True Cost of War
Why I Joined Your Veterans History
I’ve spent most of my life hustling to make a buck. In childhood I started by plucking stuck quarters out of parking meters, pitching those quarters at the Newton Center T-Stop with the boys, and throwing them in as antes, calls, and raises in poker games wherever I could find or scare up a game.
In adulthood I built a software startup from dust, scaled existing businesses, created platform companies, and strategized with a host of businesses of all sizes and shapes. I’ve sat in boardrooms with the MBAs and I’ve eaten pizza on folding chairs with my teams launching new products, new services, and turning the belief that they were the true game changers for growth into reality. I’ve done it all. And through it all, I started noticing something that I couldn’t unsee: the difference between building things to just make money for the money changers and building things that truly matter, that make the world better in any way they can.
That realization is a core reason why I started building the Improbable Dream Universe. Our mission is simple, but bold: teach entrepreneurs how to bootstrap transformational companies without begging for scraps from the gatekeepers of capital. No more giving up the lion’s share of your vision to the money vultures. No more playing by rules written to extract rather than create. If we build it ourselves, and build it for good, we keep the value. And we leave the world better than we found it.
At this stage of my life, I will only build companies that produce things that matter. That means aligning with companies that shift culture, spark healing, and create real ripple effects in the world. No more chasing metrics without meaning. No more empty promises. Just real people. Real impact.
And then the Universe purposefully placed Your Veterans History in my path.
Your Veterans History isn’t about politics. It isn’t about glorifying war or rewriting history. It’s about honoring the people who lived it. It’s about giving voice to the men and women who wore the uniform, saw things most of us never will, and then came home carrying the heavy human baggage of war, if they were lucky enough to come home at all.
I’ve seen the cost of war up close. Friends who never came back. Others who did, but left large parts of themselves behind. Families forever changed. Silent trauma that never really got unpacked. And in a country that moves fast and forgets faster, these stories often get lost in the blur.
This company changes that. It slows things down. It creates space for truth, unfiltered, personal, and often raw. These aren’t press releases or political narratives. They’re the kinds of stories you only tell someone when you know they’re really listening. And for many veterans, this might be the first time those who want to help truly understand why the pain won’t let them in.
I didn’t sign on to this project to check a box or pad a resume. I signed on because I believe in what it stands for: dignity, healing, remembrance, and understanding. And if we can give even one veteran's family and friends, and that one veteran the chance to feel seen, to share what they carried, and allows them all to let go of some of that weight, then it’s worth everything.
This is the kind of work I want to be known for now. Work that softens hardened hearts. Work that wakes people up. Work that tells the truth. Companies, products, and services that make our world a more human and humane place to exist in.
And if you’ve ever struggled to find the right way to honor a loved one who served, this might be it.
So if you’re still with me, I hope you’ll take a moment to check out what we’re building.
Because this isn’t just a storytelling platform. It’s a mirror, a salve, and sometimes even a last best chance to say what needs to be said.
If you know a family out there that could use this as a Memorial Day gift to their clan, their memories, their consciences, their hearts, and their very souls please spread the word. All of us here at Your Veterans History will be grateful to serve!
