A Green Beret and a Military Spouse on Building Mission-Driven Companies

Civilian spouses of active-duty service members faced a 20 percent unemployment rate, according to the Department of Defense's 2024 Survey of Active Duty Spouses. That figure sits at the center of two founder stories from the military community — and it frames what may be one of the largest untapped economic opportunities in the country.

Elizabeth Gore, co-founder and president and host of The Big Idea podcast from Yahoo Finance, interviewed Evan Hafer, a former Green Beret and founder of Black Rifle Coffee Company, and Lisa Bradley, a military spouse and co-founder of R. Riveter. Both founders built companies around serving the military community. Both learned that keeping a mission alive demands difficult decisions, financial discipline and a willingness to adapt.

How did each founder get started?

Hafer sold nearly every piece of military gear he owned to fund his coffee business. The former Green Beret turned that bet into Black Rifle Coffee Company, a brand built squarely on the veteran community it serves.

Bradley's origin story runs parallel. She started a handbag company because she and her fellow military spouses couldn't find jobs. R. Riveter grew out of that gap — a business created not just to sell products, but to employ a population the labor market had largely locked out.

As Gore puts it: one sold his gear, another created jobs, and both built something bigger than the original idea.

Why does the military community matter to business?

The Pentagon's 2024 Survey of Active Duty Spouses puts the unemployment rate among civilian spouses of active-duty service members in the labor force at 20 percent. That's a stark number for any labor market segment, and it's the pool of talent Bradley's company was designed to tap.

Gore argues the stories of Hafer and Bradley highlight an enormous economic opportunity, not just a social one. Where mainstream employers see transient households and disrupted careers, mission-driven founders see workers, customers and a community with unmet needs.

The timing of the conversation matters too. Veterans Day, Gore notes, is an opportunity to recognize the contributions of veterans and military families — including those who have turned their experiences into successful businesses.

What lessons do the founders offer?

Gore distills the conversations into three lessons every entrepreneur can learn from the two founders' experiences. The through-line across both stories: building a company around a purpose is one thing; sustaining it is another.

Both founders discovered that keeping their missions alive requires difficult decisions, financial discipline and a willingness to adapt. Hafer's willingness to liquidate his own gear to fund the business is the clearest example — personal capital, personal risk, no shortcuts. Bradley's path shows the same discipline applied to a different problem: creating opportunity where the labor market wouldn't.

The podcast conversation covered building businesses rooted in purpose, overcoming challenges and creating opportunities for others — themes Gore frames as relevant well beyond the military community.

Who else does this story honor?

Gore opens on a personal note. Her own father, a Vietnam War veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force, is among those she recognizes this Veterans Day. "I love you, Dad," she writes.

The sentiment grounds the business argument. Behind the 20 percent unemployment figure and the founder case studies are families who serve, move and rebuild — and, increasingly, entrepreneurs who build companies around them.

The takeaway for founders elsewhere: a mission can anchor a brand and a workforce, but only if the balance sheet and the leadership decisions hold up. Hafer and Bradley proved both are possible — and the spouses still looking for work suggest the market is far from saturated.