[00:00:01.320] - Nick Ripplinger We went from that first phone call to flying in those F-22s and F-35s in 14 months. When you bring, you know, a problem, you bring an invested-in user, you bring a little bit of funding, you can really accelerate that development and impact. [00:00:19.140] - John S. Berry Welcome to Veteran Led from Veteran Edge. I'm here with Nick Ripplinger, CEO of Battlesight Technology, and Freddie Kim, CEO of MilSpec. Welcome to the show. Nick, tell us about your military experience and how you got involved with Battlesight. [00:00:32.060] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah, so, uh, military experience, had way too much fun in high school, so ended up going to the Army. Spent a lot of time overseas between Europe, Iraq, Afghanistan, uh, in the early 2000s, and got medically retired in 2011. Moved back home, did like what every good Veteran does in Dayton, Ohio, took a job at the base and just kind of got burnt out on corporate America. Found a way to develop a product that I would have been a customer for back when I was in the military. And it's kind of like our way of staying in the fight now. [00:01:04.590] - John S. Berry And this is an awesome product. So, tell us about this. [00:01:06.870] - Nick Ripplinger So, at the end of the day, it's a CRAM. So, it's a wax-based writing. So, you can write on any hard surface, but it lights up in the infrared spectrum. So you can only see it with night vision goggles or sensors. [00:01:18.710] - John S. Berry So instead of using those little infrared chemlights, now you have a marker to mark doors. [00:01:23.350] - Nick Ripplinger Exactly. It really brings that like dynamic communication to the battlefield instead of just like, hey, there's a static 6-inch piece of plastic glowing on the ground. What does that mean? Does that mean clear? Does that mean danger? Where now you can just write that on the wall. So really trying to reduce that stress of lack of communication and arguably the most stressful type of combat environments. [00:01:42.930] - John S. Berry Tell us what it took to build this company and the opportunities that you got, because this doesn't happen overnight. [00:01:48.070] - Nick Ripplinger It took a ton of mistakes. Like, I think Edison said, like, he found like 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb. And we definitely found like a million ways not to, like, make this product work the way it's supposed to. But I think, like, the biggest thing that helped us really, like, evolve the product is staying super close, engaged to our customers and having that ability to go back and forth and iterate directly with them on duration and shelf life. And so funny story real fast is first time we debuted the product is with a bunch of Air Force PJs. They took it out on this training mission. They came back. They're like, hey, it really did this really well. It helped us do that. Your applicator sucks. I'll never carry this on a mission. It's like, that's great feedback. Like, how can we work with you to design an applicator that you want to carry on a mission? Like, that's, that's the easy part, right? The chemistry and the products performing like we can package it any way you want. So really like down to like the way it's reverse threaded and the tactile feel and the 550 cord pull that was in it all was driven by the end users. [00:02:51.750] - Nick Ripplinger It wasn't us saying, Hey, here's the product. And I think having that voice of customer very early on has helped, you know, not just with Kraytac, but all the products. [00:03:00.570] - John S. Berry And now, Freddie, you were a special forces officer. [00:03:03.700] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah. [00:03:04.340] - John S. Berry Was this around when you were serving? [00:03:06.140] - Freddie Kim No, no, it wasn't around. It's amazing. It's— you found product-market fit. [00:03:11.140] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah. [00:03:11.700] - Freddie Kim And you went with it. But from my understanding, you bootstrapped this, right? [00:03:16.270] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah, completely bootstrapped. [00:03:17.510] - Freddie Kim So how do you— can you help us understand, like, how do you somebody with really no R&D background come up and bootstrap some kind of new technology? [00:03:28.070] - Nick Ripplinger You know, great question. I think a lot of it was just our ability to like not accept defeat. [00:03:33.470] - Freddie Kim Yeah. [00:03:34.030] - Nick Ripplinger But also like from the finance side, like I was super fortunate. Like I had a fairly good civilian career after the military, was able to save some money, brought in a lot of the right partners and just surrounded myself with people that are way smarter than me. [00:03:46.710] - Freddie Kim Cool. Yeah. So one of these sessions here at Veteran Edge, they talk about the myth that Veterans feel in order to start something, it