How Prewitt Ridge's Steve Massey Hopes to Make Systems Engineering More Like Software Development
Dec 14 2020
On this week's episode of Just Go Grind, hear from Steve Massey, co-founder and CEO of the early-stage startup Prewitt Ridge, which was founded in 2019 to tackle the largest meta-problem in deep tech: systems engineering.
The company aims to reduce friction in collaborative design efforts by connecting critical data elements between engineering teams and offering git-like tracking of project-wide changes.
<h2>Key Takeaways:</h2><ul class="ee-ul"><li>Prewitt Ridge is trying to solve a digital engineering problem by building a tool that allows engineering teams to stay nimble for a longer period of time, while also allowing the teams to grow using IBM Doors or Java software tools and keep development fast paced without having to scale it too quickly.</li><li>Prewitt Ridge is venture backed.</li><li>Prewitt Ridge went through a <a data-linked-post="2646164360" href="https://dot.la/heres-the-2nd-class-of-techstars-starbust-space-accelerator-2646164360.html" target="_blank">TechStars accelerator program</a> that was backed by the Air Force.</li><li>Prewitt Ridge <a data-linked-post="2647541257" href="https://dot.la/techstars-aerospace-alums-gather-for-a-day-of-partnership-and-project-reveals-2647541257.html" target="_blank">has partnered with JPL</a> and is currently rolling out its software inside NASA JPL to fill a niche on a couple of early-stage lunar lander missions. </li><li>It's looking to expand into commercial and direct-to-government partnerships.</li></ul><blockquote>"If we build the right tool, we will be able to capture enough of a segment of the market and transform engineering the same way that it has transformed software development." — Steve Massey</blockquote><p><strong><em></em>Steve Massey </strong>is the co-founder and CEO of Prewitt Ridge. Prior to that, he was at Slingshot Aerospace for two years where he led the development of their real-time edge analytics pipeline working with USAF and defense contractor customers. He also spent five years at SpaceX where he acted in a mission management and integration engineer role for multiple early Falcon 9 launches as well as led the avionics build for their Hyperloop pusher project.<br></p><p>
<em><em></em>Want to hear more episodes of Just Go Grind? Listen on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/just-go-grind-with-justin-gordon/id1397036566" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/just-go-grind-with-justin-gordon" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2brgfQPQQiBiFlAI8sJblD" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ilsxar5is2o27lzjosjgcxoen3a" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a> — or wherever you get your podcasts.</em><br>
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On this week's episode of Just Go Grind, hear from Emily Best, founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a company that provides education programs and an entertainment crowdfunding platform. Their goal is to support content that's more diverse, inclusive and connected than what typically gets produced.
The startup recently launched "Film Forward," a comprehensive training program based on Seed&Spark's films that aims to teach industry organizations soft skills in order build more inclusive workplaces .
<h2>Key Takeaways:</h2><ul class="ee-ul">
<li>At a career crossroads, Best chose to start Seed&Spark over becoming to a film producer because her mission was to create as much impact as possible. Providing a platform for many creators rather than support for a single project at a time was the obvious choice for her. </li>
<li>Seed&Spark has over 2,000 movies and shows and has raised close to $30 million for those projects.</li>
<li>One of Best's biggest hurdles was overcoming the recommendation algorithms that can create opinion silos that go on to dominate social media marketing and the streaming platforms. Best said, "so effectively in the great democratization of distribution, we are only reaching people who already agree with us. And that's not the point." Ending those silos inspired Best to create the company's "Film Forward" campaign.</li>
</ul><blockquote>"One of one of my early advisers said to me, 'to scale your company is to scale yourself'. And that has never not been true...but you have to really ...know that and then be willing to to do it and go through that pain." — Emily Best</blockquote><p>
<em><em></em>Want to hear more episodes of Just Go Grind? Listen on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/just-go-grind-with-justin-gordon/id1397036566" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/just-go-grind-with-justin-gordon" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2brgfQPQQiBiFlAI8sJblD" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ilsxar5is2o27lzjosjgcxoen3a" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a> — or wherever you get your podcasts.</em><br>
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On this week's episode of Just Go Grind, hear from Melanie Stricklan, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Slingshot Aerospace, a company that builds situational awareness technology to bring clarity to complex environments in order to create a safer world.
<p>Key Takeaways: </p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>When Melanie first joined the Air Force, combining data from satellites and aircraft with the sensor on board U.S. aircrafts was often done manually. The intelligence agencies that received the data would return their analysis around three days to three months later. The long delays and cumbersome process of interpreting data that could otherwise be helpful in achieving outcomes in missions was a problem that led her to found Slingshot Aerospace.</li><li>Stricklan considered herself an "intrapreneur" in the Air Force, but found critical insight and guidance offered by TechStars to help guide her and her co-founders' entrepreneurial vision and operation</li><li>Boeing was Slingshot's first client, and the company went deep with aerospace defense in the first couple of years, building tech that could be leveraged for commercial space</li><li>A Slingshot Aerospace company priority is to make sure that employees are curious and have a bias for action.</li></ul><blockquote><strong></strong>"If you don't relay (the north star) to the team almost on a daily basis, things can unravel both from the culture perspective and a focused perspective and an offering perspective."<em></em></blockquote><blockquote><strong></strong><br>"It became really evident through the first year that, 'hey, if we don't do something about culture, culture is going to create itself and it's probably not going to be what we want it to be'."<em></em></blockquote><blockquote><strong></strong><br>"It's important to me to make space sustainable, just like we have initiatives down here on Earth to make our planet more sustainable." — Melanie Stricklan, Slingshot Aerospace<em></em></blockquote><p><strong>Melanie Stricklan</strong> co-founded Slingshot Aerospace in 2016. Today, she's the company's chief strategy officer, where she leads the strategic vision and growth strategy. She served in the United States Air Force for 21 years. Melanie holds a BS in Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and a MS in Space Operations Management with an emphasis in Space Systems Engineering from Webster University. She was named the 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year for El Segundo, California and was named one of Inc. Magazine's 2019 Top 100 Female Founders in the United States.<br><strong></strong></p><blockquote></blockquote><p><em>Want to hear more episodes of Just Go Grind? Listen on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/just-go-grind-with-justin-gordon/id1397036566" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/just-go-grind-with-justin-gordon" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2brgfQPQQiBiFlAI8sJblD" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ilsxar5is2o27lzjosjgcxoen3a" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a> — or wherever you get your podcasts.</em><br></p>
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