Lance Dietz: With potential investors or limited partners and who are the right limited partners to get involved in something like
[00:26:16] Emily McMahan: this. That's a great question. I think the limited partners that have really connected with us are those who see the value of, like, I would say the problem we're solving U S a a is our anchor investor.
[00:26:28] Emily McMahan: And they have just been such a fantastic partner because they understand the community that we're serving and ultimately. Firsthand some of the problems that we're trying to solve long term through this fund. So I feel like the LPs that have been really great are the ones that inherently. See some of the challenges that we're trying to solve, especially with respect to like deep tech, um, this intersection of dual use and deep tech and see the opportunity for those of you who might be interested in getting more information, Steve blank.
[00:26:58] Emily McMahan: We just had him as, um, a [00:27:00] guest for one of our speaker series. I think there's nobody who's. Speaks more intelligently or has done more work in terms of trying to talk more about great power competition and the role of tech and entrepreneurship and sort of the long term vision of the United States versus some of, um, China and, and Russia in particular.
[00:27:18] Emily McMahan: And so I think the LPs that sort of get it, but I'd also say. Like one of the things they get really excited about is when I do talk to somebody who might not have that experience, but they trust us and say, I am kind of coming along with this journey because I'm curious, I see it, but I might not necessarily have this background.
[00:27:37] Emily McMahan: And I think that there's a lot of folks that also feel the same. And, and I think that's going back full circle, the value that we bring Sherman and I are building this firm. But we're two people. And so I think that's one of the things that's so exciting about the syndicate is this is a horrible pun, but it's like the silent army or not so silent army of folks that come with us and really round out the experience of what we're trying [00:28:00] to build across the life cycle.
[00:28:02] Emily McMahan: That's like a really exciting thing. And, and I'm looking forward to continuing to build that out and attract grads who might not even know about us and wanna get involved. I think you're seeing
[00:28:10] Lance Dietz: this more in traditional venture, the power of community, whatever that may be. And I think naturally with your background, with the academy network, there is a built in experience that makes it even more attractive to those in those
[00:28:22] Emily McMahan: spaces.
[00:28:23] Emily McMahan: Yeah. I was gonna say there's a lot of other firms like Tim is doing great work and I feel like Tim has been a fantastic leader in this space. Kind of bringing us together in the VC community. I could go on about a lot of. Folks, Doug down, char Cummings and Kelly Purdue, rat Harrison. I mean, there's this crop of firms in the classes, I would say eighties and the, and the golden years as I call it of the nineties that have done great.
[00:28:46] Emily McMahan: But I think there's also this question of who are we passing the Baton to in the next generations to try to help them. and cultivate these relationships with the older classes. And I think that's something that is really important in this one, tiny [00:29:00] community adventure, you know, like this spirit, but I will say, I think there's just a lot of, uh, Good work that's been done by AOG and the west point entrepreneurship conference and some of these baby step activities that you're really starting to see.
[00:29:13] Emily McMahan: I know guy Phil Appelle and Brad Harrison are leading the effort here locally in DC this year. So there's a lot of great leadership and a lot of great teamwork. I feel like. And you don't necessarily see that in every industry and especially VC. It's great to see how collaborative this group. I
[00:29:28] Tim Hsia: wanna riff off of the summit real quick, cuz I know you're also involved with it and this is a AOG sponsored podcast.
[00:29:35] Tim Hsia: And so that's happening in
[00:29:36] Emily McMahan: October. Don't quote me on the number, but this is the third or fourth year and I wanna share I was at the original summit at west point. I think this spirit around it is so great. And really again with it's, you know, how do you bring together the west point entrepreneurship community, both investors and entrepreneurs and create this.
[00:29:56] Emily McMahan: For this group to very deeply connect [00:30:00] and listen and learn and ultimately support each other. It's a fantastic, fantastic group. And there's a number of like education opportunities and panels and opportunities for entrepreneurs to pitch. I will give a little bit of a, uh, a shout out to west point and maybe a little rivalry, but one of the things that's been great about my experience with AI is I've seen some of the other service academies and the things in the initiatives.
[00:30:24] Emily McMahan: And I can say that west point, I think because of a lot of the folks that I've mentioned and the academy and some of the initiative. They're moving very smartly and quickly in this direction. And I think, I think it's a great example for all the other academies. I also wanna give another shout out to France, Hong, who has started this steady initiative at west point and something that I've been able to, to.
