Sam Riehn
Sam Riehn, CEO of SBIR Advisors helps break down how the Department of Defense is funding innovation, start-ups, and the impact time has on the war fighters ability to win. On his company's 3rd birthday, Sam outlines why the Texas Hill Country is well positioned between Austin and San Antonio to fund early innovation for every branch of the service. Sam's servant leadership is highlighted in the work he does to help grow leaders to the next stage of their career, and the future of the mission. I learned a distinct difference between San Antonio, and Austin's ecosystem that may surprise you.
Sam Riehn started out as a contracting officer in Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), and loved it because he was always close to the mission, buying things the warfighter needed today, and they’d use whatever he bought in the field tomorrow. It was a fast paced environment, and always felt like he was having an impact on the mission. Sam returned home from Afghanistan and started the process of getting his Top Secret security clearance because he heard Offensive Cyber was just as fast paced and fulfilling as AFSOC. He was “by-name-requested” to enter into cyber acquisition in 2016 (which is when leadership circumvents the normal assignments process to pull in people they want specifically) and was disappointed to find out there was no alien technology. Same also realized that acquisition of cyber was slowing to a crawl, and causing the US to lose an arms race against our competitors.
Zooming out from cyber, he realized the same was happening in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Software development, robotics, drones, and more. Faced with another deployment to Afghanistan and my second child on the way, Sam decided it was time to get out of the Air Force, but he still wanted to continue the mission of getting great technology to the warfighter. He decided working with startups was the best way to help get innovative technology into the hands of the warfighter and ensure we are not disrupted in the next war.
Sam founded SBIR Advisors and they’ve been off to the races ever since. SBIR Advisors was founded with the mission of getting great technology to the warfighter. They are focused on quality over quantity (see attached slides), because they don’t want to throw just any technology at the DoD. Their aim: to only bring them technology the warfighter wants and needs, and SIBR Advisors wants it to be the best. They also apply this to their service, making sure we bring the highest quality service to their clients as possible.
Sam has lived in and around San Antonio since 2016, moving to Boerne in 2020. He married his wife, who was born and raised near Kerrville, in 2016 and has three children, all born in San Antonio.
