Tactical Wealth: From Military to Money

Life fell apart.I got divorced.Um, couldn't get a job at McDonald's.I wasn't a soldier anymore.I didn't know where I rated in life.If you had to describe your journey from Army scout to neurotech founder in one sentence, what would it be?Absolute chaos.There are certain people that can get you from, you know, 0 to 50.There's other people that can help you scale beyond that.They are not necessarily the same people.Nothing is gonna happen overnight.Someone's gonna tell you they- they got a way for you to make a million dollars in a year building a business.I got a way for you to spend four million this month to try to even make that happen.If you don't have a mission and a purpose, there are times you'll just tap out.That little grit of that mission is what takes it to the next level.If people have had brain trauma or TBI, what gives you hope about the future?It's, it's not really your fault.Let's get you fixed.There's hope out there.For too long, those that have worn the cloth of the country, that have fought and sacrificed for our nation, have been left out of the greatest financial engine the world has ever seen.My service paved the way for my success, and that's true for so many veteranpreneurs.In fact, some of the greatest companies were created by veterans.I'm your host, Kaj Larsen, and in each episode, we'll bring you the stories and the wisdom of those who have gone from boots on the ground to successful careers, from military to wealth, and how they've done it, so you can apply those insights to your own mission and life.Welcome to Tactical Wealth: From Military to Money.Before we get tactical, if you had to describe your journey from Army scout to neurotech founder in one sentence, what would it be?Absolute chaos.Yes!Yes.This is the most honest entrepreneur in the room.I love it.Um, and what's something people would be surprised, like, you're a PhD, 10,000-pound brain now, like, what was something people would be surprised to learn about you from your time in uniform?Um, I- I don't know if it's from my time in uniform, but more of the, the journey as an entrepreneur, but the- the surprise for me is, I would do combat any day of the week than entrepreneurism.Like the, the, the stress levels, they don't equate.Like, everyone's like, "I can't imagine combat."I'm like, "You're running a business.You- you- you get it."Like, the- the stress load feels exactly like a firefight.Bro, I could not concur more as a entrepreneur myself.That is so true.Like, because in combat, like, you generally know who's shooting the bullets at you.In entrepreneurship, you're just in, like, a 360 firefight.All the time.Yeah.Yeah.Yeah, it's just one big immediate action show.You're lucky if you don't have blinders on.Right.Yeah.Well, listen.Today's guest, decorated Army veteran turned neuroscience entrepreneur, uh, after being wounded in Afghanistan, Dr.Brendan Barman, took the hardest season of his life, turned it into a mission to heal others.He's the founder of Neurova Labs, where cutting-edge neurotechnology is transforming recovery, performance, and mental health, especially for veterans.From the battlefield to the brain lab, Brendan's story is one of resilience, science, and service.Brendan, we're honored to have you on Tactical Wealth.Welcome.Gosh, thanks for having me, brother.It's so good to have you here.Let's just get a little background on you so people can understand, um, you joined the Army at 17?day one, 17.Big green machine.And- and why?What compelled you to do that?Uh, just like most guys that are drawn to kind of our community, a bad childhood, no options, uh, saw a bleak prison or death future or, you know, getIs it really like the cliche, like the judge is like- Oh.go to the Army or go to jail?So it's really funny 'cause I love talking to SEALs 'cause you'll get a kick outta this.I went to my grandfather, who's a, a retired Master Chief, and I said, uh, "I need help."I was 16 years old, and he's like, like, "You're gonna go join the Navy.You're gonna do what I did.You'll, you'll clean your life up."So we went down to the Navy recruiter and, uh, a bunch of people in the office.They're like, "What do you wanna do?"I was like, "I wanna be a SEAL."And they all laughed at me.And the walls back then were really thin for recruitment.We walked out and there was an Army recruiter posted up waiting for me to come out.He goes, "Hey, we got SEALs."I was like, "Oh yeah?"He goes, "Yeah, man.Let me, let me show you this video."And he shows me this video of like dudes jumping outta planes with dirt bikes and I'm like, "What the hell?"And he goes, "Yeah, they got tanks too."Like, you can go mechanized, you can go light."Cav Scout's the way you should go, dude.You get a cool cowboy hat, spurs."And my grandpa's like, "No, you're joining the Navy.You're getting outta here.You'll go see the world."And I rode my bike back down to that recruiter's office.I'm like, "Hey, show me that video again."And