[00:30:47] Emily McMahan: Support is the hacking for defense initiative. I don't know if you guys have heard of that program, but it's an a I D at west point and, um, on its way, hopefully to becoming a full fledged semester long course. But I think this concept of [00:31:00] exposing cadets to innovation and entrepreneurship, it's such a young age is only good.
[00:31:05] Emily McMahan: I think it's fantastic. And so it's really nice to see this effort moving very like fast, but consistent. If that makes sense and very stable,
[00:31:13] Tim Hsia: I want to give a quick shout out to. The non west point listeners. So Lance and I have gotten a few messages, emails, conversations from Naval academy folks, and they're like, wow, you all all have this entrepreneur summit?
[00:31:25] Tim Hsia: You all have this podcast and we're gonna catch up to you all. So we'll see if that's the case.
[00:31:30] Emily McMahan: I know it's hard. I just wanna like, give a little shout out to west point without like there's no digs here, but. I will say entrepreneurship is just such an interesting concept for folks, Lance, you asked the question like post service, what's the path most people take.
[00:31:44] Emily McMahan: I think it's something that west point is really approaching from the right way, I think, which is great, you know, like really trying to understand and learn from the people who've done it and figure out how do we best support this. Sometimes you don't get that, you know, sometimes you don't sort of get that like [00:32:00] relationship with these types of initiative.
[00:32:02] Emily McMahan: One thing I find
[00:32:02] Lance Dietz: like really interesting regarding a few guests that we've had is a lot of them have a competitive sports background. So Brad Harrison played rugby. Rodney Manzo was track and field at west point now in entrepreneurship or venture. And so on, you have that as well. I'm curious if there's any lessons from your volleyball days that kind of translate to the military and then now to what you're.
[00:32:24] Emily McMahan: I do wanna give a shout out because I don't know if you've had any volleyball players, you know, we're, we're down at Gillis Fieldhouse, and we don't always get a lot of the press or the attention kind of a smaller sport, but they're, you know, um, general Jeb, who is, you know, just the most recent Dean, she was a volleyball player.
[00:32:39] Emily McMahan: So I wanna give a shout out there. Yeah. Volleyball. I will say. Is such a team sport. Oh my goodness. Like there's no I in you right on the volleyball team. And so one of the things that I've learned from my experience is like knowing what you're good at in volleyball and doing it really well. I mean, I just think there's like no better [00:33:00] sport.
[00:33:00] Emily McMahan: A lot of people don't, it's so fast paced. It's hard. It's super competitive. It's exciting. Everybody has a very particular function on the team. And if you don't do that, it's so app, so apparent like in a business, right? Like if one thing is off, ultimately you have to sort of win points and you know, that's ultimately what gets you, um, to the win.
[00:33:20] Emily McMahan: But there's so many different elements that go into that process. I think that's definitely something that I've taken from it. And I'll share with you guys. I played volleyball, but I wasn't like the star of the team by any means. I was a U, which is utility, meaning I could play pretty much every position on the court.
[00:33:36] Emily McMahan: And I often would. And so my junior year I ended up having to play middle I'm, like five, 10 and a half. I just remember being. Let me help my team and, and, and maybe block a few balls as we're, you know, going through this season. And I just share that because I also was very much considering leaving the team, going into my cow year and kind of like focusing more on different things.
[00:33:58] Emily McMahan: And I'm so [00:34:00] grateful that I stuck through it and played the whole four years on the volleyball team, because I think it was such a fantastic. Experience. And there's like so many things that I do feel like I've carried through in terms of the experience. I don't think you can go and play division one sports and not be humbled or, you know, just experience a lot of the things you'll experience in life in business, but in a very intense, like, uh, forum that ultimately comes to an end.
[00:34:26] Tim Hsia: Let's get into our next and third segment, the SOP or standard operating procedure in this segment, we're going to talk about the personal routines, habits and words to live by that have been instrumental to Emily's success. Emily, what routines or habits did you have in the military or west point that you still adhere to?
