Ken Spratlin

Founder and Lead Developer

2015 - Current

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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