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The cofounders of Denver-based Base Directory did not meet in dev school or drinking beer at CU. They met on the deck of the USS Peleliu, a Tawara-class amphibious assault ship deployed in the Pacific Ocean. Billy Griffin was a Naval Surface Warfare Officer in charge of steering the 820 foot long ship. His cofounder, Tony Hatala, was busy flying Harrier jets vertically off the ship’s deck.
“The first entrepreneurial venture we did together was to put on a half-marathon on the flight deck of the ship,” Griffin said. “We had t-shirts shipped out and ended up raising thousands of dollars for the Semper Fi Fund.”
As you can imagine, the logistics of organizing a half-marathon aboard an active naval vessel were immense. The duo cleared the deck except for two Harrier jets that were set up on either side of the ship. The Peleliu’s whistle marked the start of the race, and participants completed 52 laps around the deck. There were water stations, snacks, and all the other things you’d expect from a half marathon -- only this one took place in the middle of the Pacific ocean.
It wasn’t long after that they had the idea for Base Directory. The duo were frustrated by the lack of reliable information about the amenities available at military bases. Being constantly on the move, it was a pain to not know what restaurants were on a base, what their hours were, or even where an ATM was located. They set out to do something about it.
“For the first two to three years of creating Base Directory, we were both working on it in our off duty time,” Griffin said. “As you can imagine, it was quite difficult to juggle the duties of a naval officer and a fledgling startup.”
Since neither cofounder had any coding skills, they originally outsourced all of their technical work. But as Base Directory began to catch on, it became apparent that, to do it right, they’d have to bring their technical team in-house.
“When I got out of the Navy, I moved out to Colorado to learn to code,” Griffin said. “I went to gSchool, which ended up branching into Turing, and now into Galvanize Full Stack.”
Griffin does not have a technical background. He drove ships in the Navy, and was a graduate from the Naval Academy where he studied history. Nonetheless, with the help of a local development consultant, they managed to completely rebuild Base Directory’s website and mobile apps.
Fast forward to today, and Base Directory has matured into a centralized directory for over 15 thousand military installations around the world. Griffin is still living here in Colorado, working at the company full time as a CTO. His partner, Hatala, is currently stationed at Andrews Airforce base outside of Washington D.C., where his job is to fly the Secretary of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs around the world.
Last week the two were invited to the White House as part of the first ever White House Pitch Day. As part of that event, they had the opportunity to tell their story, and pitch their product directly to President Obama.
“Actually getting to pitch to the president was… surreal,” Griffin said. “This is something we’ve poured our hearts and souls into, and getting to talk about something you’re so proud of to the President of the United States is pretty remarkable.”
As for Obama’s response to their pitch: “I’m proud of you.”
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