that dude lied to me.Yeah.It was not the same thing at all.Um, and I never jumped out of a plane with a dirt bike, so.Right.He didn't tell you that the path to Cav Scout was through Fort Benning, Georgia, and- It was Fort Knox at the time.Fort Knox.That was the, one of the last classes, uh, with M- M16s at Fort Knox before the M4s came in.M16A1- Yeah.like Vietnam?So Knox, Knox got M4s in 2010, I believe.Okay.For cycles that went through, and we had like the old bent barrel- Yeah.M16 from Viet, like horrible.You were like fighting the Viet Cong.Yeah, yeah.Nice.You gotta qualify and you can't hit anything.Yes.Nothing works.Uh, so tell me about your Army journey.You deployed to Afghanistan in 2011?2010, 2011, yeah.Okay.So I- I was on Rear D.I was meant to go with 5-4 CAV to Iraq.Uh, my ex-wife at the time was pregnant, so I stayed home for the birth.Son was born and got a call from Rear D 1st Sergeant, he goes, "Hey, all sniper marksmen qualified are going to 4-4 CAV.You're gonna go support Task Force Spartan.Um, it's a SOF mission.You're going to Afghanistan."So I, I had a 2week workup to go from a mechanized patrol deployment to Iraq to we're air assaulting and- and rucking it 3 missions a day to Afghanistan.So drinking from a fire hose.I was 19 years old, uh, young, just young team leader.Didn't know really anything, just trying to survive the moment.Um, and went to Afghanistan and- and, you know- And where were you guys?probably familiar with it.Yeah, you were not at JBAD, right?A lotWhere were- Yeah, so we- weI was with the scout element that took Hajji Ramadan in 2011.Um, so a lot of people that- that are familiar with the- that task force, that was the SOF-mission for the entire year.Um, and it was kind of a mistake.We went in, we were supposed to take, uh, an out- outskirt town.We went in on an OP and got- got directions wrong, ended up taking a compound while they were all gone, and kinda took the element.And then our- our COP, so Hajj Ar-Rahman turned into, I think we had 3rd Group out of there, and then we had one of your- one of your SEAL teams from West Coast out of there- Yep.for the remainder of our deployment.We all just did our own missions and operated in the same tiny little castle we took over.Right.And you had a pretty significant combat injury during that deployment.Yeah, so I got- I got a couple- couple injuries on that, but the big one is complex ambush in the Great Ro.Um, woke up in Germany with a severe TBI.Spent 2 years in the- in the WTB program recovering to get stable to medically retire.Right.Right, and that's the Warrior Transition Bri- Battalion, yeah?Yeah, so in the- in the military, it's the WTB is Warrior Transition Battalion, essentially a medical unit where you get medical treatment, but you're still active in the military getting paid.Um, and at this point, like, what's your rank in the Army?E5.Right.You're- you're an E5, and you- Making no money.With no college degree, right?No, I'm a high school dropout with a GED.Right.Uh, and how much cumulative total years of service at this point?4.So you got 4 years of service.You're transitioning out of the Army.You have a traumatic brain injury, and you got a GED.Yep.What happens next?Life fell apart.I got divorced.Um, couldn't get a job at McDonald's.I wasn't a soldier anymore.I didn't know where I rated in life.Um, and I kept losing friends to suicide.And so, I decidedThe military said I would never not have seizures, never be able to be combat deployed.I wasn't gonna go do that.So I- I worked real hard, I got back to a- a state where I've had seizures since 2012, 2013.Um, got my mind right, got my body right, and then I went back to contracting as kind of the- the path back to combat.But I got- kept losing friends and just decided there was a weakness in the medical system that needed to be looked at, and that's where I put my attention, was, uh, identifying a physical injury of PTSD that no one wanted to- to see.And that evolved into a wild journey of working with other veteran entrepreneurs and side projects and, "Hey, I'm doing this thing.Do you wanna come help me on it?"And just trying to hustle and steal to build a self-fund and build a company over 10 years.And all the- the crazy side paths you kinda go down when you do that, you know, is building your own business.It's wild out here.It's the- it's the network you know and- and the work you do that take you where you're going.And you went to school also along the way.School research mainly.So we- Okay.I- I mainly got my degree doing research and a thesis.And how did you do that?Uh, I had a question and went and answered it.So I- I wanted to know the physical injury.We identified the blood flow injury in the brain that TBI and PTSD leave from a neurovascular coupling standpoint.The decoupling injury that we identified, I helped create the protocol to restore it.Um, we put together our findings and I published and got a call and they said, "Hey, do you wanna come defend this