General Stanley McChrystal to Keynote Suits & Spooks 2026 in Kalispell, Montana
For Startup Founders, and those who want to be one
If you’ve ever founded a startup, you know how stressful it can be. The odds are against you right out of the gate.
If you’ve raised money from investors, you’re on a clock, and better than half the time, even if you’re doing well, you’ll be forced out of your own company. If your own money is at risk (or your friends and family), you’ll probably lose it all because most startups fail.
You become filled with anxiety, and you have no one to talk to about it. Your spouse may already be worried because she’s not an entrepreneur and desperately wants security. You can’t tell your investors because you’re afraid that they’ll think you can’t handle the job. You can’t tell your employees for reasons that are too obvious for me to explain.
According to Startup Snapshot, “the emotional, cognitive and physical toll that founding and leading a start-up takes is dangerously overlooked and rarely spoken about. Stress and anxiety are toxic for brain chemistry. They lead to bad decision making, poor judgment, breakdowns in relationships, and a negative, self-reinforcing spiral.”
The result is that there’s been a silent mental health crisis among this nation’s founders. Startup Snapshot calls it the “Untold Toll.” These are the very individuals whom we as a nation rely on to create new ways to protect our networks and maintain, or in some cases regain, our technological dominance.
I know this well because I’m a founder of four startups over twenty-one years, and all of the above has happened to me and people that I know.
Suits and Spooks | April 2-3, 2026
This event is for those of you who have been founders of startups, are currently a founder, or just want to learn more about it, especially startups in the security and defense industries.
The keynote speaker is General Stanley McChrystal, author of “On Character,” where he discusses his failures and successes, and his eventual realization that what matters more than what you have achieved is how you achieved it and who you have become because of it. In other words, your character.
General McChrystal’s goal with this book is to spark a national conversation. I think that Suits & Spooks is a good platform to help make that happen. I hope that you do, too.
In Addition
In addition to McChrystal, our speakers will include founders of well-known brands, cybersecurity and defense startups, and founder/angel investors; all of whom will discuss their experiences, lessons learned, the stressors as well as the passion that keeps them in the game no matter the chaos.
We’ll take advantage of our beautiful setting by utilizing different venues, running an adventure/treasure hunt in the Montana wilderness, and one or two other surprises.
Our capacity is 100 attendees, and admission tickets will be offered in blocks.
The first set of 30 tickets will go on sale between now and July 31st for $328 each until they sell out
The second set of 30 tickets will go on sale on August 1 for $498 each until they’re sold out
The final set of 40 tickets will be priced at $648 each
All tickets are 100% refundable until December 1, 2025.
More information will be shared via this newsletter and the Suits and Spooks website between now and the end of the year as I finalize the schedule, the venues, the activities, and the speakers.
I hope to see you all in Montana!
This is another absurd work around! GovExec has been doing that since its inception with enterprise and officials, while never even acknowledging the truth of clandestine 5th generation warfare. Events like that one spray from them constantly.