takes about $50,000. And hey, I don't have $50,000. I don't— I can't start something. But that's a myth because they found out it was less, $25,000 to really start something. What would it take somebody to do what you do? [00:04:10.610] - Nick Ripplinger So, R&D is kind of expensive. But there's, there's so many great programs, like the US government spends billions of dollars a year on research and development. So, if you find that product market fit and you have that idea and you have that customer, you know, there's different avenues to go get funding. Not like a capital raise type of funding, but you're like legit under contract to have deliverables and milestones. But there's a lot of different avenues to kind of bring those products and work with those warfighters to bring that capability to the battlefield. [00:04:41.730] - Freddie Kim Fair, fair. You are— you won a SBIR contract? [00:04:44.930] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah, we've done a decent amount of SBIRs, but that's like one avenue of funding. There's also, you know, Spark Cells. We've done some stuff where, you know, it's anywhere from like $10,000 to $25,000 that they're giving end users to go solve their own problems and they can work with industry. And, you know, we've had a lot of success there. And, you know, we've matched, you know, dollars that end users have brought to us to really advance the technology. So, we have a product right now flying in the F-22s and F-35s. so, you know, what's going on in the world right now, those guys are staying busy. But that came out of a Spark Sale. I think the guy had like $20,000 or $30,000. We matched it and we went from that first phone call to flying in those F-22s and F-35s in 14 months, which is kind of unheard of in the defense space. But when you bring, you know, a problem, you bring an invested end user, you bring a little bit of funding. You can really accelerate that development and impact. [00:05:43.590] - Freddie Kim What kind of problems are you solving in your business now? [00:05:46.460] - Nick Ripplinger Like product-wise? [00:05:47.350] - Freddie Kim No, like for you as an entrepreneur running a business, what kind of problems are you faced with? [00:05:52.240] - Nick Ripplinger I mean, I think scale and growth is super hard, and that's really where a lot of our time and energy are spent right now of how can we be, you know, more efficient? How can we overdeliver? So, like our big thing is we always want to under promise and overdeliver. Like give us your requirements, we'll agree to them, but we're also going to try to tack on a couple extra things and just really expose that or like expand that capability. But yeah, scaling manufacturing and scaling, you know, this kind of global conflicts that are popping up is the biggest challenge and where I spend most of my time now. [00:06:25.070] - John S. Berry When you started this, did you ever think you'd be talking to lawyers? You'd be trying to find talent. You would be, did you think it would grow to this size, or did you think it was going to be, you know, just this little thing? Did you think? Did you ever imagine the complexity or the size of this? [00:06:38.570] - Nick Ripplinger No, I— and this just goes to show like how dumb I was. Like when we started off, it was like, cool, we're going to build these crayons, we're going to sell X number of them, and then we're going to sell off the company. Was kind of the like half-page business plan at the beginning. But like the lawyers and the talent and all of that, like those are real, like meaningful problems that have to be solved if you're going to have, you know, that larger impact. So, I do think like coming here and getting linked up with you guys and so many of the other great entrepreneur Veterans that are here, like that network has been huge. Like none of us likes solving the same problems over and over again. So, people are here, they're an open book. They're, hey, here's this document, here's this, or who's, here's who you need to contact. And like, that's really been the value and like the most impactful, like as a business owner, I think. [00:07:28.410] - Freddie Kim So, Nick, I've known you for a few years now through the CEO Circle. You're understated, but you overdeliver. You have a lot of value as just an individual. And we learned recently of how you build culture in your company. You're very intentional about that, bringing in— can you tell us what you do? [00:07:47.530] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah, I think you have to be intentional on that, like on any aspect of growth, whether it's a product or whether it's, you know, bringing on talent or whether it's, you know, anything in business, right? We always strive— it's like kind of a personal value of my own that's bled into the company— is under-promise and then over-deliver, right? And so like, I'm such a firm believer that you got to hire for culture