TFX Capital

Welcome Jean-Marcos Garcia to TFX Capital. Jean-Marcos is a Department of Defense Skillbridge Intern and will be with us through end of January 2025. This program was launched in 2011 and has helped countless active duty military leaders spend their final few months on active duty conducting internships in the commercial world. The transition from the military ecosystem to the commercial one is quite challenging so we are working hard to expose Jean-Marcos (and our Student Veteran Fellows) to the startup and VC worlds. Jean-Marcos grew up in Orlando, FL where he played a variety of sports and observed his father serve (still in the military). He felt a call to join the Army himself and lead soldiers where possible. He was commissioned after graduating the University of San Francisco with a BS in Kinesiology and Exercise Science. He served as a Chemical (CBRN) Officer out of Ft. Lewis and is currently an Assistant Professor of Military Science at San Diego State University. He's considering a number of opportunities in the Spring to include getting his MBA. Welcome to the fight Jean-Marcos! Onwards! A big thank you to Robert Bair for helping us set up the program and for Elizabeth OBrien's team for being such great partners. cc: Brandon Shelton

APPLICATION WINDOW OPEN: If you're a former military leader getting your undergraduate or graduate degree -OR- if you're an active duty military spouse, then please consider joining TFX Capital in Spring 2025 for our Fellowship. Every six months TFX Capital hosts 1-2 Fellows to educate, inform and engage members of the military-connected ecosystem to the venture capital/startup ecosystem. The Fellowship is flexible in terms of weekly/monthly time commitments and fully virtual. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eHPkiU5H Please email your resume/CV with a short essay on why you are interested in venture capital/startups and this fellowship to: fellows@tfxcap.com DEADLINE: Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 PHONE INTERVIEWS: Week of 12/9 SELECTION: Week of 12/16 START: mid-January 2025 Onwards! cc: Brandon Shelton

It is an absolute privilege to have partners like the Consumer Technology Association! #innovationforall #diversityintech

Proud of these great humans….

We are excited to welcome Anonybit to the TFX family! Frances Zelazny, Yaron Azizi, John Wilson and team are on the leading edge of securing consumer and other data at enterprises and for governments worldwide. And this our first investment in a former Israeli Defense Force Veteran. We often talk about the origins of TFX dating back to reading Startup Nation by Dan Senor so we jumped at the opportunity to join them. We are excited to support the team! Learn more here: https://www.anonybit.io/ If you'd like to learn more about what they are solving and how they can help your company, then please reach out to John ASAP: john.wilson@anonybit.io. #dohardthings #startups #venturecapital cc: Brandon Shelton, Matt Abrams, Robert Bair, TJ White, Brent Blake, CFA, CPA/ABV, CVA, Karl Hightower, Cindi Basenspiler, Brian Pope, Robert Ackerman, Matt Bigge, Dara Metcalf

Checkout the 8th Annual Veteran Startup Showcase recap video. Great work by the Service First Foundation and its sponsors/donors. Brandon Shelton, Abbey Johnson, Chris Ford, Susan N. Jamison, Sristy Agrawal, Shannon Morales Hynds #servicedriven

Congratulations Sristy Agrawal and Wale lawal, Ph. D. of Mesa Quantum for winning the 8th Annual Veterans Startup Showcase presented by the Service First Foundation. This top team took home $75k in cash to accelerate their growth! The 1st Runner Up was Quickcode.ai, championed by Shannon Morales Hynds, Joe Morales, and Rebecca F. with $12.5k in cash prizes. We want to recognize the other finalists: indeHealth, Inc., Foresight Data, and Artifcts®for their ingenuity, passion, and hunger to succeed. And a big thank you to our highly talented judges: Karl Hightower, Jeff Eggers, and Jennifer Simpson. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was the National Security & Innovation panel discussion with Ambassador Cofer Black, Carrie (Hernandez) Marshall, and Joe Williams. From 9/11 to Ukraine to Israel to Space we covered a wide range of hardware, software and human innovation challenges impacting national security. Thank you to The Hesselbirg Family, Falfurrias Management Partners, Wells Fargo, DataTribe, Akerman LLP, Baker Botts and many others for their generous donations and sponsorships to the Service First Foundation. cc: Chris Ford, Abbey Johnson, Susan N. Jamison, Brandon Shelton

