460: Collaboration at scale, a Slack for Solar? Raptor Maps CEO, Nikhil Vadhavkar
I\u2019ve gotta give NASA credit. It turns out the space program has delivered many many more terrestrial benefits and innovations than might be assumed at first observation. There\u2019ve been a few folks lately on the show who\u2019s original pursuits & passions took them closer to the moon than the average person. Today\u2019s guest is among that elite group, having spent time in deep research for NASA\u2019s space-walking astronauts; his co-founder worked for SpaceX. You can say these guys are used to shooting for the stars.
Nikhil Vadhavkar is the CEO and co-founder of Raptor Maps, solar lifecycle management software that they refer to as \u201cThe Slack for Solar\u201d where collaboration between asset owners & stakeholders has truly become a data and software-driven obsession.
Today we cover:
- his \u201cclimate wakeup\u201d moment,
- parlaying a $100k investment from Y-Combinator
- leveraging SpaceX, Gates Foundation, Accenture and NASA to build Raptor Maps
- what \u201cSystem of Record\u201d & \u201cDigital Twin\u201d mean & why it matters
Lastly, along the lines of SpaceX founder, Elon Musk (and perhaps inspired by his philosophy), we get into their decision to open-source everything:
- All the data capture methodologies
- Aerial inspections & hosting data (including historical data from other vendors)
- Instructions on how to set up manned aerial vehicles, drones, etc
- Data set for doing Machine Learning on imaging anomalies
Why did they choose this path? What could it mean for your company?
Tune\u2013in to hear more. I promise you won\u2019t be disappointed with today\u2019s high-IQ episode!
Nikhil is an MIT engineer, and his graduate research was thermal control systems for next-generation spacesuits. He met his co-founder in graduate school, and took Raptor Maps through Y Combinator in 2016. You\u2019ll get a much better understanding of why when you dig in here today. Raptor Maps has delivered critical data analytics to over 45 GW of solar PV plants in 38 countries, and many of you probably consider that it\u2019s a drone-enabled data gathering company. You\u2019d be wrong, as was I, and Nikhil forgives you.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you\u2019ll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.
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