Prewitt Ridge reposted this
In the earliest stages, startups have to balance two needs: capital to build now, and the focus to create the product that will bring their vision to life. We experienced this journey at Prewitt Ridge, and I had the opportunity to share parts of our story last week at AIAA ASCEND, and I wanted to share some of the highlights here, as well as the video clip captured by my teammate York Zhang! Steve Massey and I incorporated Prewitt Ridge in Dec 2019 and hit the ground running in 2020. Building on our experience as engineers working at SpaceX and Slingshot Aerospace, we set out to take a picks-and-shovels approach to build digital engineering software tooling for engineers like us, who are working at the companies out there using the picks and shovels, here on Earth and soon in space. We quickly found that there were a host of resources available to us. We received initial funding through the SBIR/STTR program, an initiative from the US government to provide early-stage technology funding for small businesses. With two STTR awards and a great university partner at UNM, we began to execute on our product vision. Simultaneously, we received phenomenal support from the Techstars Space Accelerator program. This accelerator helped us focus on the tradeoffs of bootstrapped growth through SBIR/STTR vs traditional fundraising. SBIR/STTR are fantastic sources of capital, providing a partnership that helps small businesses build through non-dilutive funding. But it’s important to remember that these opportunities are focused on specific topics and non-recurring. As a business, it's important to be disciplined on aligning the SBIR/STTR opportunities with your core product features and strategies to ensure they don't impede your teams execution. We made the decision to balance both SBIR/STTR with growth via venture capital. We successfully raised a round of funding, led by Squadra Ventures with participation from Stage Venture Partners, Aurelia Foundry, Wonder Ventures, Haystack, Acequia Capital, Techstars and GC&H We’ve had a wonderful experience working with the VC community, highlighted by the hands-on approach and national security expertise of Squadra Ventures. Going forward, we’ll continue to consider both types of funding. These resources have provided numerous connections to government and industry leaders, and in turn they have helped to focus our tool offering and capabilities. Our journey shows the importance of another balance that startups must strike: reducing risk and optimizing opportunities. Thanks to Techstars, AIAA ASCEND and all of the panelists for a great conversation! If you’re interested in discussing solutions for digital engineering, get in touch! #startups #aerospace #AIAAASCEND
great to be on stage with you at ASCENDS. So happy I know you Zeke.
I'm very proud to be a tiny part of this journey!
🔥🔥🔥
What a great journey!
To the moon and beyond!
I’m fangirling! 🤩
Zeke is the man!
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2wBalancing non-dilutive funding with venture capital is no small feat—congratulations on navigating both