The inaugural episode of Trigger Point: The FFL Business Podcast introduces listeners to the people behind Trident 1 FFL Software: President and CEO Jake Newbold and Chief Operations Officer Daniel Peterson. Hosted by Chief Marketing Officer Kevin Wosmansky, the conversation explores the experiences, values, and mission that shaped the company.
The key takeaway from this episode is simple: Trident 1 FFL Software was built by leaders who understand service, accountability, and problem-solving at the highest levels. Drawing from decades of military experience, Jake and Daniel identified a critical gap in the firearms industry and set out to create a modern solution that helps firearm retailers streamline operations, maintain compliance, and grow their businesses. Their vision extends beyond technology. It is about serving an industry they deeply respect through purpose-built gun store software designed specifically for FFLs.
While Trident 1 FFL Software is a technology company, its story begins long before software development.
Jake Newbold grew up in a rural area of eastern Ohio alongside his two brothers. Raised by a single mother, he credits his humble upbringing and family values for shaping his commitment to service. Inspired by his older brother’s path into the Navy SEALs, Jake enlisted during his junior year of high school and eventually graduated from BUD/S Class 219.
What was initially planned as a short military career turned into decades of service. Jake served with East Coast SEAL Teams, deployed to Iraq, became a BUD/S instructor, and later served in Afghanistan before transitioning into the private sector.
Daniel Peterson’s path shared many similarities. Raised in rural northern Louisiana, he spent his childhood immersed in sports, hunting, and fishing. After earning a degree in construction management, world events and personal loss inspired him to serve his country.
A close family friend who served as a Navy corpsman was killed in Iraq, reinforcing Daniel’s desire to join the military. He and his brother entered the Navy together and eventually found themselves in the SEAL pipeline, where Daniel first met one of his instructors: Jake Newbold.
As Daniel joked during the episode:
“He was, and honestly, he still is. You can’t shake him.”
That shared military experience would ultimately become the foundation for a future business partnership.
Many successful companies begin with a great idea. Others begin with strong relationships.
For Jake and Daniel, it was both.
After years of serving together, including deployments to Afghanistan, the two maintained a close professional relationship. When Jake began exploring opportunities in the firearms industry, Daniel became one of the first people he trusted to discuss the vision.
The trust forged through years of military service made collaboration natural. More importantly, they shared similar values around leadership, accountability, and mission execution.
Those values would later become central to Trident 1 FFL Software’s company culture.
The creation of Trident 1 FFL Software was not accidental.
While working in commercial and investment banking after his military retirement, Jake was introduced to influential business leaders through his involvement with the SEAL Legacy Foundation.
The organization was established following the tragic loss of 17 Navy SEALs and 33 service members during the Extortion 17 incident in Afghanistan. Through those relationships, Jake gained exposure to business opportunities and industries that could benefit from modernization.
One industry stood out.
As the team researched the firearms retail market, they discovered a common challenge: many firearm retailers were forced to use outdated, disconnected software systems that struggled to meet the unique operational and compliance demands of FFL businesses.
Jake explained:
“We realized there wasn’t a true all-in-one software solution specifically designed for firearm retailers and shooting ranges.”
Many businesses were juggling multiple systems for point of sale, compliance management, inventory, and customer operations. This fragmented approach created inefficiencies and unnecessary complexity.
Recognizing this gap, Jake made the decision to leave JP Morgan in 2019 and begin building Trident 1 FFL Software from the ground up.
One of the most important themes throughout the episode is specialization.
Rather than creating a generic retail platform and adapting it for firearm businesses, Trident 1 FFL Software was designed specifically around the operational realities of FFLs.
The company recognized that firearm retailers face challenges unlike those of traditional retail businesses.
These include:
By focusing exclusively on the firearms industry, Trident 1 FFL Software aims to provide a unified platform capable of addressing these challenges within a single ecosystem.
The result is a solution designed to help businesses reduce operational friction while maintaining compliance and improving efficiency.
When asked about the company’s mission, Jake provided a clear and direct answer.
“Our mission is to provide unrivaled commerce software specifically tailored for the firearms industry by delivering a modernized, fully integrated solution that streamlines operations, maximizes efficiencies, maintains compliance, and supports Second Amendment-friendly payment processing.”
That mission reflects a larger commitment to serving firearm retailers with technology built around their specific needs.
Rather than chasing trends, Trident 1 FFL Software’s leadership remains focused on solving practical business problems and helping customers operate more effectively.
