In 2010, I launched my first company- I worked on a low SWaP-C (size, weight, power, and cost), ruggedized lab-in-a-box technology. While taking Aggie I-Corps at NMSU I realized I had spent years and a significant amount of money building a product that nobody wanted. I listened to stakeholder discovery data and pivoted to an array of rugged modules that allowed users to gather data on-site, with 10x-100x improvements in size, weight, power, and cost. Since then, I've harnessed my skillset of lean,12 stakeholder-focused innovation to build hundreds of products spanning nearly every industry but concentrating on AgTech, DefenseTech, and MedTech. In fact, I don't start business or technology development until I have interviewed at least 50 stakeholders to find a quantifiable and solvable customer pain. Currently, I continue to work on my own endeavors (deploying low SWaP-C ruggedized autonomous systems, diagnostics, human performance technology, and sensortech) as well as contract engineering. Additionally, I have Entrepreneur in Residence, Instructor, and Mentor roles across the world spanning accelerators, economic development, incubators, and universities- I have helped thousands of tech entrepreneurs solve barriers related to stakeholder discovery, SBIR and technical hurdles, as well as upfront prototyping and ideation.

Early-stage entrepreneurs consistently inspire me with their determination, ingenuity, and passion. My goal is to temper those positive traits with diligence and rationality through radical candor. Most of entrepreneurship (outside of specific technical work) is common sense, but entrepreneurs often fall in love with their technology, rather than the stakeholder pain. Applying a lean methodology that focuses on the stakeholder allows a tech entrepreneur to build a sustainable business model around commercializing a technology to solve real pains to both benefit the stakeholder and the entrepreneur. Put simply- if I would have learned about the need for stakeholder discovery years earlier, I would have spent a lot less time and money getting to where I am now in my career.

My greatest strength is that I have learned how to draw out quantifiable and solvable stakeholder pains through interviews, leverage multiple engineering disciplines to develop a solution, and build a sustainable business model by drawing on my experiences working with thousands of entrepreneurs. In addition, I make good mead, can throw an axe well, and enjoy wrangling my herd of dogs.