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Starting a business, without the sales pitch

Published by the Honest MOS Editorial DeskVerified against DoD/.gov sourcesUpdated August 2026Editorial standards

The veteran entrepreneurship space is full of people selling veterans things the government already gives them free — SAM registrations, EINs, "certification assistance" for a program that costs nothing to apply to. This section is the opposite of that: what your state actually gives you, what certification actually requires, and which paid services are worth it — including the ones we'd tell you to skip.

Start here

124 verified benefits · 51 statesWhat your state gives veteran-owned businessesFormation fee waivers, franchise tax exemptions, state veteran business certifications, and procurement set-asides. Every entry links to the statute or official program page it came from, with the date we last checked it.Free tool · no email requiredWould you actually qualify for SDVOSB?Nine questions against the real eligibility rules. Tells you where you stand, which specific requirement you'd fail, and what to do about it. Full results on screen — we don't hold your answer hostage for an email address.Before you sign anythingWhat the veteran franchise discount is actually worthVetFran discounts apply to the initial franchise fee, not your total investment — so the headline percentage is rarely the real one. How to do that arithmetic, the four FDD items that decide it, and why you get pitched during transition.Certification guideSDVOSB certification, start to finishWho certifies it now, what the regulation actually requires, what it costs, how long it really takes, and what a set-aside is worth once you have it.Reviews · we disclose every payoutWhich business services are worth paying forFormation, banking, payroll, insurance — ranked on real year-one and year-two cost. Including the ones where the honest answer is to do it yourself and pay nobody.

The rules we hold ourselves to

Every benefit cites its source. A statute, a state program page, or a federal regulation. If we couldn't verify it against a primary source, it isn't on the page — even if it's probably true.
Commission never touches rankings. The methodology is published in full, and payout isn't one of the inputs.
No affiliate links in our reporting. Investigations and Firewatch carry no vendor links. That wall is enforced by a build script, not by good intentions.
We say when we don't know. Where a vendor blocks us from verifying their pricing, the page says "not verified" instead of borrowing a number from someone else's article.

Questions people actually ask

Is this section free?

Yes. Every state benefit page, certification guide, and eligibility tool is free and requires no account. We fund it with affiliate commissions on business service reviews, and we publish exactly what each vendor pays us.

What makes this different from other veteran business sites?

Two things. Every benefit we list carries a link to the statute or official program page it came from, so you can check us. And every page that carries an affiliate link publishes the exact payout, so you can see our incentive rather than guess at it.

Do I have to be service-disabled to use this?

No. Service-disabled veterans get access to SDVOSB certification and specific set-aside contracting, but most state-level benefits — fee waivers, procurement preferences, training programs — are open to any veteran, and some to any honorably discharged service member.