Stefan Seltz-Axmacher
Founder of Polymath Robotics
Stefan Seltz-Axmacher
Founder of Polymath Robotics
San Francisco, California
Overview
Work Experience
CEO & Co-Founder
2021 - Current
At Polymath Robotics we're building general autonomy software for industrial vehicles. Whether it's a tractor on a field, or a 400t truck in a mine; we make it easy to make it autonomous. We have a great team, paid customers, and are testing unmanned vehicles with no one on site every day. We even have more robots than we have people on our team! You can try our autonomy yourself by signing up at polymathrobotics.com
CEO & Co-Founder
2015 - 2020
Starsky Robotics is making trucks driverless, for real. We've driven a truck with no person in it, raised $21.7m, and were coming to a highway near you. We've been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, BBC, CBS, CNN, The Wallstreet Journal, Fortune, Financial Times and much more.
Sr. Manager, San Francisco Campus
2013 - 2015
RocketSpace is a premium co-working space in San Francisco differentiated by only hosting funded tech startups and the corporates who want to partner with them. At RocketSpace I was responsible for meeting 40+ startups/week, figuring out which were good enough to join RocketSpace and getting them to join. I sold office space to everyone from f&f-funded startups to Unicorns and the investors who back them. I sold deals to foreign governments looking to bring innovation back home, corporates looking to engage, managed channel sales relationships, and even ran the events business. I frequently represented RocketSpace to international delegations of business leaders and elected officials. I even got to judge applicants for (and then run the programming of) a startup incubator in Seoul. The experience of spending an hour with 10-20 founders/wk was a lot like an MBA program...that I got paid for.
Enterprise Business Development
2012 - 2013
• Moved to the SFBay to get a job as an SDR at Gigya (social plug-ins for websites). In the first few months I was promoted to the newly formed Enterprise SDR team. • Transitioned from email-based strategy to cold-calling. Each day I cold called 100-300 Directors+ at companies making >$100m/yr. Aggressively tracked my metrics with a 2-3% pickup rate and a 50% conversion rate between pickups and meetings set. • Had one of my deals close in 24 hrs for $75k when avg contract size was $25k. Was (mostly) luck.
Sales & Business Development Program
2012 - 2012
• Was in the first class of Boston Startup School, now Startup Institute - Boston and associated with Techstars Boston. In their Sales & Business Development track we were taught how to do startup sales by VPs of Sales at companies like Brightcove & Kinvey • Used Lean Startup Methodology to validate a startup idea. We wanted to prove that gamification would drive charitable giving, and gave anyone who donated to one of three charities Mardi Gras beads. Many would give us money and get beads. Some would think we were obnoxious, walk into the classroom to see that they were the only people who didn't have beads, and return to give us money. Turns out you can gamify being good. • Sold a lunch sponsorship (~$1000) and; during a mock sales pitch to the VP of Sales @ Brightcove, a real $650 dinner.
Business Development/Content Intern
2011 - 2011
• Needed an internship when studying abroad in Singapore, heard about this crazy startup in Clarke Quay (the club district), walked into their office and got one. • Fell in love with startups because of how crazy it was. • MyCube had hired 35 interns from around the world...and didn't have projects for them to do. I came up with some projects, and got to manage them doing it. • In my first week or two I made a common-sense recommendation that saved the company $120k USD. • Led a 12-person product team that represented 5 continents recommending 14 product improvements...all of which were added to the roadmap. • Pitched a startup idea (order-taking app for waiters) to the company's VC. He wanted a follow-up meeting. • Was offered a FT job if I dropped out of school. Didn't. Mycube folded by the time I graduated.
Marketing
2011 - 2011
• Tried running marketing for a triathlon bike shop while doing my full-time internship at MyCube. • After a month of working two full-time, intense jobs I realized that Ron Swanson is right: "Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing."
Paralegal / Legal Intern
2009 - 2010
• After growing up watching tv shows where lawyers were cool, I tried my hand working in a lawfirm for 6 months. • Represented automotive credit companies in 2009. I sued people who missed their car payments and broke their automotive leases during (hopefully) the biggest financial crisis of my lifetime. • Learned that if you break a car lease, they sue you for the difference between the car's price when new and what they get at auction • Lost my interest for working in law.
Transportation Marketing and Product Management
2008 - 2009
• Full-time internship for a manufacturing company based outside Philadelphia which primarily sold to the construction industry and the vehicle OEM industry...from September 2008-March 2009...while they implemented a gigantic new ERP • Saw what happens to a genuinely kind company when the world economy falls apart and they need to consider drastic measures like furloughs and lay offs. Developed an acute appreciation for the dynamic between companies and revenue producing v. non-revenue producing personnel during crisis. • Got a really deep dive into the automotive industry. Visited Mack Truck's factory. • Led a team of interns to figure out why a highly technical problem was happening.
Marketing and Events Intern
2007 - 2007
• Intern at a publishing company that published magazine and produced trade events in the construction industry • Gained a thorough appreciation for how difficult events are, and how interesting every industry is when you look at it under a microscope