in- in front of a panel?"I said, "Yeah."I told my wife, "There's no way in hell I'm gonna pass."I'm a high school dropout and- and 6 weeks later we got the call that it went through.I was like, "Oh.All right."So I got my- my first PhD in Philosophy and I'm working on an official PhD in Neuro right now.So, I mean, one of the things we do on this show is we model pathways for other veterans as they're transitioning out of service.You're in the military and you're sort of the quintessential example, right?I assume when, you know, when life fell apart outside of like disability pay, you didn't have a million dollars in the bank, right?And so we're trying to show veterans pathways in order to level up in life- Yeah.when they get out.Um, for you, what are the most important pillars of that transition?So first and foremost, everybody will always hear is discipline.Like you gotta have a plan and a plan's gotta have actionable items that you can follow through no matter how you feel, no matter what's going on.And with that discipline has to come with that financial literacy.So I didn't have that in the military.I mean, I had the, you live in the barracks before you get married and your paycheck get paid on the first 15th и I'm gonna take that check in half и I have my drinking money for first weekend, second weekend, third weekend, 4th weekа.Like that's what I knew.Yeah.That's all I knew.Uniform li- uh, comes in, I'm gonna go buy a new uniform.Like that's how we lived.Um, and then I got out and I realized like, oh, like, how do I pay rent and electric and gas?'Cause they're 3 different bills.I didn't have that in the army.I was a child when I went in the military, and they paid all of that.It- it just, I had a place to sleep, I had internet, I had power, I had hot water.Uncle Sam took care of me pretty well.Yeah.It was a, it was a cush deal.You had to learn all that, I think, delayed.And after what we experienced, that was the hardest kinda hurdle initially, to even, like, figure out, like, if I had the freedom to go be an entrepreneur or, or discover something, 'cause it's survival state.Most guys get out and you don't have a support network.Military, once, once you s- you're out and you're off base, th- that's your last time, they keep going.The, the rotations keep happening, the trainings keep happening, and that life moves on, and you're kinda frozen in survival state.So, I, I had to learn that piece, uh, was pillar one, and then the second pillar really came down to community.Like, we are lucky enough that what you experience, what I experienced in the military, that we can forge a bond pretty qu- quick, but those bonds, and- and a lot of veterans watching this, if you've done business with veterans, a lot of vets prey on that to get, like, the quick fix of, "Let me get in there, take from you as much as I can real fast and move to the next guy and the next guy."I learned, like, it's, this is a slow, steady ride.I've been at it for a long time, and I would rather wait 2 or 3 years and take things slow for the perfect growth opportunity to happen.Um, and so that patience, it comes with, like, that second pillar of community, the third one would be patience.Like, nothing is gonna happen overnight.If someone's gonna tell you they- they gotta wait for you to make a million dollars in a year building a business, I gotta wait for you to spend four million this month to try-even make that happen.Right, right.it's not gonna happen, buddy.I think those are some of the essential skills the military actually prepares you for, that grit, that perseverance.Um, I do think veterans can make great entrepreneurs because of some of these attributes, um, and skills that they've learned in the military.But s- one of, one of the best attributes is, like, especially Big Green Machine, like, suck it up.Yeah.You don't have to like it.You just gotta do it and just keep grinding.Yeah.Yeah, the army, uh, the army is awesome 'cause the hurry up and wait- Yeah.I- I don't know if you guys have that saying in the Navy, in the Army, but the hurry up and wait, you know, the commander's like, "Hey, 5:00 AM weapons draw," and by the time it gets to you it's, "2:30 AM, be here," you know, and-you're sitting there for hours like, "What is going on?"That actually helped me a lot, structure my life when I got out in the entrepreneur space, 'cause if I had a meeting for noon, planning my daily planner, my daily schedule, I was always leaving these stop gaps to give me time.Whereas you meet these other people that didn't have the military background, you look at their calendar and it's, like, right on top of each other with, with no extensions, they're always running late or they're missing meetings.And, like, that's for veterans, when I meet a veteran entrepreneur and y- the first thing I ask a vet when they're, they're telling me they're- they're starting a business, like, "Show me your daily calendar in your phone."I love looking at that, like, just, "Hey, show