Entrepreneurship is rarely a solo journey. The best ideas grow in communities where people are willing to share what they know, ask good questions, and support one another along the way.
That kind of environment is exactly what the VentureVets Digital Skills program created.
We recently partnered with VentureVets to contribute to their Digital Skill Accelerator, a program designed to help veteran and military-connected entrepreneurs strengthen the tools they use to grow their businesses online. Over several sessions, founders explored practical topics aimed at helping participants build resilient businesses in today’s digital environment.
For our portion, we led the sessions focused on digital marketing, content strategy, and storytelling.
The goal of the program was simple: give veteran and military spouse founders practical knowledge they could apply immediately in their businesses.
The curriculum covered a wide range of topics across six sessions, including:
Each session was designed to be interactive and hands-on, allowing participants to apply what they were learning to their own companies as they went.
The format made the sessions less about lectures and more about conversations. Founders brought their real questions to the table. Participants shared the challenges they were facing. Ideas and strategies moved around the room quickly as people compared what had worked and what hadn’t.
Arianna Cruz, our Director of Market Development, led the session on Digital Marketing Fundamentals.
Her focus was on helping founders build a strong online presence that aligns with their business goals. The conversation explored how different platforms serve different purposes and audiences, from professional networking on LinkedIn to visual brand building on Instagram and discovery through platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
Participants walked through questions that many early-stage founders wrestle with:
Instead of presenting digital marketing as a checklist of tactics, the session focused on helping founders think strategically about where their audience is and how to communicate clearly once they have identified it.
The next session focused on content and storytelling, led by Hannah Jordan, our Marketing Manager.
The conversation centered on a simple idea: every business has a story, but not every business knows how to tell it.
Participants explored three core storytelling frameworks that help audiences understand a business: the origin story behind why the company exists, the customer journey that shows how the business helps people succeed, and the transparency that builds trust over time.
From there, the discussion expanded into practical strategies founders could apply right away:
This session became a group discussion. Participants shared how they currently communicate with their audiences and where they were getting stuck. Everyone was also helpful in sharing ideas to improve their content. By the end, several founders had already begun sketching out new ways to explain what their businesses do and why they matter.
Programs like the Digital Skills Accelerator are valuable because they create space for founders to learn together. And the VentureVets community doesn’t stop there. That sense of connection carried into their recent community gathering in Fishers.
The event brought together veteran entrepreneurs, investors, and supporters from across the region. The room filled quickly, and conversations started the moment people walked in the door. It wasn’t a typical networking event with forced introductions or scripted icebreakers. Instead, people shared ideas, asked questions, and connected naturally around the work they’re building.
For Arianna, who attended the event, what stood out most was the energy in the room. The conversations were thoughtful, the turnout was strong, and the sense of support among founders was unmistakable.
Events like this reinforce what VentureVets is building: a community where veteran founders can learn from one another and grow their businesses together.
We believe great technology starts with great people. Programs like the VentureVets Digital Skills Accelerator highlight how powerful it can be when operators, founders, and community leaders ask the questions that have been on their minds while sharing their own knowledge with each other.
Helping entrepreneurs understand digital marketing and storytelling may seem like a small piece of the puzzle. But when founders have the tools to communicate their ideas and connect with their audiences clearly, it creates momentum that carries their business forward.
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