military reserve for startup owners?
nostrademons: Wait, are you thinking of joining the coast guard reserves and then starting a startup, or joining the reserves while starting a startup?The latter seems very much impractical.  Startups are mentally all-consuming, and if I understand the reserves correctly, you still have to report for training regularly.  The mental strain of this would probably be too much, and you'd let the startup falter.  Plus, what if the startup takes off and then you (heaven forbid) get called up for active duty?The former might work, though it seems unlikely.  I have friends & relatives in the military, both on active duty, in the reserves, and formerly in the reserves, and they generally have been positive about the experience.  But they have personality types that are very much at odds with the typical startup founder: they like (or believe they need) structure & discipline, while successful founders usually thrive on ambiguity and change and can make decisions with very little information.  Seems unlikely that the same person would have the personality traits to do well in both the military and in a tech startup.Also, never ever join up for any branch of the armed services on the assumption that "Well, I'm not going to get sent to a war zone anyway."  Geopolitics can change very quickly, and in a war, coast guard ships get deployed right alongside the navy.