me your calendar."And the way they schedule that, like, tells me if they're gonna succeed or not.Yeah.Like, that's, like, the basics.And I wanna talk about the business that you're building now, but you coalesced around what you're doing because you had this extremely personal quest, right?Yeah.You were trying to figure out what was going on in your own brain, and then ultimately, you've been able to translate that into a business.So- Not, not my TBI.It was the suicide.I was soI, my first year out, I lost my 20th friend.You know, I, I tell people, I'm like, "It's the, the morbid joke, but, you know, the only people other than Hillary Clinton that has 60 friends that commit suicide is a veteran."Weand it, all the guys that I lose aren't the guys at the VA asking for help.They're the ones laughing with their family, and then we get the notification in the morning.And I wanted to know what happened, like, what occurred in those 2 or 3 hours they're left alone where I can give you a KA-BAR and a bag of cash and I know you'll own a country in 6 months- Yeah.with a guerrilla force, wherever I put you.But you were in a bedroom alone and you lost that fight.What happened?Um, that question is what drove me to kinda identify the brain injury, 'cause I knew something, something had to break down for my friends to lose that fight.And, uh, that's what drove me on that.And, you know, the, I think the, the intrinsic desire to fix that, to stop getting those notifications, is what made me successful in funding other businesses, to fund the research, and to build what we are today, is, I always had a core mission that I believed in enough, that my wife believed in it, that the people around me believed in it, like, okay, like, you really want this.You wanna fix this, so everything else will work.And it's, it's worked out 'cause it gives you that, that extra 2% when, when you're down low and entrepreneurs, you know, the, whatever business it is is kicking you.That, that little grit of that mission is what takes it to the next level.Entrepreneurship is hand-to-hand combat, right?And, uh, for me, if you don't have a mission and a purpose, there are times you'll just tap out, right?'Cause it, it's like we were talking about at the beginning of the show.It's a firefight.Yeah.Right?And it, you gotta have a reason to get up and battle every day.If you could go back to the early days of launching your company, like, w- what's one thingWell, give me, like, a kinda like 60-second overview of the current status of the company and what you're doing.Okay.So, we, we identified the neurological injury in clinic.Uh, our company was founded around the modality principles to restore that, being gamified and put in virtual reality and neuro-immersive environments, so that way we can meet the individual where they're at to, to do recovery, but also the optimization lethality of the warrior.So, the military DOD are moving into more virtual neuro-immersive training environments.As they move into these environments, cog load is becoming a big thing, where you're hitting these cog loads within a couple hours versus a full training day you get in person because you get all the intrinsic breaks, um, and you get a loss of information from just the neuro capability.I wanted to maximize that.And so what our company has been able to do and where we're standing currently is, we have the PTSC recovery, recovering soldiers who have this injury, but we also have the optimization for performance, professional athletes, um, and operators at, at the top level being able to eke out that extra 5-10% from a neurovascular coupling standpoint.Um, the company is in its, uh, seed round, um, we're, we're raising right now, butFrom a, from an application standpoint, the team is, I mean, our chief medical officer is from NASA, my developers are from Disney.Like the, the team has grown into an, an org that I never would have believed 5 years ago we would be able to pull in talent-wise.Yeah.Um, so it's, we're in a healthy spot with the new administration and the priorities now set.We gotta see the end of Biden, and we're seeing the beginning of Trump for a second term and, and I'm very hopeful for the trajectory.'Cause a lot of people aren't right now in the DOD contracting space, but I, I'm like, "Oh, you're looking at realistic outcomes?Guess what?I'm your guy."Yeah.So, we got Doge, the Marine Corps did a contract with us and we, we got rolled in the Doge stop, but everyone's panicking on that stop.They, they stopped $213 million in funding for projects, and we're sitting there going, "All right.We'll just get our review done.""I'm not worried.My, my stuff's clean."UmA- and where, uh, where did you pick up your entrepreneurial chops?Is it, was it OJT?Yeah.Did you have a, a series of mentors?So- Like how were you figuring it out, right?AllYou're at the kind of early stage of building your company.Like, what, what are your, your guideposts?I got, I got really lucky having to