Ken Spratlin

Founder of Indie Software Development

Boulder, Colorado

Overview 

Ken Spratlin is an Angel Investor and Mentor with a background in Indie Software Development. He has held leadership roles at Trimble and Nikon-Trimble Co., Ltd., showcasing expertise in product development, marketing, and business development, and he currently serves as a Mentor at MergeLane and a Director of the Board at Open Perception. Spratlin's career highlights include his roles as Director of Innovation - Geomatics and General Manager at Trimble, as well as his tenure as Chief Operating Officer at Nikon-Trimble Co., Ltd., where he demonstrated proficiency in strategy, program management, and systems engineering.

Work Experience 

Indie Software Development

  • Founder and Lead Developer

    2015 - Current

AI

Angel Investor

  • Angel Investor and Startup Advisor

    2013

    Markets of interest: Analytics, Computer Vision, Crowdsourcing, Education, Enterprise Software, Indoor Positioning, Location-Based Services, Mobile, Mobile Games, Robotics. Preferred locations: Boulder; Colorado; Atlanta; Boston; Cambridge, MA; Silicon Valley. 96 Investments include: VetDC, FITBIONIC, Storyvine, Evolutionary Genomics, Rapt Media Series A, Rapt Media Series B, Navdy, Life360, MergeLane Winter 2015 Fund, Mapistry, LP in v1.vc, Perch Interactive and FG Angels AngelList Syndicate. FG Angels AngelList Syndicate Investments: AdsNative, Arryved, Beneath the Ink, Blinkfire Analytics, BoomBoom Prints, Brewbot, BuyNow Worldwide, ChatLingual, Cheddar Up, CloudTags, Codementor, CoinTent, Cuseum, Drync, Edify, ExpenseBot, Fortified Bicycle, Genome Compiler, ivee, Lassy Project, Leap.it, Localize, Mapkin, Mattermark Series A, Mattermark Series B, Moment, Next Thing Co., Notion, ONtheGO Platforms, Opstarts, Parkifi, Pathful, Peer5, Prompt.ly, Quaddra Software, RABBL, Rachio, Ramen, Schoolzilla, Shinesty, Sickweather, SnowShoe Stamp, SoundBetter, Stream, The Mighty, U Grok It - Smartphone RFID, UniqueSound, VerbalizeIt, Wonolo, WorkBright.

M

MergeLane

  • Mentor

    2015

    MergeLane discovers, accelerates and invests in exceptional women and the companies they run. MergeLane is a mentorship-driven investment program with a strong focus on promoting women-run startups. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, MergeLane is a 12-week program for a select group of high-growth businesses with at least one female in leadership.

MergeLane invests in high-potential startups and venture capital funds with at least one female leader.

mergelane.com
OP

Open Perception

  • Director of the Board

    2012

    Our mission is to advance the development and adoption of open source software for 2D/3D processing of sensory data, for the benefit of the industrial and research communities. Open Perception is a non-profit organization founded by a global community of researchers and engineers.

Open Perception are believe that by democratizing access to open source software basic building blocks for 3D perception problems,

openperception.org
T

Trimble

  • Director of Innovation - Geomatics

    2011 - 2013

    Responsible for identifying and proposing solutions for key technology gaps; managing investments in these areas; and leading the technology relationship with key partner companies. Chair of Trimble's Open Source Advisory (OSA) group.

  • General Manager, GeoSpatial Division

    2009 - 2011

    Led Trimble's acquisition of eCognition. Management of GeoSpatial division comprised of Trimble's acquisitions Inpho, Geo-3D, RolleiMetric, TopoSys, and eCognition.

  • Director, New Market Development

    2005 - 2008

    Strategy development and M&A activity for new initiatives. Led Trimble's acquisitions of Inpho, Geo-3D, RolleiMetric and TopoSys. Management of GeoSpatial division comprised of Trimble's acquisitions Inpho, Geo-3D, RolleiMetric, and TopoSys.

Trimble develops positioning technology solutions for surveying, construction, agriculture, public safety and mapping purposes.

Raised $1,019,200,000.00 from Bank of America.

trimble.com
NC

Nikon-Trimble Co., Ltd.

  • Chief Operating Officer

    2003 - 2005

    Chief Operating Officer of Trimble's Joint Venture with Nikon Corporation in Tokyo, Japan. Director of the Board, Dongguan Nikon Surveying Instruments Co., Ltd., a Joint Venture of Nikon-Trimble Co., Ltd. and Asia Optical Co., Inc., located in Dongguan, Guangdong, China.

T

Trimble

  • General Manager, Military & Advanced Systems Division

    2000 - 2003

    General Manager of Trimble's business unit focused on the development, manufacturing, sales, and support of military embedded GPS products including Force 5 and TA-12.

  • Marketing Director, Product Manager

    1996 - 2000

    Various positions in product development, marketing, and business development with major systems engineering responsibility for military embedded GPS products.

Trimble develops positioning technology solutions for surveying, construction, agriculture, public safety and mapping purposes.

Raised $1,019,200,000.00 from Bank of America.

trimble.com
DL

Draper Laboratory

  • Engineer, Section Chief

    1987 - 1996

    Various engineering positions including Guidance and Navigation Engineer, and Section Chief (group manager). Focus was design and analysis of guidance, navigation, and control systems including Space Shuttle, Space Station, aerobraking orbital transfer vehicles, autonomous landing vehicles, reentry vehicles, and geosynchronous satellites.

  • Draper Laboratory Fellow

    1985 - 1987

    Thesis: An Adaptive Numeric Predictor-Corrector Guidance Algorithm for Atmospheric Entry Vehicles. Advisors: Dr. Richard H. Battin, Timothy J. Brand

NA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  • Co-op

    1981 - 1984

    Projects included: - Space Shuttle Orbiter aerodynamic coefficients estimation from flight data - Space Shuttle flight simulation and GN&C analysis - Aerobraking trajectory design and advanced vehicle configuration studies

Education 

Articles About Ken

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