Technology may be the product, but culture is a major part of the Trident 1 FFL Software story.
Both Jake and Daniel emphasized the importance of building a team that understands service, communication, and accountability.
Many members of the organization come from military and law enforcement backgrounds. While technical expertise remains a priority, the leadership team believes these experiences contribute valuable problem-solving skills and a strong customer-first mindset.
Daniel explained:
“We want customers to know they’re working with people who genuinely care about helping them succeed.”
That commitment to customer success is reinforced by the company’s investment in experienced developers, industry specialists, and support personnel dedicated to the firearms market.
The first episode of Trigger Point: The FFL Business Podcast provides more than an introduction to Trident 1 FFL Software’s leadership team. It offers insight into the experiences and values that continue to shape the company’s direction.
Jake Newbold and Daniel Peterson built Trident 1 FFL Software with a clear purpose: to provide firearm retailers with a modern, integrated platform designed specifically for their industry.
Their backgrounds in military service, combined with their commitment to innovation and customer success, continue to influence how the company approaches technology, support, and long-term growth.
For firearm retailers, range operators, and FFL business owners, understanding the people behind the platform helps explain why Trident 1 FFL Software remains focused on delivering purpose-built gun store software that addresses the real-world challenges of the firearms industry.
Trigger Point is a podcast produced by Trident 1 FFL Software that explores topics related to firearm retail operations, industry trends, compliance, and business growth.
The company was founded after identifying a lack of modern, integrated software solutions designed specifically for firearm retailers and shooting ranges.
Trident 1 is built specifically for the firearms industry, incorporating compliance requirements, firearm transaction management, inventory controls, and other industry-specific needs.
The company’s mission is to provide modern commerce software that streamlines operations, maximizes efficiency, maintains compliance, and supports firearm retailers.
While both founders come from military backgrounds, they have spent years studying the needs of firearm retailers and developing solutions specifically for the FFL market.
The leadership team believes that strong communication, accountability, and service-oriented values directly impact customer success and product quality.
Firearm retailers, shooting ranges, and FFL businesses seeking a modern, integrated operational platform can benefit from Trident 1 FFL Software’s solutions.
Kevin Wosmansky: Welcome to the first episode of Trigger Point: The FFL Business Podcast. My name is Kevin Wosmansky, and I’m the Chief Marketing Officer for Trident One FFL Software. Today, we’ve got the two head honchos here: Mr. Jake Newbold, President and CEO, and Daniel Peterson, Chief Operations Officer of Trident One FFL Software. How are you guys doing today?
Jake: Good, Kevin. Thanks for having us on here, man. You’ve been wanting to do this for a while, so I can see how excited Daniel is to be here.
Daniel: My excited face.
Kevin Wosmansky: That’s your excited face? So, first episode here, guys — getting to know Jake and Daniel and really hearing the story behind Trident One. Let’s jump into this. Give me some opening personal background. Jake, why don’t you start us off? Tell us a little about what you did growing up and how you got to where you are today.
Jake: Sure. I grew up in a very rural area in eastern Ohio, about ten or fifteen minutes from the tri-border of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. I was raised by a single mother. Our closest neighbor was probably a mile and a half away — dirt roads, hills, that kind of thing.
It was a very small town. I had two brothers; I’m the middle one. My older brother is four years older than me, and my younger brother is eleven months younger than me. All three of us grew up heavily involved in sports — football, basketball, track, all the major sports.
We had a humble upbringing and didn’t really have much. I knew I probably wasn’t going to college because we didn’t have the money for it. My older brother really led the charge toward military service. A lot of our uncles were in the military, and from an early age we knew we wanted to serve our country.
My older brother joined the Navy and eventually became a SEAL. Around the time I was ten or twelve years old, that path started looking really appealing to me. Back then, the SEAL teams weren’t all over the news and social media like they are now. They were more secretive, and that definitely added to the appeal.
I enlisted in the Navy during my junior year of high school, so I already knew what I was doing before my senior year started. I prepared specifically to make it into the SEAL teams. Eventually, I made it into BUD/S — Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training — Class 219 back in 1998.
Originally, I only planned to do maybe eight years, use the GI Bill, and then go to college. But I was making rank quickly, having a blast, and honestly, when you’re jumping out of airplanes for a living and working with some of the most elite people in the world, it’s hard to leave that behind.