[00:34:42] Emily McMahan: I was thinking about this a little bit before this call. So I think a lot of what, and I don't necessarily feel like I had this hon as a cadet, I wanna emphasize, but exercise continues to be such a beacon. And I always joke not to get a varsity letter or to, you know, max up my [00:35:00] APFT, write some of, but really for like mental health and overall.
[00:35:04] Emily McMahan: Every everything. So exercise continues to be a huge habit. It's still close to the surface. That that makes sense. A couple bad days. It's like something I really still have to work at, even at age 42. But I think that that's something that I, I really hone some other habits. I mean, I think it's kind of like, you know, just prioritizing, I'm a huge list maker.
[00:35:24] Emily McMahan: A lot of those things I definitely learned at west point with respect to. intentionally, there's just so many different things going on. And so really being able to understand simplify and clear out a lot of that activity has say to this day, but I think another habit that I think has been something that I took at west point and continue to try to do.
[00:35:44] Emily McMahan: And I think even more so, Lance, to your question at like post service is reflection. I feel like one of the things I was not expecting when I went to west point was like, I joke a lot of times, I wish I could go back now at this age and take some of the [00:36:00] curriculum because I've had the life experience.
[00:36:01] Emily McMahan: And I think it would just like, just be so interesting. We received so much education on character and leadership and values, and it's fascinating, you know, sometimes you just aren't maybe at a place to just take that all in and absorb it. But I do feel like the process of reflection as a habit that I've tried.
[00:36:19] Emily McMahan: To probably bring on more as I've gotten older, but definitely something I felt like west point kind of forced us to do, I will say. And now I feel like I'm in a much better place mentally to sort of, you know, just continue to have that reflection. And this is kind of this concept of like this deeper, meaning this deeper life, these deeper things that we're trying to do.
[00:36:38] Emily McMahan: I think that those are definitely habits that you have to do. And because if not, it's just activity without any.
[00:36:44] Tim Hsia: Two quick notes. One is I would never wish to go back to west point as a cadet, so kudos to you. And then second is your note on reflection. Ben FA mentioned how journaling has been so critical to his, uh, success.
[00:36:58] Tim Hsia: And a lot of other [00:37:00] guests we've had from Dan treatment to Stan MC crystal have talked about mind, body, spirit. And so you really covered that in terms of exercising, prioritizing.
[00:37:09] Emily McMahan: Yeah, I think especially too, when I was transitioning, I really tried to be mindful. I call it like merging onto the super highway of the civilian world.
[00:37:18] Emily McMahan: And I think one of the pieces that I wanted to be really cognizant and mindful of is like, I had a very interesting path in terms of just like the types of experiences at a very formative time in my life. But there's. Equally, so many stories from civilian counterparts, as I'll say. And so all the folks that had been, um, and my partner, Sherman talks a lot about this, all the lessons from people who maybe didn't serve in the military, but had equally profound experiences at that time of their life.
[00:37:49] Emily McMahan: Just trying to be very observant and mindful and just like say, wow, I didn't actually do that before. You know? So I think there's there. A lot of introspection, I think is kind of my point with [00:38:00] civilian counterparts and a lot of the things that they've done very well in their life, despite our different journeys.
[00:38:05] Lance Dietz: I asked Tim this probably on a weekly basis, and I'm gonna start asking Brad, but tons of demands on your time. And Brad had an interesting answer to this. How do you manage your time now? On a day to day basis in the venture investing entrepreneurship ecosystem
[00:38:21] Emily McMahan: world. That is a great question. I think time management and Tim I'd actually love to hear your response as well.
[00:38:28] Emily McMahan: I, I think the piece that I will say is, and I, I actually remember people saying this when I was at west point is as you age, you just get more and more things on your plate. You know, I have three kids, right. I have like, I have my own activities and my own things that I volunteer and contribute. One of the things that I have to do is I like to help people.
[00:38:49] Emily McMahan: Right. And so I have to be very deliberate and very, I have to have a lot of intention, I would say about what I'm trying to do and why I'm trying to do it. And I think that that's something that I feel [00:39:00] like as more and more comes on. I just have to be more intentional about how I do that. And I won't bore you with like lists and productivity tools and all of that stuff.
[00:39:09] Emily McMahan: I don't, I don't think that's kind of what you're asking. I think it's more like, I just think it's going back to this concept of like the deeper life is I have to be very intentional about what I'm doing and why I'm doing. I will say this. I also have to take care of myself, which sometimes I didn't necessarily do a great job in my younger days.