first. Like, cool, you got an engineering degree, you can probably do engineering stuff. Like, we can train you on the battle site way. I can't like train you to be a good person. Or like, kind of my rule of thumb when we make hiring decisions is like, can I spend 8 hours a day with this person and not want to punch them in the face? Like, good test. Like, that's all I care about. Like, if you got to the point of like meeting with me, like, you probably checked off some of the technical skills that we're looking for. But really, like, we're still a small team by design, and, you know, one bad apple has a massive ripple effect in a small organization. [00:08:42.310] - Nick Ripplinger So, we can't afford to make those mistakes. And like, honestly, we have and we've adjusted, but that's the number one thing that would I care the most about when it comes to hiring is the culture fit. And like, are you bought into the mission? Because I want you showing up every day, like motivated, like wanting to jump out of bed to get to work is the type of environment we're trying to make for the employees. And I don't think it's anything that we do internally that gets them that way. I think it's the impact and the mission and the problems that we're solving for the warfighters that kind of, yeah, I'd have the passion, I guess. [00:09:14.450] - Freddie Kim Yeah. [00:09:15.270] - John S. Berry Yeah. And I think, you know, this is why you hire Veterans because they know what's at stake, right? They know that warfighters are depending on your products. [00:09:23.120] - Nick Ripplinger Absolutely. Like our products only get used when people are having one of the worst days of their life, right? The stuff that's flying in the F-22s and F-35s, you either got shot down or had a mechanical failure and you punched out. Like it's not a good day at the office. And like our products cannot fail and we have to, you know, bring the maximum capability for the smallest amount of real estate there. And that's, you know, that's what motivates me. And honestly, I don't want to speak for the team, but I think that problem set motivates a lot of the other— the rest of the team back at the shop right now. [00:09:53.480] - John S. Berry So this takes us to the after-action review. Your example of great leadership and horrible leadership. Don't have to name names. [00:09:58.900] - Nick Ripplinger All right. Yeah. So great leader. This is— I'll totally name-drop him— is Sergeant First Class Shelley. He was our detachment NCOIC back when I was working for NATO. And I spent so much time thinking about this, and I can't pinpoint one thing that's like, oh, that made him a great leader. He just did it all right, took care of his people first, took care of the mission, and just everything is so smooth and seamless. And I think it was just like, he was a good dude. He was empowered by leadership to actually lead, and he got the team to buy into the mission. And that's what we're trying to replicate here at Battle Sight. And then worst leader is just the— I won't name this guy because it's for obvious reasons, but just like the I'm the leader, you're going to do what I say. Like, no, I like— so my office has got a glass storefront on it. Like, I can't hide from the team and like the door just never closed, but like, come in and challenge me. Like, if you think I'm making a mistake, like, totally open to coming to my office and be like, bro, I think you're screwing this up and here's why. [00:11:01.850] - Nick Ripplinger Because I think when you drop that ego and you just care about getting to the right solution, it really enables those type of conversations and I think some of the worst leaders are just, no, I'm in charge, do what I say type of thing. [00:11:14.130] - Freddie Kim John, I'm curious for you though, because you are also very intentional about culture at Berry Law and you believe in the mission, what you're doing. Obviously people on the team believe it, but you also— is there a difference when you hire a Veteran for your organization versus a non-Veteran? Everyone is inspired by this mission. But is there a difference in performance or culture? [00:11:38.660] - John S. Berry Absolutely. I mean, Veterans, military spouses, people who have sacrificed something, [00:11:43.310] - Nick Ripplinger who've lived that mission, [00:11:44.290] - John S. Berry who have lived the mission. So, we, we work with Veterans, right? Whether it's VA disability appeals or injured Veterans, whether it's workers' compensation or injured in a car accident, we want to represent Veterans and we want Veterans on the team. And it starts with having Veterans on the leadership team, right? Our CIO, our chief talent officer, our chief marketing officer, all Veterans. And the key is to get the Veterans at the leadership, at the top, so that that culture never dies. So, we get to represent our nation's heroes. We get to represent Veterans. We hire Veterans. And you, you get a shortcut