#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Mike Slagh, CEO, Shift.
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Career Advancement for Current and Former Military
Shift is a platform that provides current and former members of the U.S. military with the resources, guidance, and immersive experiences needed to advance their careers. We recently spoke with Mike Slagh, the CEO of Shift, to learn more about the startup’s work with veterans and service members, the importance of investment in talent and nascent technologies, and the criticality of veterans as a talent pool in the future economy.
Tell us about your background and how it led you to Shift.
I started Shift right after I completed my service in the U.S. Navy, and my motivation for creating the company grew out of my experiences in the military. In the Navy, I was an explosive ordnance disposal officer and responsible for disabling all types of explosives. That also made me a technical expert, and I would go on missions to teach best practices to allied foreign militaries. This is the best way to keep everyone safe, and all military units prioritize embedding bomb disposal problem solvers.
While I was in the Navy, I worked closely with some of the best problem solvers—people with the ability to think linearly and laterally at the same time, and who are very good under pressure. Before I joined the Navy, I helped launch a software company. And I knew that these types of problem solvers are exactly the type of people you want when you’re trying to take a new venture from zero to one. However, the challenge I saw was that many active-duty service members didn’t know what they were qualified for and many were not aware of the new types of jobs that are constantly emerging. Some of the top jobs now, for example, in data science or cloud architecture, may not have existed when they entered the service. Given the pandemic and recent events, I think this explosion of new jobs will only accelerate.
Many of these new types of jobs require quick learners that work well with diverse and collaborative teams. The military is excellent preparation for these roles. Folks in the military are trained learners—they are learning cutting-edge technology all of the time, and change jobs within the military every 18-20 months. The military is also 43 percent non-white and has people from all corners of the country. There aren’t that many other sources of new job seekers with these desirable traits and attributes, especially when you consider the sheer volume of people separating annually—250,000 veterans enter the workforce each year. That’s what led me to found Shift.
Tell us more about Shift and the work you’re doing with military veterans.
The critical challenge many veterans face is misconceptions people have about military service. The gap between military experience and the skills required for the competitive, future job market is much narrower than people expect. And the gap is not the result of veterans lacking any specific skills requiring a four-year education. Instead, the divide centers around industry-specific context. It is tough to speak as a peer with someone in a completely different industry, and that can be a barrier in an interview situation.
To bridge this divide, we work to provide experiences that bring service members up to speed as quickly as possible and offer that industry-specific context. The first program we did was facilitating a Department of Defense (DOD) initiative that enabled those about to separate from the military to intern in a corporate environment for the last three months of their service. We put together an administrative framework and policy agreement with the DOD that has expanded access to this transition program from just eight military installations to any service member at any base on the planet. This enables soon-to-be veterans to go where they want to live and get a headstart on all aspects of career change—like moving into new housing or integrating into the community. Equally important, it allows them to be in the industry environment and demonstrate their candidacy for the job before they interview or enter salary negotiations. This program is a win-win. Employers benefit because they receive early access to talent emerging from the military, and the DOD pays the salary and benefits during the three-month experience. And it dramatically improves outcomes for veterans.
How are your programs and fellowships creating opportunities for veterans in Tech?
Shift is obsessed with getting people up to speed in new environments as quickly as possible. Those departing the military are able to work with other vets that have already crossed the bridge into industry. Those staying in the military who want to be technological leaders can work side by side with those in industry to make the DOD a better consumer of technology.
Along these lines is our AFVentures partnership with the Air Force that provides veterans with industry-immersive experiences to overcome a critical gap in innovation they identified. We work with over 40 venture capital firms and tech companies to place Air Force fellows so they can learn alongside tech industry leaders. Fellows are also in cohorts with their military peers so they can learn from each other as well. These experiences have been transformative for participants, and have the potential to have a long-term impact.
What policy challenges at the local, state or federal level have you encountered as you grow Shift?
The number one policy issue we think about is around labor laws and how the employers we partner with can classify our program participants. It might seem most natural to designate participants as unpaid interns because they’re being paid by the DOD, not by the host company. But many employers have policies against unpaid interns to avoid running afoul with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), or inviting a future wage claim. There needs to be a way to allow for the sharing of employees across different workforces. And our programs involve companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies, so legal solutions need to work for all types of companies to overcome this problem. Going forward, we’re thinking about how to suggest changes to things like the FLSA to account for these edge cases that didn’t exist when the law was written.
At the federal level, we are focused on demonstrating the return on investment of our programs to Congress and the DOD since, on paper, they might look like expensive field trips. Not only do we want to show the value to the participants of their tour in industry, but that these gains are returned to the DOD and compound over time. For example, our fellows will be an important part of the Air Force’s ability to remain competitive and efficiently adopt the best new technology. And Shift is working to build a new talent pipeline, contributing to a more diverse and high-skilled workforce, which will of course benefit the country and economy. It can be difficult, though, to paint a concrete return on investment picture to our clients when these are the benefits we are offering.
More generally, government investment in early-stage tech is critical if we want to maintain global competitiveness. To have the strongest national defense, we must incorporate the world’s best cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and other technologies. Nascent companies that work with this tech should be part of the future defense ecosystem so that we’re not limited to five major contractors, and so it is easy for our military to work with the best emerging technology. In this vein, we believe the DOD should provide seed funding to some nascent tech ventures so that they can become commercially viable. It is important to remember that some of the best, most used technologies exist today because DOD invested in them—like the Internet, for example.
What was your experience raising capital for Shift?
We are backed by Andreessen Horowitz, which puts us in the unique position of working to deliver on our mission of career advancement for veterans from a VC-backed perspective. We are fortunate to work with Andreessen Horowitz because social good is a part of their thesis, but we still have to deliver for their limited partners. Our sources of revenue are from both private sector partners and the DOD. VCs are less familiar with DOD revenue, compared to, e.g., subscription software sales. Our revenue is lumpier and less amenable to forecasting. And that makes it harder to attract VC. However, recently there has been more recognition of the value of vertical labor marketplaces like ours as opposed to horizontal platforms. And more major VC firms may start to see a path to outcomes in these types of marketplaces.
What is your goal for Shift going forward?
For the immediate future, we want to continue to deliver excellent customer experiences to service members and the DOD. We think we are uniquely capable of bridging the divide between DOD and emerging industries. Though it can be hard for both sides to collaborate, we can make the right matches and get the right folks embedded because all of the opportunities generated in the DOD flow through commercial businesses as well.
We are also incredibly inspired by companies like USAA. Like us, they are vertical and focus on the needs of veterans and their families—whether you are a veteran, or the spouse, child, or grandchild of a veteran, you have access to tailored financial services for life. We want to provide the same thing from a career advancement perspective. Especially as the workforce fragments and new jobs are created, we don’t want veterans to navigate that on their own, and instead want to be their life-long career guide.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email edward@engine.is.