[00:39:27] Emily McMahan: And so I think that's another piece is like, if I'm not eating well and sleeping and exercising, like I'm no good for anybody. So I think it's also a little bit of that maturity as well is you can't burn out trying to do everything. But I think just really having intention of like, what am I trying to do and why am I trying to do this?
[00:39:45] Emily McMahan: I think is really the best, which it may be a little too cliche or grandiose. But I feel like when I let that go, I'm kind of like, what am I doing? It kind of feels a little bit, um, scattered.
[00:39:56] Tim Hsia: I wanna make an observation on what you said in terms of being helpful. And it [00:40:00] seems the very best VCs are ones that try to be helpful.
[00:40:03] Tim Hsia: And so it's awesome to hear that it's a core part of you and sometimes even VCs get pared on, like, how can I be helpful that line, but that's awesome to hear how you view that. And then in terms of mentors throughout this podcast, you've mentioned. Colonel above Don Acker, Colonel Jeb. And I know recently there's the west point woman summit.
[00:40:23] Tim Hsia: And so would love to peel that onion and ask. Are there any other particular people who have served as mentors throughout your military or civilian career and how did you cultivate those
[00:40:34] Emily McMahan: relationships? That's a great question. I think, um, with respect to other mentors, . I was very lucky to run an incubator.
[00:40:42] Emily McMahan: And so I was just constantly coming into contact with people. That's like, when I look back just like such a gift to be in the presence of so many people who, and I mean, I, I could go on for days with all of those folks and people, sometimes it was overwhelming, you know, it was like, uh, I joke. It's like, what am I doing with my life?
[00:40:59] Emily McMahan: If I'm not, you [00:41:00] know, Like Stan, crystal, for instance, who was down the street from us in Alexandria, right. Or you just hear these stories of, you know, Bob McDonald, like being in his presence through, he did a lot of support with bunker and it's like, you know, wow. Like what amazing people that have really solidified their values and continue to live them and experience just such success and, and really are anchored and, and just have such an incredible charact.
[00:41:24] Emily McMahan: I'll try to answer really specifically. I probably have less like formal mentors now, and I actually have more peer groups, I would say. So one of the things I found is I have a lot of pockets of peers depending on what the activity is. And so for instance, like I'll just give a shout out. I have a couple of Naval academy friends that I run with pretty regularly, like, so I, I almost feel like it feels less formal and more.
[00:41:52] Emily McMahan: Sustainable is my point. I have a really great group of, um, girlfriends that are from the military veteran incubator space that I [00:42:00] text with daily, for instance. So I feel like a lot of my interactions, I have these great pockets of friends and I would, I would say they're friends and colleagues and peers, but it feels almost more like we're giving and taking versus like, Me asking a question and sort of, I, I like that dynamic a little bit more, um, with respect to like, you know, that, that back and forth and sort of the informality of it.
[00:42:24] Emily McMahan: So, and I could go on, I mean, there's just so many people that I could share in terms of some of my civilian mentors nowadays, but there's quite a few.
[00:42:32] Tim Hsia: That's a great observation because I think so many veterans when they transition are like, oh, I need some type of mentor or, um, there's someone I should look, uh, to, and oftentimes I've found in my transition that it's the peer groups that you find camaraderie and you also find camaraderie and, and sometimes misery, but like you just kinda understand, um, what we all going through and it helps to keep a really close peer group.
[00:42:56] Emily McMahan: Can I share one thing in that too, cuz this might be helpful for folks [00:43:00] listening is I think one of the things, and this is actually, um, advice from Adam Grant, who is a professor, um, at the university of Pennsylvania's, um, Wharton school. He talks a lot about when you're trying to transition and you're trying to like, you know, and, and we all do it.
[00:43:15] Emily McMahan: It's a lifelong thing. I think it's important to emphasize too. These are conversations. If you're not having them your whole life, you should, because it's not just like I transitioned and I checked the block and I'm done, you know, it's, it's really for the rest of your life, which I hope we can evoke that spirit.
[00:43:30] Emily McMahan: But one of the things, and I think this is so relevant to entrepreneurship is talking to people in. Asking them to share their experience. And I think one of the things he says is when you ask people for advice, a lot of times they're giving you their advice and it can get confusing. But if you ask people about their experiences, it's up to you to sort of digest that and make it make sense to you.