We are excited to add Cindi Basenspiler as a Venture Partner (Talent Partner) focused on talent support. Cindi has been with us since Day 0, and she's personally helped us assess all 20 of the Founding teams we have backed. Cindi has had a long career leading teams in the military, corporations and non-profits as well as teaching and being an author. Cindi is a friend, mentor, advocate, and passionate assessor and coach for talent in dynamic environments. Investing in the Jockeys over the Horses has been our North Star since the beginning, and having a Talent Partner more involved is timely! What excites you about TFX Capital and their approach? "Having been part of TFX since their inception, I've seen the care and mentorship that have gone into every portfolio company leadership team over the past nine years. The advisors and network behind this team have a diverse background from different industries, specialties and company size/maturity ... and care deeply about the success of each and every leader we invest in, giving them a higher chance of success in the short and long-term. This is TFX's special-sauce." Where do you see Talent needs expanding for early stage, venture-backed startups? "Early-stage companies will need to have a compelling mission, highly capable leaders, solid product/services to attract talent to leave their current, likely more 'stable' roles and come hungry, capable and coachable to the start-up organization. Assessment for cultural fit, ensuring employees stay connected to the mission and to each other, infusing the right amount of structure while maintaining a start-up feel will all be critical for success. Determining talent needs for the current and future stages of maturity of each company is also critical." What current industry trends do you find most interesting, concerning or exciting in 2024? "The rapid expansion of AI tools and determining [proactively] which roles can benefit from and not be distracted by such tools, the increase of rigid return-to-work mandates -- and which companies will benefit from their ability to facilitate remote-work, the increase of unionization inside industries previously not affected, compensation transparency and the impact and policies that arise in response to the proliferation of social media reach and deep-fake content, just to name a few." #servicedriven #venturecapital #talent #hr cc: Brandon Shelton, Matt Abrams, Brian Pope, Matt Bigge, Bob Ackerman, TJ White, Robert Bair, Karl Hightower, Cindi Basenspiler, Robert Ackerman, Brent Blake, CFA, CPA/ABV, CVA, Paul Foley, Dara Metcalf, Luann Abrams, Dr. Ben Michaelis, Michael Metcalf Jr., Edward Voelsing, Jay Millen

We are excited to add Karl Hightower as a Venture Partner focused on Healthcare & AI. Karl has worked in enterprise software, data and leadership roles for over 25 years. Most recently he was the Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Novant Health, and he's currently an Executive-in-Resident at Wellstar. We've known Karl a very long time and are happy that he's stepping forward in a formal capacity as a Venture Partner. What excites you about TFX Capital and their approach?    “I find the mission to be something that is extremely inspiring and being around veterans committed to what they're doing makes me work that much harder to help them. The aerospace and defense sector are going to be leaned on heavily in upcoming economic times, ThinkOrbital is a very cool and well positioned company for that upcoming economy.”   Where do you see healthcare or AI needs growing with respect to startup solutions?   “The healthcare sector and to a larger extent AI are going to need to focus on how to leverage data best. Companies that can allow for quick understanding and management of that data are greatly needed within these fronts.”   What current industry trends do you find most interesting, concerning or exciting in 2024?  “One of the things I find concerning with AI and with healthcare, much like the last big hype trend, is over-promising and under-delivering. With creating AI mechanisms becoming easier sorting out what companies are going to be good long term is becoming more difficult. It takes digging through the products as well as a deep understanding of technology trends and of operation change management tolerances. This also has a flip side of being extremely opportunistic market conditions if people can get it right.” #servicedriven #venturecapital #healthcareinnovation cc: Brandon Shelton, Robert Bair, Robert Ackerman, Matt Bigge, Matt Abrams, Brent Blake, CFA, CPA/ABV, CVA, Cindi Basenspiler, Brian Pope, Marc Murphy, Jim Vint, Charlie Cumbaa

We are excited to add TJ White as a Venture Partner focused on national security and cyber. Vice Admiral (Ret) White served in the Navy for over 30 years and was often at the center of innovation, transformation, and scaling key cybersecurity capabilities including the founding of the Cyber National Mission Force. What excites you about TFX Capital and their approach?    "It begins with their name TASK FORCE X which is driven by a mission oriented culture. It continues with a commitment to national security and economic prosperity, which is a virtue of America and a feature of our ethos. All their companies are on point, focused on generating outcomes, solving hard problems, and converting challenges into opportunity. I'm incredibly excited about our recent investment in Rebel Space Technologies."    Where do you see cyber and national security needs growing with respect to startup solutions?   "There is no difference between national security and cyber security. They overlap, intersect, and fully interconnect. Success is hard; defeat is easy. Any firms that connect technology, high integrity awareness and assessment, with cyberspace and defense are strong bets. Data, Identity, and Trust: the last two are driven by the first. Firms that drive assured data at scale (sensor sources, telemetry, transport, analytics, access) will directly impact confident decision making, whether business enterprise, government and civil institutions, allies and partners, and national security/defense."   What current industry trends do you find most interesting, concerning or exciting in 2024?   "The continuing vitality in the technical innovation space that support cyber resiliency and readiness. I'm concerned about closing the gap between ‘initiative’ and ‘innovation’ on the journey to deliver capability to the DoD, IC, DHS, and rest-of-government partners. And I'm excited about leveraging industry and academia to accelerate upskilling of DoD cyber work force." #servicedriven #venturecapital #nationalsecurity cc: Brandon Shelton, Robert Bair, Robert Ackerman, Matt Bigge, Karl Hightower, Matt Abrams, Brent Blake, CFA, CPA/ABV, CVA, Cindi Basenspiler, Brian Pope