InfernoGuard
Co-Founder + CEO, March 2020 - May 2024
Challenge
I started InfernoGuard after experiencing harmful smoke effects of wildfires near my hometown back in 2016. The biggest problem with wildfires today is that fires often burn undetected for days before detection, causing unimaginable damages, especially for large-scale landowners who can’t monitor all of the land themselves.
Skills
Management: KPI goal setting, hiring/firing, agile product development, role creation and delegation, product sales, marketing, storytelling, pitching, etc. As CEO, you do it all –– for better or worse.
Technical: CAD modeling, rapid prototyping, machine learning, project management (Notion, Confluence, etc), data analysis.
Outcome
InfernoGuard has created a 3 step solution to wildfire detection:
1) Identify high wildfire risk areas through our propriety wildfire risk assessment technology
2) Place InfernoGuard detection devices (as shown) directly on trees in high risk areas
3) Stay informed through a mobile notification platform.
As a result, I’ve been personally featured for my work on InfernoGuard in Forbes, Chicago Inno, Chicago Tribune, Daytime Chicago, and Fox 32 Chicago
Process Highlight
Our unique synthesized our work into a 3-step solution to wildfire detection is ripe to tackle some of the largest climate change challenges on the planet. Included are pitch slides that succinctly highlight the work we produced as a team.
Project Learnings
Building a startup for 7 years gave me ample time to reflect about my learnings personally and as a founder, which I’m eager to share in no specific order of importance
About myself personally:
“Luck” increases by saying yes to new opportunities.
It’s so important to owning your own leadership style. Personally, I lead with vulnerability, honesty, and an unfettered attitude to fearlessly tackle ambiguity.
Celebrate your successes, and surround yourself with others who will celebrate your wins rather than envy your successes.
I am not my company.
Storytelling is my superpower, so I leverage this any chance I can get!
Failure is the best tool for personal growth; integrating failure cycles in my work is critical
About myself as an entrepreneur:
Community is central to your success. Team members especially alongside mentors, and friends/family/significant other.
Success is nonlinear, so building community will help you manage the the peaks and valleys of entrepreneurship.
You can lead however you want as long as it works
Being a first time founder is hard; the learning curve to operating a business significantly decreases with time.
Having an answer-first mentality maximizes efficiency and benefits all teammates.
Execution is everything; sometimes it’s better to dive in than plan. You don’t have to know every answer, just how to find the answer.
Student founder is not the same as being a full time founder
Successful entrepreneurship is a 10 year commitment, so obsession over the problem is a requirement. Burnout is going to happen, overcoming burnout is the real key.