[00:43:53] Emily McMahan: And I think, especially in our space, a lot of people are very happy to share their story, but it's a lot to sort of like. What [00:44:00] do you think I should do? You know, like that's, that's a difficult thing. Um, but it's ultimately asking people like, what problem are you trying to solve? Like, that's what we do is it's a very sort of like externally focused thing, which I think is really important as well.
[00:44:12] Emily McMahan: I think a lot of grads really resonate with this concept of service and helping others and continuing to serve. And I just feel like those types of questions really serve people better as they're looking to sort of get more advice and feedback and just understanding of like what's beyond their current experience.
[00:44:29] Tim Hsia: I wanna make one more observation. And you mentioned Stanley crystal being a neighbor. When he came on the podcast, he made an observation, how there's this basic training and all this training for veterans as they get into the military, but there's not any, as you transition outta the military. And so having a somewhat reverse basic training with peers, I think can be a really helpful transit.
[00:44:50] Emily McMahan: I totally agree. I mean, I feel like, uh, it was also a lot of work to be done, I think individually, which is just different for every person. I [00:45:00] think the military and this, you know, even a lot of these civilian organizations have been done a great job with resources, but it's just, I think it's activity like you have to, unfortunately just like.
[00:45:11] Emily McMahan: Kind of put your hand in the blender and live. And I think that's the piece I would share with people is, you know, one of the jokes I often tell is like, you, you don't read anybody's change of command summary and read about any of their failures. It's like, then they did this and they had these bronze stars and they were amazing.
[00:45:28] Emily McMahan: And I would just encourage people to realize that like a lot of the conversations in the civilian world there. So many great stories. I don't wanna say of failure. I'm not trying to say that, but it's like experience is actually very valuable and it's, it's not as sometimes pretty as that, like, you know, um, kind of upward chart.
[00:45:45] Emily McMahan: And I, I actually love that. There's just more and more, um, military veterans in particular that are having those conversations and there's a space for that. So
[00:45:54] Lance Dietz: last segment here, Emily, we're gonna try. Bring everything that we talked about together into one answer. [00:46:00] Last segment is what we call giving back.
[00:46:02] Lance Dietz: We talked about this, the whole podcast. I mean, if you could look back when you were transitioning and give advice to yourself, which is gonna resonate with those that are doing the same thing, be it star starting a company or doing something else, what would that piece of advice or so be
[00:46:14] Emily McMahan: I think it would be look inward and look outward, which is probably, you know, that helpful in some ways I'll try to make it helpful.
[00:46:23] Emily McMahan: I think you have to know yourself when you're transitioning to know who you are and what you like. And I don't think anybody, I, I hope that all the work we've done up until that point, you know, prepares us for that. But, um, so knowing yourself and who you are, and I think that's really important because you have to be careful that you don't choose something based off of other people's expectations or what you should do.
[00:46:49] Emily McMahan: I see a lot of folks that are transitioning often that sort of have this expectation, or I'm supposed to be say in finance, for instance, or I'm supposed to do that. Like you have to know yourself and kind of go through that process. And I [00:47:00] can obviously share more on that piece, but I think the other piece is with respect to the outward focus is like, know what problem you're trying to solve and why I think that a lot of times, and this is relevant for entrepreneurship, but also career is it's.
[00:47:18] Emily McMahan: Ultimately, whether you're starting a company or working for someone you're solving a problem for them. And I think that that sort of outward focus helps really drive purpose and value. And I think a lot of times when I see entrepreneurs that are like, well, I wanna do this. I wanna do that. It's like, it's not about you.
[00:47:36] Emily McMahan: It's about, you know, What value you're providing or what's, uh, problem you're solving. And so I think those are two, just really key takeaways. It's like, think about the problem you're solving and outward, and then knowing yourself inward, um, to be able to do that ultimately, and that you're on kind of the right path and that it, that it feels right.
[00:47:54] Lance Dietz: I'm gonna do like a bit of an audible here. I'm curious. Last question I have sort of, uh [00:48:00] is where does the academy investor network, what does that become in the future? For example, my, my selfish request maybe is maybe at some point it's also seeding and funding veteran fund manager.
