EPISODE SUMMARY
Our guest this week on Pathfinder is Malory McLemore, the co-founder and CEO of Stell, an LA-based startup that is building workflow software to serve as the future data layer for hardware and industrials.
EPISODE NOTES
Our guest this week is Malory McLemore, the co-founder and CEO of Stell, an LA-based startup that is building workflow software to serve as the future data layer for hardware and industrials. Their platform enables complex, multi-company hardware development efforts to track engineering and compliance documentation, replacing traditional methods like Excel sheets and PDFs.
Malory shares her journey from being an aerospace engineer dealing with subpar software tooling to founding Stell. In addition, we discuss:
- Stell’s origin story and fundraising plans
- Differentiating engineering tools
- Apollo-era systems engineering
- The next generation of post-MBA graduates
And much more…
• Chapters •
00:00 – Intro
00:48 – What is Stell?
01:44 – Malory’s career arc in the space industry
05:19 – Why are Harvard students becoming more interested in space?
06:37 – Malory’s previous jobs that led her to Stell today
07:49 – How could aircraft like Boeing’s latest be improved?
10:53 – How have companies operated in the past and why should they work with Stell?
12:38 – Current offerings and roadmap
14:19 – Stell’s business model
14:55 – What does the ideal Stell customer look like?
15:50 – Stell’s selling point
16:45 – How do you quantify money savings to a client
18:33 – Government clients
20:39 – How did Stella build the team
22:36 – Plans for expanding beyond aerospace
23:28 – How do you differentiate among other engineering management tools?
26:51 – Do you think that this looks from other companies, but we’re headed to start to look similar?
29:45 – Current fundraising plans
30:06 – Grand vision to investors
31:41 – What kicked off the growth of hard tech startups?
33:23 – What would Malory be working on if it weren’t for Stell?
33:56 – Apollo-era management
37:26 – What does the startup community look like in Huntsville?
38:32 – Was building in LA the best decision you’ve made?