Make innovation decisions clear.

For founders testing a first idea, and institutions whose pilots keep dying in PowerPoint. 25 years inside both.

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Portrait of Tyrome Smith, innovation strategist and entrepreneurship advisor
Tyrome Smith, founder of Go In Now, LLC

Selected institutional work and service

NGA
Innovation strategy, 12 years
Bowie State
Strategic partnerships
Stimson Center
Loomis Innovation Council
NIST MEP
National Advisory Board
NASA
Keynotes and facilitation

$1.5B

National Security Innovation Network teaming agreement negotiated

25+ yrs

Advising across government, academia, and the private sector

283

Institutions across 29 countries convened through Lean Innovation Education Summits

1,500+

Federal personnel trained in Lean Startup innovation methods at the NGA

About

The pitch deck isn't the business. The customer is.

Tyrome Smith is an innovation strategist and entrepreneurship advisor based in Bowie, Maryland, and the founder of Go In Now, LLC. For more than 25 years he has worked the full span of the innovation economy: inside intelligence agencies, in HBO's executive suite, on university campuses, and beside first-time founders testing whether anyone actually wants what they're building.

His method is grounded, not theoretical: Lean Startup, business model design, and customer discovery, sharpened through the I-Corps program and applied to problems from a founder's first hundred customer interviews to a $1.5 billion national security teaming agreement. He has coached startups that advanced to Techstars and SXSW, and built partnership models that moved real money into HBCU innovation ecosystems.

Today he serves as Manager of Strategic Partnerships at Bowie State University, strategic advisor to GI Ventures at the Griffiss Institute, and a member of the Stimson Center's Alfred Lee Loomis Innovation Council while advising a working roster of startups and mission-driven organizations.

Read the full background

The advisory practice

Choose the decision you need to make. Tyrome works through it with you and keeps the engagement focused on your situation.

  • Entrepreneurship Consulting & Startup Advisory Zero to traction

    Customer discovery that kills bad assumptions early, business models built around the job your customer is hiring you to do, and honest go-to-market sequencing. Includes navigation of non-dilutive capital, including SBIR, STTR, and the federal funding paths most founders never learn exist.

    For: early-stage founders, accelerator cohorts, student ventures

  • Business & Innovation Strategy Consulting For institutions

    Connecting innovation portfolios to mission strategy so pilots stop dying in PowerPoint. Mission Model Canvas facilitation, innovation accelerator design, and the organizational change work that makes new methods stick, proven inside the NGA across eight years and 1,500+ trained personnel.

    For: federal agencies, corporations, mission-driven organizations

  • Strategic Partnerships Consulting Deals that compound

    Teaming agreements, university-industry-government partnership models, and technology commercialization strategy. Deep experience integrating HBCUs into national innovation ecosystems, with the negotiated agreements and funded programs to show for it.

    For: universities, economic development organizations, consortiums

  • Executive Coaching & Facilitation Leaders under load

    One-on-one coaching for senior leaders and founders, plus designed offsites and strategic planning sessions that produce decisions, not just alignment theater. Certified Group Relations Consultant through the AK Rice Institute.

    For: executives, leadership teams, boards

Need broader help with strategy, operations, or execution? Explore business consulting.

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Experience

  • 1996-Present

    Founder & Principal Consultant Go In Now, LLC · Bowie, MD

    Independent advisory practice spanning innovation strategy, startup coaching, ecosystem development, and executive facilitation for public, private, and academic clients.

  • 2026-Present

    Manager, Strategic Partnerships Bowie State University

    Advancing the university's research commercialization and applied partnership portfolio across federal agencies and industry.

  • 2026-Present

    Strategic Advisor GI Ventures · Griffiss Institute

    Shaping venture programming, vetting startups and investors, and building resource strategy for a growing innovation ecosystem.

  • 2025-Present

    Council Member Alfred Lee Loomis Innovation Council · Stimson Center

    Contributing to U.S. tech policy at the intersection of AI, national security, and innovation ecosystems.

  • 2021-2024

    Director of Strategic Partnerships Common Mission Project

    Negotiated a $1.5B NSIN IDIQ teaming agreement; secured $1.1M in corporate funding including $300K dedicated to HBCUs; produced Lean Innovation Education Summits serving 1,000+ participants from 283 institutions in 29 countries.

View earlier experience
  • 2022-2024

    Entrepreneur in Residence & Adjunct Faculty Bowie State University

    Coached student ventures through business planning, strategy briefs, and venture capital pitch preparation.

  • 2013-2021

    Corporate Innovation Strategist Parsons Corporation · NGA

    Embedded Lean Startup practice inside the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: 1,500+ personnel trained, a Lean Innovation Accelerator coaching 10 product teams, and lead consultation on a CIO/CTO merger affecting 1,700+ people.

  • 2009-2013

    Strategic Business Consultant CACI International · NGA

    Facilitated executive strategy that secured over $250M in program funding for the agency's shift to a digital, on-demand environment.

  • 2007-2008

    Vice President, Organizational Development HBO

    Advised senior leadership on talent strategy and leadership development through a period of industry disruption; built the executive successor map.

Full history on LinkedIn

M.A., Human Communication, Howard University
B.A., Shippensburg University
VC certificates, UC Berkeley
Black Executive Leadership Program, McKinsey Academy

Boards & advisory seats

Public and research institutions

  • NIST Manufacturing Extension PartnershipNational Advisory Board
  • Stimson Center, Loomis Innovation CouncilCouncil Member
  • Griffiss Institute, GI VenturesStrategic Advisor
  • Applied Research NetworkStrategic Advisor
  • Public Spend ForumSenior Consultant

Venture and ecosystem work

  • Skyline Nav AI, Coordle, CARENUUMStartup Advisor
  • Build in Tulsa, Techstars AcceleratorStartup Mentor
  • Rhinebeck VenturesImpact Advisor
  • SXSWPast Advisory Board

Leadership communities

  • AK Rice InstituteFellow
  • Catalyst Leadership TrustMember

Speaking & media

Keynotes, panels, and national-stage facilitation on innovation, entrepreneurship, and the future of the workforce, delivered for NASA, the Department of Defense, UNCF, and federal innovation communities across the country.

  • KeynoteNASA IDEA Awards: "The Audacity of Imagination"
  • EmceeFederal Laboratory Consortium National Awards
  • PanelistDoD Inaugural D&I Summit
  • FacilitatorUNCF / Applied Research Institute: "Meeting of the Minds"
  • PanelistBEYA STEM 2026: Coaching for Impact

What Problem Are You Solving?

Hear direct conversations about founders, customer discovery, and how useful products get built. Live Mondays at 9:30 p.m. ET. Watch on YouTube

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