[00:48:15] Emily McMahan: Yeah, and I, I would love to talk more about that.
[00:48:17] Emily McMahan: I actually see the academy investor network being something that is beyond Sherman and me. Like, I actually hope one day it's something that's kind of like we pass, we hand the Baton off to the next group of folks who wanna run that. And it's a self-sustaining organization that goes way into the future it's scale.
[00:48:34] Emily McMahan: I almost see it hopefully like we are about 400 folks right now. I'd love to see. Maybe like 12 to 1500 in the next couple years, but eventually I see it as an entity that is really sort of self sustaining and also like a little bit self-governing. I mean, there's plenty of investments syndicates from other universities that we're trying to model that have done this and done it very well.
[00:48:57] Emily McMahan: but I think that that's sort of the vision is it really is something [00:49:00] kind of like that lives beyond us. And with respect to your question of our thought is like, you know, we're just focusing for instance right now on venture capital, but like, there's a number of other areas in groups and, and, and things that we could focus on potentially as we scale that.
[00:49:15] Emily McMahan: So I do wanna also sort of like, just put that pin pin out there, you know, and say like, yeah, what else could this be? Eventually? You know, for instance, a lot of grads, I learn a lot of. About folks, you know, interested in real estate, for instance, that just like one other group or one other, you know, industry that I think would be interesting.
[00:49:31] Emily McMahan: So yeah, there's a lot of questions of like, what else could this be? But like any startup you kind of have to do really well in your shock group and then try to figure out what would that look like from there. But my ask would be, I would really, really welcome folks. So the website is academy investor.com and we do a monthly welcome session.
[00:49:49] Emily McMahan: The third Thursday of the month, we have a newsletter. There's no fee to join. You can actually just participate and learn and be a part of the group without even investing. Of course we'd love for people [00:50:00] to invest, but it's really just kind of this dual mission of both investing and having success with these companies, but also this bigger community piece.
[00:50:09] Emily McMahan: So. Who knows where that will go be honest. And that's kind of why I'm excited. That's
[00:50:14] Tim Hsia: awesome. I want to make a quick observation on something you said around, what problem are you trying to solve and why? Uh, it reminds me of a quote by Jim Collins who wrote good to great and other really important business books.
[00:50:24] Tim Hsia: And he also taught at west point for a while. He said, one time, the question in life is not primarily how to be successful or even just how to survive, but how to be useful. It sounds like that's something that you incorporate in your.
[00:50:36] Emily McMahan: Yes, there's this great, you know, the 10 commandments of your career, which actually Kate Shadock, I'll give another shout out to her.
[00:50:42] Emily McMahan: Gave. And it's kind of like, what are you doing of value? And like, how are you solving? It's kind of the theme of that. Be of value. You're not entitled to anything just because, you know, you graduated from west point or you serve, you have the building blocks, but like go take that and ultimately do something of [00:51:00] good sort of outside of yourself.
[00:51:01] Emily McMahan: And I think if you have that external focus, Over time that will benefit, but it's yeah, it's a very deep question. You know, what is success? What does that look like? What's the bigger picture here in sort of this deeper life. And I think a lot of my peer group is starting to have those questions of what is the deeper life at this phase of my life.
[00:51:18] Emily McMahan: How do I bring this all together? And this has been really helpful to help me like take a look back in memory lane. And maybe I, my glasses are a little too rose colored, but it's definitely relevant, you know, as, as it gets farther away,
[00:51:30] Lance Dietz: Unfortunately, that's all we have time for. This was fantastic. Yeah.
[00:51:34] Lance Dietz: Um, can't thank you enough, one for making time for this and two for what you're doing for the veteran, uh, community as well, just the venture ecosystem as a
[00:51:43] Emily McMahan: whole. Thank you. And I just say there's so many other stories as you guys know, and continue to talk, and I'm really excited to see and hopefully advocate for some more folks on the podcast who I've gotten to know and, um, have learned a lot from myself, um, in this particular niche that I'm involved in.[00:52:00]
[00:52:00] Emily McMahan: Thank you so much.
[00:52:03] Lance Dietz: Um, point is a production
[00:52:04] Narrator: of the WPA, a O G broadcast network. Please take a moment to read and review the show and join us each week for a new episode. Thank you for listening.