Waco Hoover walked into Manhattan on August 16, 2001, fresh out of the Marine Corps, with a dorm room six blocks from the World Trade Center and a promise to his grandmother that he would finish school. Weeks later the towers fell, and the urge to go back in was huge. He kept the promise instead, and that choice set him on a path of building things. A former infantry Marine and combat water survival instructor from a multi-generational military family, Waco went on to earn three exits as a founder and invest in more than a dozen companies. Today he is the founder of IMPCT Group, an agency helping organizations align purpose and profit, and a founder and partner of MCON, the military conference celebrating service member and veteran culture. His big goal: unlock one billion dollars of economic opportunity for service members, veterans, and military families by 2035. In this conversation with Pasha and Mick, Waco breaks down why luck is really a choice to go find your mentors, how he protects the glass balls of family life while building businesses, and why his forging moment was not one explosion but a lifetime of showing up.
What This Episode Will Forge In You:
• Luck Is a Choice, Not a Circumstance: The right mentor rarely lands in your lap. Waco challenges you to stop waiting and go find one through industry associations, conferences, and programs like American Corporate Partners, because the right relationship can change the trajectory of a career.
• Protect the Glass Balls: Everyone is juggling. Some things can drop and bounce back, and some shatter. Know which is which, guard your family time like a meeting you cannot move, and treat your time as the most precious thing you own.
• Purpose and Profit Belong Together: Mission should not live in a single department. When you apply the same rigor to the causes you care about that you apply to your P&L, it drives real results for your business and the community you serve.
Quotes That Hit Like A Hammer:
“The word luck is something that you have to reframe. It’s not luck. It’s taking a risk, taking the time and effort and attention to go out and find that mentor.”
“There’s glass balls and there’s plastic balls. You can’t drop the glass balls, but the plastic ones, you don’t like to do it, but it’s okay.”
“Every single person who wore the uniform raised their hand to volunteer on behalf of something much greater than themselves.”
Questions This Episode Answers:
• How do you find a mentor if you don’t have one at work?
• What was it like leaving the Marine Corps and moving to New York City right before 9/11?
• How can veterans become entrepreneurs without industry experience?
• How do you know when it’s time to pivot a business?
• How do entrepreneurs balance building a business with being a present parent?
• What does glass balls vs. plastic balls mean for work-life balance?
• How can companies align purpose and profit without it feeling fake?
• Is philanthropy a good way to build business relationships?
• What are MCON and IMPCT Group?
• Can a forging moment happen over a lifetime instead of one single event?
Connect & Discover Waco:
LinkedIn: Waco Hoover
IMPCT Group: impctgroup.com
MCON: mcon.live
Organizations Mentioned:
American Corporate Partners: acp-usa.org
Robert Irvine Foundation: robertirvinefoundation.org
FOLLOW FORGED:
Pasha Palanker
Website: pashapalanker.com
Instagram: @pashapalanker
Mick Hunt
Website: MickHuntOfficial.com
Instagram: @mickunplugged
LinkedIn: @mickhunt