Startup Visits in San Francisco

I’ve been working with tech companies in Silicon Valley for the past 35 years, but until this Fall, I definitely never imagined I would have the experience of sitting in a startup company’s conference room looking at Caesar Flickerman, the flamboyant Master of Ceremonies in the Hunger Games.

This was not a dream...or a hallucination. It actually happened, when MTM students and I recently took a road trip to the Bay Area for a field trip to two startup companies. 

First, we visited Spire, a startup company that provides two major data services: maritime intelligence (location of ships) and high fidelity weather data. Their customers are wide ranging from governments to mining companies to shippers. They have three offices worldwide (in part to provide 24 hour engagement with their constellation of satellites), but their headquarters is in San Francisco.

At Spire we learned about their business, their plans for growth, and idiosyncrasies of launching and tracking CubeSat-compliant satellites.  After feeding us muffins and drinks, three managers spoke to us and answered our nearly endless questions for two hours.

After all this, we were hungry again.  Fortunately, Spire is located within two blocks of an active Food Truck park and we strolled there to beat the lunch crowd as you can see some of us pictured above.

Counsyl is another startup located slightly down the peninsula in South San Francisco.  Go on their website and you will be introduced to the world of DNA screening for family, pregnancy, and insight into the possibility of later life cancer concerns.

We were initially collected in their conference room -- being reminded that it was Halloween by the costumed employees -- but we were really surprised that our speaker was dressed as Caesar Flickerman, the flamboyant Master of Ceremonies on the Hunger Games, complete with bright, shiny suit and blue hair. 

Perhaps even more surprising than this was the fact that this software company happens to be revolutionizing the process of DNA testing. 

But the surprises still weren’t over; during our tour, it became obvious that Counsyl’s real story was the revelation they were becoming one of the most advanced robotics companies, automating the handling process that accounts for much of the delay in completing and delivering typical DNA testing results.   We didn’t get that from their website or their marketing material!

Tired, inspired and happy, our three vans split up...one headed back home for Halloween, and one dropping off students for one-on-one interviews at Apple and other companies, and the third headed back to San Francisco for who knows what!! We had a great time, got to know each other better, and found some interesting companies to consider for after graduation.