User:Williamtreseder/sandbox

David Johnson (born March 29, 1982) is a Saudi-born American entrepreneur and Founder of Taking Point, a social media company dedicated to connecting and supporting veterans, servicemen, and servicewomen.

Johnson was born in Khamis Mushat, Saudi Arabia, where his father was working as a Defense Liaison Officer for various contractors such as Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Hughes Aircraft. His early exposure to Saudi culture forced him to learn Arabic, which he speak fluently to this day. Thanks to his father's wide-ranging travels, Johnson moved constantly between Saudi Arabia and the United States as a child. He eventually graduated from Shadow Mountain High School in 2000 and promptly enlisted in the United States Army.

As an Arabic speaker, Johnson was in high demand. After basic training he shipped off to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where he spent 63 weeks refining his language skills and expanding his knowledge of Arab culture. Selected for 10th Special Forces Group due to his impressive test scores, Johnson spent all of 2002 in additional Special Operations training. Landing in Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion several months before the invasion, he

After getting out of the Army in 2006, Johnson began studying at Arizona State University after a brief stint hanging out with his old high school friends. Finding himself unable to easily reconnect with civilians, Johnson sought out other veterans on campus, trying to recreate a sense of camaraderie similar to what he enjoyed while serving. This proved more difficult than he imagined, prompting Johnson to found a startup named ArmedZilla, his first attempt at building an online community for veterans.

Johnson started collecting a strong team using his contact in Phoenix, but lacked the funding and networks needed to build a world-class company. A stroke of luck led him to George Weiss, an experience entrepreneur, investor, and CEO of Beechtree Capital. This relationship immediate yielded benefits, helping Johnson recruit from top employers such as McKinsey and Conoco-Phillips. As the team grew and changed, he saw the need to rebrand ArmedZilla to highlight the change in personnel and trajectory. After extensive discussion inside the company, with partners, and veterans across the country.

Taking Point built on ArmedZilla's steady growth, helping Johnson secure several awards for his entrepreneurial talent. During this same intense period of change within the company, he took off enough time to get married and welcome home his father from overseas, where he had spent the majority of the last thirty years.