Really interesting. Feels like it would be a natural addition to a company like Brain (https://www.braincorp.com/) who is already using robots to regularly perform those kinds of survey missions and have an overlapping customer base.
Double down on the IQT comment(have co-invested with them in the past). Their specific charter is to invest in startups like this. Though they don’t typically lead rounds, they have a network of firms that they have co-invested with and will help connect you to the right folks.
My experience with this, though this may not be the consensus view, was that participation from friends/family was generally a good sign, since founders clearly believe in the business to the point of pitching their friends to invest (and getting deals closed shows some evidence of sales ability).
Depending on where you are located, there are a number of oceanographic near-shore buoys that provide reasonable data access, but they are highly concentrated near the coastal US.
https://cdip.ucsd.edu/m/documents/data_access.html
Recently built one myself (funny how that works with HackerNews). And would double down on your comments about gpsd and ntpd. My biggest problem was gpsd autobaud detection for the Ublox module I was using kept setting the wrong baud rate.
Following up on the lightmode request. It's difficult to switch from income statement to cashflow or balance sheet because the menu is dark text on dark background. Additionally, you may want to add some spacing between % return and current price in the top leaders section to improve visuals for stocks with prices > $1,000.
Great guide! Overall, agree with the thoughts on leverage and running an efficient process. However, speaking from experience and having spent time as a principal and associate, I would disagree with the advice that only pitching partners is worthwhile. Depending on the space(my experience is solely in hard tech), associates and principals generally make up the technical core of the team, so getting them excited is a key step in making overall progress. A good rule of thumb is to check LinkedIn. If the person has been there more than a year, assume even lower level folks have an ability to make go/no-go decisions.
Not a fit for either position (My software skills are more around hacking together impromptu projects), but wanted to say that I'm super excited Gaia is growing. I really appreciate the app and am a frequent user for outdoor adventures!
For reference, there are companies that have developed this to a commercially viable level. First that comes to mind is ZGlue, a company that has the design tools, interconnect fabric, and chiplet ecosystem required to deliver these kinds of devices.
Unfortunately, libressl is not FIPS 140-2 compliant, so you can't leverage it for open source development of secure applications for the US government (though this is more to do with the certification headache than a fault of libressl itself)
Another 2017 OMSCS grad with a unique career path chiming in. I was a MechE by background, but had some pre-existing computer science education from dabbling with robotics. My primary goal was to broaden my skillset and achieve the M.S. designation. To be honest, the M.S. has been nearly useless (nobody asks/cares), but I'd do the program again in a heartbeat, as I'm now a VC that is at least somewhat conversant in many of the technologies we are encountering.
On the book front, I'd also recommend Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy by Wayne R. Moore. It's a great treatise on how you can measure things like one millionth of an inch, and has lots of incredible pictures.
Venture Deals by Jason Mendelson and Brad Feld is a good overview. If you want to get more technical, the NVCA publishes a list of their own "standard" documents, which go into depth on some of the standard and non-standard provisions and what they mean, but it's not quite as user friendly.
One potential modification would be to add some language to the No Shop clause to allow the lead investor to approve any other conversations about the round. This can be helpful when the Series A round is larger, as the diligence by separate investors can proceed in parallel.
I have an XPS 15 and have been quite happy with the it overall, but echo similar comments about the atrocity of the killer wireless cards and drivers. It’s mind boggling that those issues could exist in a 2017-2018 laptop.
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/10/army-says-its-mitigated-...