Kevin Landtroop

Chief Growth Officer, SBIR Advisors
Co-Founder of the Texas Defense Innovation Forum
Lecturer, University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences
Startup Mentor, Advisory Board Member, and former VP of Defense Innovation, Capital Factory

Kevin Landtroop is a leader and entrepreneur with 20+ years of National Security experience. Through interrelated business, academic, and non-profit efforts, Kevin helps industrial-era systems find, validate, and integrate emerging technology at the scale and speed of relevance. Having founded, designed, and executed programs connecting startups, DoDX, VC, academic research, and defense industry, including the Center for Defense Innovation at Capital Factory and the Texas Defense Innovation Forum, Kevin has emerged as a plankholder for the national security innovation ecosystem centered in Austin Texas (ATX).

Kevin currently leads Growth and Partnerships at SBIR Advisors, a technology consultancy helping startups understand national security use cases, access R&D and program customers, and scale with capital and partners. Kevin also teaches Hacking For Defense at The University of Texas at Austin and served as the inaugural Managing Director of Grayline Defense.

A founding moment for DoDX came in Austin in early 2018: DIUx had completed its first full year, AFWERX was in launch, and the Army announced that Army Futures Command would be activated – all in ATX. Kevin began consulting with emerging tech startups, helping them develop mission applications for commercial technologies and win R&D contracts. Kevin founded the Texas Defense Innovation Forum to scale this effort and bring more educational resources and meaningful connections for the assembling mass of dual-use tech startups. In early 2019, Capital Factory opened the Center for Defense Innovation and Kevin joined Vice President, providing greater reach to core programs he designed, such as Defense Academy and SBIR Accelerator. Almost as a capstone, Kevin left to help launch SGS, the DoD-focused spinout of applied Artificial Intelligence powerhouse SparkCognition. Leading Business Development and Sales, Kevin helped quadruple both sales and headcount in their first year.

Prior to coming to ATX, Kevin served the Army as a Soldier, lawyer, strategist, and leader. Kevin served as Director of Operations and Strategy for Legal Command, the DoD’s largest legal organization, leading their pivot from counterinsurgency to multi-domain conflict. Kevin served as the lead National Security Law expert at the National Training Center, the world’s largest and most realistic proving ground for combat simulation training. Kevin held multiple successive positions in National Security Law, criminal investigations, and litigation, which included leading a joint FBI, Navy, and Army counter-intelligence investigation and jury-trial of a senior intelligence officer at Pacific Command for multiple violations of the Espionage Acts.

Kevin holds a B.S. from West Point (1998), a Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Texas School of Law (2005), and a Master of Laws (LL.M) from the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (2010) (concentration in National Security and government contracts).

Kevin has two operational deployments, leading a platoon of cavalry in Srebrenica, Bosnia in 2000 and serving as National Security Law advisor to an Army Brigade in Al Anbar, Iraq from 2007-2008. Kevin helped rebuild Iraqi criminal justice institutions for Al Anbar Province and performed National Security Law reviews for over 500 detained terrorist suspects.

Kevin was born and raised in South Texas and lives in Austin. In addition to being “cool dad” for two young kids, Kevin is an avid reader of history, a golfer, and an enthusiastic chef.