survive as a child.Like, I think there's something that happens to you when, when you're 12 and 13, you gotta feed yourself, that like, gives you that like, "All right.I'm gonna get up and go mow lawns."Yeah."I'm gonna, I'm gonna go hustle."Like, my, like, my first like, criminal thing, I, I made a fake football fundraiser for the school and I went and sold car washes for $20 for the, you know, the school fundraiser, and I paid all my friends $10 to wash cars.I just made money door, door knocking.Sure.Um, and so like, I had that experience, and then coming out of the military I got just the right rooms.The first one I ever did, David Montoya, uh, I, I saw a Craigslist ad for Purple Heart veterans.It was like, "Looking for Purple Heart veterans that want to change their lives."And I went to an interview at McDonald's and they said no.Oh.They said like, "You're overqualified.We can't hire you."And I'm like, "I'll, I'll clean toilets.Like, I'm not overqualified for money.Like, pay me."So, I, I responded to that ad and I got to learn business backend from him, from their program they had.Um, like, we went and sold Shaq his backyard here in Florida by jumping a fence and knocking his door.David was a, a gangster teaching us sales, but he taught all the admin backend.How do you file your taxes?How do you set up a website?Like, there was the, the application of his program, but also the backend that we learned.The, the stuff that I think a lot of entrepreneurs spend a lot of money failing at, I got a crash course first out of the gate.So, I was just luck.Yeah.Yeah.UmAnd I do think that there, like your, your story's like resonating with me so deeply because I'm always saying like, especially for combat veterans, like it might be true on the conventional, non-combat side as well, but like, combat veterans in war zones are inherently entrepreneurial.Yeah.Like, you gotta figure out like, "How do I get this up-armor on the Humvee?"Like, and you just like, there's no excuses.You just gotta like figure it out and figure a way through.Yeah, mission gets done or people die.You know?Like if we, i- uh, the saying in the army is, "We acquire goods."Yeah.There's, there's no thief outside of your unit.You're just acquiring things.Right, right.You know, you're, you're acquiring supplies to get mission done.And, uh, it, I think that mindset, especially being so young and seeing like, "Okay, we, we have to make this work.We're gonna go out for 9 hours and now we can't carry enough weight.Well, what happens if we fill a body bag full of a resupply and we have one of the Kiowas come drop it off for us?"Yeah.Like, that, being able to pivot and like, just create solutions in combat definitely helped as an entrepreneur 'cause you're able to look at problems that civ- uh, the civilians, even our business now look at it and they're like, "How do we, how do we get around this messaging?"Or, "How do we get around this sourcing problem?"A lot of people are worried with tariffs.Like, I don't know any of my veteran buddies that, that come from our background that are worried about anything right now.Like it's, I look at right now as a kind of a golden age of opportunity.A lot of people are falling apart.Like, the ones that can see the opportunity to, to build new bridges and sourcingI think there's a, a real nugget of wisdom in something you just said is like, "How do I find a way around this obstacle?"Right?Because I think sometimes where the military doesn't serve entrepreneurship well is, like, you think that the only way through is to, like, charge through a wall, right?Yeah.And that is not what entrepreneurship is.Sometimes it's a way around, sometimes in the, the case of the Kiowa, dropping off the body bag, it's a way over, um, and so you need this, like, inherent, like, flexibility and adaptability to figure out how to circumvent obstacles, but it's not necessarily like running through a wall, um, the way we did on the inside.Yeah, exactly.And it, I think, uh, non-conventional army, like, being able to see that in combat and apply it, like, you, you had to be a thinker.I got realI tell people all the time, like, "I'm so happy I wasn't infantry."Uh, uh, thank God I had to operate in a small team, thank God we had to be creative and be thinkers 'cause startups, everybody likes to build so fast and build so wide.It was me and 2 other people for years- Right.before we had, like, a solid enough base to go, "All right, let's expand the team a little bit."Now we're at 12 people, so still a small team, but it feels huge at times.Like it, it, it's like, okay, like, I can't imagine a company at a, a couple of hundred people.Yeah.You know?Like, it's just, uh, it's one of those things that I'm in the evolution right now in my business where I'm very comfortable where we're growing, but I know I'm not the guy that takes us from 100 to 1,000.Like, I'm the CEO founder that, that's getting us to this milestone, and I might have to step back and out of the