So I stayed in. I served with East Coast SEAL teams, deployed to Iraq, later became a BUD/S instructor, and that’s where I first met Daniel. After that, Daniel and I deployed together to Afghanistan, where I served as platoon chief. Eventually, I retired, attended Cornell for graduate school, and then worked at JP Morgan Chase in Dallas doing commercial and investment banking before transitioning into Trident One.
Kevin Wosmansky: I didn’t know your brothers served in the teams too.
Jake: Both of them did. My younger brother followed both me and my older brother into the SEAL teams. So all three Newbold brothers served.
Kevin Wosmansky: That’s incredible. Alright, Daniel, let’s hear your background.
Daniel: Well, the growing-up part, I’m still working on that.
I was raised in northern Louisiana with my younger brother, who’s about two years younger than me. We grew up playing football and baseball in a very rural small town where, even if you didn’t know everybody personally, you definitely recognized everybody.
I spent a lot of time outdoors hunting and fishing, and those are still passions of mine today. Sports played a major role in my life, and football eventually gave me the opportunity to attend college locally in north Louisiana.
A major turning point happened when I blew out my knee during a football game on September 8, 2001. Then, just a few days later, 9/11 happened and changed the entire world. I was around twenty or twenty-one at the time, and like most Americans, I immediately started thinking about how I could help and serve.
I finished my degree in construction management and worked in that industry for a while. Then, in 2006, one of my brother’s best friends — who had become a Navy corpsman attached to a Marine unit — was killed in Iraq. That hit our family hard and really solidified the desire to serve.
My brother and I eventually joined the Navy together and went through the pipeline together. That’s where I met Instructor Newbold.
I actually told my brother I was trying to make things easier for him, but I probably did the exact opposite because instructors remember names.
Thankfully, I made it through training injury-free and eventually checked into SEAL Team Eight. After a couple of deployments, Jake and I deployed together to Afghanistan, where he was our platoon chief and I served as one of the team leads.
Since then, we’ve pretty much been running and gunning together ever since.
Kevin Wosmansky: So when you went through BUD/S, Jake was actually one of your instructors?
Daniel: He was, and honestly, he still is. You can’t shake him.
Kevin Wosmansky: Well, that’s a great segue. Let’s jump into the Trident One story. How did Trident One happen? What was the moment where you guys realized something needed to change in the firearms industry?
Jake: Back in 2011, after the tragedy of Extortion 17 in Afghanistan, several of us started the SEAL Legacy Foundation. We lost seventeen SEALs and thirty-three souls total in that incident, including one of my best friends, Chief Kevin Houston.
Through the foundation, I started spending a lot of time in Dallas and Houston and met several business leaders and donors. One of those individuals eventually became the chairman of the private equity group that sponsors Trident One.
We started looking into the firearms industry and realized there wasn’t a true all-in-one software solution specifically designed for firearm retailers and shooting ranges. Most systems were fragmented, outdated, and not built around compliance requirements unique to the industry.
The firearms industry was also under constant political and financial pressure. We realized there was a real need for a modern platform built specifically for FFLs.
So in 2019, I left JP Morgan and started building Trident One from the ground up.
Kevin Wosmansky: And how did Daniel get involved?
Jake: I kept feeding him bits and pieces about what we were building. Eventually, I brought him out to SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Once he saw the response from the industry firsthand, he was hooked.
Daniel: He used all those old BUD/S instructor techniques on me. I thought I was making my own decision, but really I was standing exactly where he wanted me to stand.
But honestly, once I saw the need in the industry and the people we’d be serving, it just felt right. It reminded me of being around teammates again — people with shared values and purpose.
Kevin Wosmansky: So what’s the mission of Trident One?
Jake: Our mission is to provide unrivaled commerce software specifically tailored for the firearms industry by delivering a modernized, fully integrated solution that streamlines operations, maximizes efficiencies, maintains compliance, and supports Second Amendment-friendly payment processing.
Kevin Wosmansky: And what do you want gun store owners or range owners to know about the people behind the software?
Daniel: We take this responsibility seriously. A lot of us come from military and law enforcement backgrounds where standards, communication, and teamwork matter. We want customers to know they’re working with people who genuinely care about helping them succeed.
Jake: Exactly. Culture matters to us. We’ve built a team largely made up of military veterans and law enforcement professionals because we know how to solve problems, communicate, and execute under pressure. We also invest heavily in top-tier development talent because we want to provide the best possible solution for the firearms industry.
Unlock the potential of your gun store or range with Trident 1. Book a call now and discover how our team can tailor unique solutions to meet your specific needs.
