Next Lawyer Up Podcast with Attorney Ron Sykstus
Aug 7, 2026 · 45 min · 15 segments
Attorney Whit Slagsvol practices law in Charleston, South Carolina. He has been selected by…
Whit SlagsvolGuest
Ron SykstusHost
So, so what type of work are you doing presently? So do you do some entertainment law, right?
Um, so actually, uh, these days I spend most of my time not legal practice at all.
Uh, long story short being that I had an idea for a headphone concept, paid some engineers to work on it.
Uh, me and a co-founder, buddy of mine who's a, he was an in-house counsel, uh, here in town for a big, like, gas brand or, like, gas station company.
... got a proof of concept, applied for what's called a small business innovation and research contract.
Uh, congressional money, basically seed capital for civilian concepts that might have defense application.
We took that thing we were building and they were like, "We, we could use it in this military capacity." And they're like, "That's not a bad idea." So they gave us about a million dollars to build a prototype.
And um, so that started this company Ripple2, which we continue to do innovative work-
But we realized that surviving on DOD innovation contracts is a death by a thousand cuts.
And so, uh, two years ago we were trying to figure out, like, what can we do to start generating revenue now?
And there's this platform that the, the communication system we were developing worked within this framework of a platform called TAC, Team Awareness Kit, or Android Tactical Assault Kit if you're using it to kill people.
Um, and so we started selling this situational awareness platform to law enforcement and first responders, 'cause we have, you know, industry experts on-
So, so what type of work are you doing presently? So do you do some entertainment law, right?
Um, so actually, uh, these days I spend most of my time not legal practice at all.
Uh, long story short being that I had an idea for a headphone concept, paid some engineers to work on it.
Uh, me and a co-founder, buddy of mine who's a, he was an in-house counsel, uh, here in town for a big, like, gas brand or, like, gas station company.
... got a proof of concept, applied for what's called a small business innovation and research contract.
Uh, congressional money, basically seed capital for civilian concepts that might have defense application.
We took that thing we were building and they were like, "We, we could use it in this military capacity." And they're like, "That's not a bad idea." So they gave us about a million dollars to build a prototype.
And um, so that started this company Ripple2, which we continue to do innovative work-
But we realized that surviving on DOD innovation contracts is a death by a thousand cuts.
And so, uh, two years ago we were trying to figure out, like, what can we do to start generating revenue now?
And there's this platform that the, the communication system we were developing worked within this framework of a platform called TAC, Team Awareness Kit, or Android Tactical Assault Kit if you're using it to kill people.
Um, and so we started selling this situational awareness platform to law enforcement and first responders, 'cause we have, you know, industry experts on-
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