Welcome to our Featured Founder series, where you’ll meet startup founders from Tampa-St. Petersburg who are building and scaling their ventures to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. We interviewed Travis Weathers of VTEM Labs, a service-disabled veteran-owned company that provides software and logistics support for continuous threat exposure management, penetration testing, incident response, and IT operations.

Please provide a brief one-liner about your company.

VTEM Labs is a service-disabled veteran-owned company that provides software and logistics support for continuous threat exposure management, penetration testing, incident response, and IT operations.

What were you doing previously, and what inspired you to launch your company?

We spent decades leading and delivering offensive security and penetration testing services across large consultancies and smaller firms. Along the way, we consistently saw gaps in how professional services were sold and delivered. As automation and AI were pushed as cost-cutting replacements, we watched talented practitioners and close friends get laid off. As a service-disabled veteran-owned team, we chose to close those gaps by building platforms that support people, not replace them.

What pain point is your company solving? What gets you excited to go to work every day?

Professional services teams are being asked to deliver more with fewer resources, often relying on fragmented tooling that hurts efficiency, margins, and morale. VTEM Labs exists to improve delivery without removing the human element. What excites us every day is helping practitioners and organizations increase capacity, profitability, and retention while preserving the craftsmanship and trust that make professional services effective.

Name the biggest challenge you faced in the process of launching the company. How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge was pushing back on the industry narrative that automation should replace practitioners. As service-disabled veterans, we approached the problem with discipline and long-term thinking. We built alongside real delivery teams, validated every capability in live environments, and grew through revenue rather than hype. That approach kept us focused, credible, and profitable from the start.

Where do you see your company headed next?

We are scaling our platforms to support more consulting firms, internal security teams, and government organizations while staying practitioner-first. Our next phase focuses on expanding integrations, logistics, and partnerships that reduce friction in service delivery without sacrificing quality, trust, or accountability.

Give us a tactical piece of advice that you’d share with another founder just starting out.

Commit fully and go all in. There is no guarantee that you will succeed, but there is a guarantee that you will regret holding back. Half measures delay learning and dilute execution. Full commitment forces clarity, speed, and accountability.

Why Florida?

Florida is home. The military brought us here, and we chose to stay. It offers a strong veteran community, a growing technology ecosystem, and the quality of life we value as parents. We believe it is the best state in the union to raise children and to build a mission-driven business.