Military Veteran Startups Conference 2026
San Francisco | Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel | February 11–12, 2026
The Military Veteran Startup Conference is a must-attend event for anyone in the military veteran startup ecosystem.
Now in its 5th year, MVS brings together the veteran community to build, scale, and fund high-growth companies.
Our focus is simple: more connections, more community, and more capital for military veteran entrepreneurs.
At MVS26, you’ll connect with fellow founders, veteran-led and veteran-supporting venture capital firms, national security leaders, and industry operators who are actively investing in and supporting veteran-founded businesses. Nearly every major VC firm that is veteran-led or invests in veterans will be in the room.
If you are building a company, backing founders, or supporting the veteran entrepreneurial ecosystem, this is where you need to be.
👉 Register now to receive conference updates, speaker announcements, and important event information.
📅 What to Expect at MVS26
Day 1 – Wednesday, February 11
🚀 Scaling Success at Fast-Growth Veteran Startups
- Cameron McCord, CEO & Cofounder, Nominal (Navy)
- Ian Kalin, CEO & Cofounder, TurbineOne (Navy)
- Alex McKindra, JPMorgan (Army)
🌍 National Security & Geopolitics
- Chris Miller, Former Secretary of Defense (Army)
- John Price, Founder, Highground (Army)
🏀The Full Court Press: Relentless Innovation in Startups, Business, Basketball, and Beyond.
- Vivek Ranadivé, Chairperson of the Sacramento Kings and business executive, engineer, author, speaker, and philanthropist Ranadivé is the founder and former chief executive officer of TIBCO Software (Civilian ally)
💡 What Top Investors Look for in Startups
- Mar Hershenson, Cofounder & Managing Partner, Pear VC (Civilian ally)
- Shruti Gandhi, Array VC (Civilian ally)
- Jake Saper, Emergence Capital (Civilian ally)
- Justin Krauss, JPMorgan (Civilian ally)
- Shahin Farshchi, Partner at Lux Capital (Civilian ally)
🔥 Fireside Chat: Building at Scale
- Henry Ward, Cofounder & CEO, Carta (Marine Corps)
- Lucas Babbitt, Atomic Insights (Navy)
💰 Capital at the Front Line: Investing in National Security
- Doug Philippone, Snowpoint (Army)
- Paige Craig, Outlander (Army)
- Heather Sommerville, Wall Street Journal (Reporter)
- Steve Kiser, GP of Veteran Ventures (Air Force veteran)
- Kelly Perdew, GP of Moonshots Capital (Army veteran)
🤳 Service to Storytelling: How Veterans Create, Influence, and Lead
- Chef Andre Rush (Army)
- Sam Eckholm (Air Force)
- Pilot Debrief (Air Force)
- Carina Cho, Media Mobilize
🛰️ Launch, Land, Scale: Operating in the Space Economy
- Lee Rosen, ThinkOrbital (Air Force)
- Joel Nelson, Raptor Dynamix (Air Force)
- Thomas Higgenbotham, Kestrel Intelligence (Air Force)
- Pragna Gaddam, Stellar Ventures (Civilian ally)
⚖️ Legal Readiness for Startups
- Kevin Milgram, DLA Piper (Air Force)
Day 2 – Thursday, February 12
☕ Fireside Chat: Building a Veteran Brand
- Evan Hafer, Founder, Black Rifle Coffee Company
🎖️ Defense Tech: Rocketship Success with Revenue
- Andrew Dimitruk, Ironflow AI (Marine Corps)
- Colin Demarest, Axios
- Garrett Smith, CEO and founder of Reveal Technology (Marine Corps)
- Clay Kroschel, CEO of Aurex Aerospace (Marine Corps)
📈 How Top Investors Think About Scaling
- Paul Madera, Meritech (Air Force)
- Matt Bigge, Crosslink Capital (Army)
- Mike Steadman, Context Ventures (Marine Corps)
- Morgan Hitzig, Venrock (Navy)
🤖 AI in Action: Applying Intelligence for Impact
- Will Castillo, CoOptimal (Marine Corps)
- Kevin Damoa, Glid (Army)
👥 From Service to Civilian Success: Hiring Veteran Talent
- Jim Lose, The Military Veteran (Marine Corps)
- Emily McMahon, cofounder and GP of AIN Ventures (Army)
- Daniel Sylvester, Holland & Knight (Army)
🚀 PenFed Foundation Pitch Competition
This live pitch competition showcases fantastic military veteran founders pitching to all of the conference attendees and to military veteran venture capitalists.
We have an exceptional cohort of veteran-led startups competing, with top prizes of $50K, $30K, and $15K.
Judges:
- David S. Jones (Bull City Venture Partners)
- Derren Burrell (Veteran Ventures)
- Ryan Micheletti (The Veteran Fund)
- Morgan Hitzig (Venrock)
- James Wilson (JPMorgan)
🙏 Thank You to Our Sponsors
JPMorgan • Cooley • Citizens Private Bank • DLA Piper • PenFed Foundation • Holland & Knight • VetraFi • GT Law • Sightline Ventures • Authentically American
MVS26 is where veteran founders and investors connect, learn, and scale.
We hope to see you!
🔗 Learn more at www.milvetstartups.com