As part of our series about “5 Things I Need To See Before Making A VC Investment” I had the pleasure of interviewing TFX Capital Founder and Managing Partner Brandon Shelton.
Brandon Shelton founded TFX Capital (TFX) in 2015 with a fundamental belief that the best entrepreneurs come from those who have served. With a focus on Pre-Series A and Series A B2B technology companies, TFX provides unique and trusted access to companies founded by high-performing, commercially tested former military and national security leaders. As a Veteran himself, Brandon brings more than 20 years of military, financial, strategy and operational experience including within high intensity and change environments.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please share with us the “backstory” behind what brought you to this specific career path?
I didn’t necessarily envision myself as a founder of a Venture Capital firm. However, what I did know from an early age is that I wanted to make a difference in the world and that has been my North Star throughout my life. I’ve also always aspired to work in dynamic and intense environments, make things happen, and provide for my family. I grew up in a middle-class family in a small rural town in Virginia. Many members of my family served our nation, and I wanted to go to college, so it made sense to leverage the Army’s ROTC program to pay for my education at the University of Richmond. After graduation I served eight years as an Army Airborne Infantry and Intelligence Officer (six years on active duty, two years in the reserves).
Following my service in the Army, I was offered a junior role on a trading desk in New York City. This step back was really shocking to me. I was 28 years old with six years of experience leading people to accomplish hard things and offered an entry-level job. But instead of letting this discourage me, I put my head down, learned the trading business and simultaneously worked to obtain an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Then came the 2008 global financial crisis during which I was a trader at Bear Stearns and experienced its collapse. With my military and Wall Street career trajectories basically done and as a new parent at the time, I made another transition into strategy consulting. The consulting firm I joined leveraged military techniques to inform commercial planning and execution. After four years of helping leadership teams across dozens of industries, a client hired me to lead their internal strategy and growth initiatives.