thing I created, the thing I love, this baby, for it to grow- Yeah.to the next phase, and I'm fully aware of it.Just like in the military, you might have to pass off your mission to, to the next element.Yeah.This is the Andreessen Horowitz principle from Hard Thing About Hard Things.There are certain people that can get you from, you know, 0 to 50.There's other people that can help you scale.Beyond that, they are not necessarily the same people, um, and it, it's an important principle.Um, all right.I want, I wanna do 2 things.We have 2 little segments that I, that I love.Okay.Uh, the first, we call, uh, Rapid Fire.It's like shooting steel, like ping, ping, ping.Oh, man, all right.Instant feedback.So just, just bangingone-word answers, or okay.I mean, just as, as succinct as you can get 'em.All right.Uh, you know, 30 seconds or less.Best investment you ever made.Uh, Bitcoin.Nice.Uh, when'd you do that?Uh, ISuccinct f- Rapid Fire, 2012.And then sold out when I thought it peaked at 3K.And then I was like, "I'm-" Yeah."I am the best investor in the world."I think, uh, I think that probably precludes the next question.Dumbest financial mistake you ever made.Doge.Okay.Uh, military skill that's been most helpful in business?Adaptability.Civilian habit, uh, that you've had to unlearn?Ooh, handshake deals.Mm.Smart.Um, book that changed your mindset?Like, it changes every month 'cause I read so much, but right now it's the, I've been talking about it since I've been down here, Prozac or Pandora's Box.What, what is it?Give me a description.Uh, it's S- it's a book on SSRIs and mental health- Yeah.and how we got to the mental health crisis in the nation where we're at now.Fascinating.Morning routine?Same as the military.Wake up, shower, brush teeth, personal hygiene, self-check, and then if I can, get a workout in.Uh, health-wise, sometimes I don't have the chance.Consistently across the board when I ask that question during Rapid Fire, almost every successful military to entrepreneur says that workouts are still an essential part of their routine.Um, and it's amazing, just- I think you'll crazy.keep the mind sharp, right?I think it, uh, I don't, I don't, don't think it's a, like, keep your mind sharp, I, I just think humans and nature should do it.It's neurohealth, like it'sYeah.that we're built to move and hunt.We're not built to sit all day.Yeah.Yeah.It's just amazing how, to the man, 'cause we've had all male guests so far, every single person has talked about how important that is.Um, I wanna do one more thing before we wrap up here, um, a- and again, it's because, you know, my hope in doing all this is that we can provide some models and some templates from people who, for people who have done what you have done.They've successfully transitioned even after a really tough military career or really tough moments in their military career, um, to being successful in the private sector.Um, so let's do a little role play, you know?Oh.Make your, make whatever sailor jokes you wanna make, likeI'm worried.Yeah.Is this part you're asking me to take my clothes off?Come on, man.Y- yeah.mean, hey, it's, it's not- In the Navy.the that's underway, yeah.In Navy.Um, okay.You're an E5 getting out of the military today, and you want to go from 0 money in the bank to a million dollars.What do you do?Find the perfect mission and then identify mentors in your community you get access to right now.That they, like, access is so much easier to get once you start reaching out.Like, it's crazy where you'll go just going to a conference or, but you gotta invest in yourself.Like, if you're getting out, find your mission and then identify the most important people to that mission in your area and just start knocking doors.Yeah.'Cause they're gonna give you a lot of lessons learned that they've learned.They might give you leads, they might hire you, they might give you a better path, or they might identify that your mission sucks right out of the gate, that you don't actually care about it.I think that's the most important one is, uh, we get biased on what we think we're gonna do.And you watch a lot of guys waste a lot of time on that bias instead of adapting and changing course.Uh, that would be my, my first big advice.For people listening, I wanna end on this note because I'm so privileged to have a subject matter expert on this.Um, if people have had brain trauma or TBI, what gives you hope about the future?What's over the horizon about what's happening in neural health?So, I, I think the first and foremost is, you, you're justified now.Like, this, what you're go, like, what people are going through, whether it be addictions, TBI, the rage you may, short tempers of your family and you feel like something's wrong with me, it's, it's not a willpower thing anymore.We've proven it.The, the hope is now, like, "Hey, we've identified problems, there's solutions coming out."But now that we have answers to these questions, I'm so excited about the advancements