to great culture that way because everybody understands the importance of what we're doing. And we have clients who we, we are honored to serve. And it just makes things go well. And look, you can't hire all Veterans. I wish we could, but it was just, you know, there's not enough of us out there. Yeah, less than 1%. So, we have to hire people. But when you have a core team of Veterans that understand the mission, that is infectious. [00:12:36.380] - Nick Ripplinger Let me ask you this. I'm not trying to derail here, but that just sparked a thought. Like, when you bring a Veteran into the organization, do you feel like that knocks down some of those natural, like, newbie type barriers and they just, like, hit the ground running on day one versus, all right, I'm going to dip my toes in and get a feel for it? [00:12:54.020] - John S. Berry And I wish I could have Berry Law boot camp. And take everybody into a 12-week program, right? And make them sleep in the barracks and do PT in the morning. But I can't do that. It's not legal, apparently. But I think when most of your team have been through that, they understand, like, you are here to perform a mission higher than yourself. Get over yourself. We're a team. And I think people— anybody who served knows that. Most military spouses know that. And so that's why I think you just get the culture included. Like, you buy a toy with batteries included. You hire the team member with the culture included. [00:13:27.950] - Nick Ripplinger That's what I love about this event here, right? Super small. You said 1% of Veterans out there, right? So that barrier is already knocked down when you walk into a room like this. And then entrepreneurs, even smaller subset of that 1%. And it's just, I don't know, it just feels like it naturally just clicks on moment one. [00:13:46.940] - John S. Berry Yeah. Not a lot of egos and people willing to help. We're willing to help our brothers and sisters. We're willing to help them when we served. And now that we're out, we realize that that bond is still there. [00:13:54.420] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah. Without a doubt. [00:13:55.870] - John S. Berry So, Nick, where can listeners learn more about Battle Sight Technologies and you, Nick Ripplinger? [00:14:01.020] - Nick Ripplinger So, we're doing a big push on social media right now. So @battlesighttech on all the platforms and just the website at battlesighttech.com. My personal cell phone's on there, personal email. So super easy to get a hold of if there's anything we can help you with. [00:14:14.850] - John S. Berry Awesome. And for Veterans that might think they have a great technology, like, hey, I got these crayons. All we got to do is mark the doors. Like, seems simple. It's not. But how do you get started? [00:14:25.110] - Nick Ripplinger Uh, so we just got started by like one, like that first product, like I would have been a customer in my time in Iraq and Afghanistan. So like product market fit was kind of validated internally, but back to that whole, like the applicator thing, like just shit we didn't think about. Like you got to get out in front of your customers. You got to have those conversations. Everybody thinks they've got the greatest idea, but can you go sell that idea and do your potential customers also think that's a great idea? You don't know until you go out there and put yourself out there and like sometimes the baby's ugly and sometimes the baby's really cute, right? [00:14:55.550] - Nick Ripplinger Just—you don't know until you go out there into the world and ask those questions. [00:15:01.090] - Freddie Kim You got to get out the building. [00:15:02.380] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah. [00:15:02.810] - Freddie Kim Steve Blank likes to say, get out the building, get out the room. [00:15:06.870] - Nick Ripplinger Absolutely. [00:15:08.380] - Freddie Kim Hey, I love it, Nick. Super glad to have you, get to know you, bro. Yeah, right. [00:15:14.520] - Nick Ripplinger It's been great. [00:15:15.240] - Freddie Kim lots to learn from each other. Yeah. [00:15:18.060] - Nick Ripplinger And it doesn't stop here, right? [00:15:20.200] - John S. Berry So yeah, and for Veterans listening, if you want to get involved, we all met through CEO Circle, IVMF, uh, great opportunity. And also Veteran Edge here in Dallas, there are great opportunities. You just got to go look for them. [00:15:31.380] - Nick Ripplinger Yeah, best conference of the year. It's like the one thing on my calendar a year I don't miss. [00:15:35.270] - John S. Berry Veteran Edge. [00:15:41.590] - John S. Berry Thank you for joining us today on Veteran Led where we seek to help Veterans build an even bigger, better future after military service. Unfortunately, for some of our Veterans, the roadblock to a better future is that they are not receiving all of the benefits that they earned. If you need help appealing a VA disability decision, contact Berry Law.