EP 52 — HTX Labs' Scott Schneider on Meeting Students Where They Are with Multi-Platform VR

In this episode of DIB Innovators, Scott Schneider, CEO & Co-founder of HTX Labs, takes us from his early days working on classified government programs at Texas Instruments to building a revolutionary virtual reality platform transforming military training. Scott highlights how they unexpectedly pivoted from corporate active shooter training to becoming a key partner with the US Air Force, creating immersive "digital classrooms" where aircraft can be made transparent to visualize complex systems in action. 

In his conversation with Dave, Scott doesn't sugarcoat the journey, sharing both exhilarating wins (securing a $90 million IDIQ contract) and sobering challenges of building a defense tech startup without venture capital. His insights into navigating SBIR funding, achieving cybersecurity compliance, and the elusive pursuit of becoming a "program of record" offer a masterclass in achieving meaningful impact within the complex defense procurement landscape.

Topics discussed:

• The strategic pivot from corporate active shooter training to military aviation training, showcasing how serendipitous relationships with Air Force innovation leaders created unexpected paths to success.
• How HTX Labs' platform delivers immersive "digital classrooms" that allow trainees to practice procedures repeatedly before touching real equipment, cutting training time by approximately 50% while maintaining or improving competency.
• The importance of building a platform rather than standalone VR experiences, enabling deployment across headsets, tablets, laptops, and mobile devices to reach 100% of potential users.
• Navigating the SBIR funding process as a bootstrapped company, leveraging non-dilutive government capital without taking traditional venture funding.
• The significant challenge of transitioning from innovation contracts to becoming a Program of Record, requiring simultaneous bottom-up adoption and top-down leadership buy-in.
• How generative AI is transforming content creation for VR training, reducing the labor-intensive process of building digital environments.
• The integration of badging systems and performance metrics to capitalize on warfighters' natural competitiveness while generating actionable learning analytics.
• Strategic approaches to cybersecurity compliance and ATOs, balancing stringent security requirements with the need for rapid innovation.  

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Guest Quote: 

“This needs to be a level playing field, highly competitive. We need to compete because that's how you get the best capability and the best product. The flip side of that is we also need to collaborate, because the appetite for this kind of technology is huge. Just within the Air Force, just within AETC. It's huge. And no one company can satisfy that appetite, so I think it would be beneficial for the Air Force to encourage, if not force, vendors to collaborate and work together for the, quote, unquote, greater good. And we're happy to do that.”