we're going to make in dementia, in neurodegenerative diseases, autism.Like, the, the scope of where neurovascular coupling research is heading, I mean, uh, Vegas just built a new R1.It, like, now we're starting to finally get questions.When I started asking these questions, there were no experts other than a handful, and I got lucky to get access to those handful by going and beating on doors.But now, I mean, it's the, the industry's, like, doubling every 6 months.It's just getting bigger and bigger and the conversation's finally here about it without it being stigmatized to weakness or anything else.Like, there's still accountability in all, in all facts of life, but a lot of it is, it's not your fault.Like, it, it really is not your fault you respond certain, to certain stimulation certain ways.Especially in our, our community of veterans out there, like, if you feel like you're a monster sometimes, the way you talk to your kids or your wife and you can't really control it, it's, it's not really your fault.Like, you, you are injured, you wouldn't be mad if you were bleeding all over the place and there was a mess.Like, let's, let's get you fixed.There's hope out there.Amazing.Uh, one saved round, um, because you're in the middle of fundraising right now.For veterans who are gonna try and go out and start a company at some point, um, what's the, what's the 30-second synopsis on fundraising?Understand what a cap table is and how valuable your equity is.That, like lesson one, 30-second synopsis, I don't think you could learn enough from me in 30 seconds of any import, other than the fact that if you're gonna start looking at that, truly understand what the models of investment actually mean, what clauses look like, and how you can might think it's a great deal, but you could screw yourself down the road if, if there are certain benchmarks attached to it or they're the wrong money.Investment's not just a check, it's a partnership.What are they bringing?You might, you might have a better deal with less money because of all the partnerships they bring versus the guy that can give you a big money check that wants all your equity.Yeah, and once you give away that equity, you are forever working to- Yep.help pay that back.Yeah, exactly.Forever.And wouldn't you also just emotionally underscore that fundraising sucks?too hard?I think veterans probably have, in general, a hard time asking for money.Uh, I, you know, actually, I, I would disagree with that with a lot of the events I've been to.I think veterans don't have a problem asking for money, but it goes back to that financial literacy.Like, if you're going to ask for it, you need to be prepared to answer the questions that come along with that ask.And if you don't have a pro forma and you don't know what a cap table is, like, you don't understand what special project vehicles are, like, you don't understand what a safe note is, like, at least understand- Deletion.Better understand how that- You better understand how all that means because, you know, a lot of the, it's sad, I see a lot of veterans who have a great idea and they find themselves out of their company in a year with no equity or no money to show for it.Like, "They stole from me."I'm like, "No, you gave it away."Yeah, absolutely.Uh, how can people connect with you and how can they support what Neurova's doing?Uh, so for the company, find us at neurovalabs.com or on all social media platforms, Neurova Labs.For me personally, I'm on Instagram, uh, Brendan under, I think it's _griz, and then my LinkedIn, uh, Brendan Barruman, PhD.Uh, it's the easiest ways to get ahold of me on there, um, and, and support what we're doing and, and see our deployment and our mission.Outstanding.Uh, Brendan, Dr.Barruman, my friend also.It feels so formal.Yeah, it feels really- You're not calling me Commander Larsen.Jesus.Sorry, sir.I feel like I should be at attention right now.Am I in trouble?Uh, thank you so much for taking us through your story, uh, from battlefield to the brain lab.Uh, your work's a reminder that healing's not just possible, that it's scalable, it's scientific, and it's certainly worth fighting for.You've shown us, more importantly, what it means to turn pain into purpose, trauma into positive technology.And that even the worst moments in our life, like a combat deployment to Afghanistan, can be the springboard for tomorrow.So we're honored to have had us, with, uh, to have had you with us today.Thank you.Thank you for having me.I'm honored.Hey, thanks again for locking in with us today.I hope this episode stimulated the old brain housing unit.Step one to becoming richer is becoming smarter.And I hope some of the lessons and ideas from today have sharpened your knife.As always, I hope you're taking notes, but more importantly, that you're taking action.Thanks again to Siebert.Valar and Siebert Financial for the support.And remember, stay tactical, stay driven, and don't forget to bang that subscribe button.