Bottle Breacher’s Eli Crane
featured in Huffington Post’s article, “Why Military Veterans Make Great Entrepreneurs”
As a former Navy SEAL, Eli Crane founded
Bottle Breacher after his brother brought home a 50 caliber bottle opener from
his deployment and gave it to Eli as a gift.
Eli had an interest in this idea, and started to think how he could make
these into a product and generate sales.
After great success from the start, he later aired on ABC’s Shark Tank
and received financial backing from Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary. This helped
to grow their business even more and reach more consumers.
Eli’s military experience has
helped him prepare for the business world in numerous ways. This includes the ability to problem solve with
ease and work with others efficiently. According to Kevin O’ Leary who has worked
with a number of veteran owned businesses, believes that “military veterans have the three D’s: desire, drive and
determination”.
One of the most important aspects
of being an entrepreneur is team building and working effectively with others.
This is a skill that is essential to being a part of the military and is
instilled in every part of the team training.
These skills are then carried over into the business world. Some individuals are stronger in specific skills
and weaker in others, but if you utilize those strong skills and form a diverse
team, it has the ability to balance out. Eli utilizes his teamwork skills and
explains how “we divide the responsibilities of the entire operation” which in
turn becomes “a very integral part of our success”. Overall teamwork is an important part of any
business and in any situation where you must get along and work well with
others.
Overall, the skills learned
in the military, including teamwork and problem solving skills,
can apply to any business situation. Bottle
Breacher started with $500,000 in sales before airing of Shark Tank, and now
makes over $2.5 million per year. Their
unique custom-made bottle opener is a great gift idea for groomsmen, fathers,
and anyone that enjoys opening their drink in style. All in all, starting from a military
background, it gave Eli the skillset to carry out this business and be
successful. Therefore, this is why
military veterans can become great entrepreneurs and businesspeople.
