“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” — Mother Teresa
It was another wonderful week for the Catalyst Accelerator’s International Space Domain Awareness (SDA) cohort. The Catalyst Accelerator team feels so delighted to have spent the last two weeks with such an incredible group of individuals and we look forward to reuniting with them again in October.
Monday morning kicked off with a Warfighter Panel in which six of our US warfighters spoke to the cohort about their day-to-day Space Domain Awareness tasks. They described both their pain points and what has worked well. The warfighters then joined the cohort for lunch afterwards to continue their conversations and answer several questions that the cohort companies had.
Seventeen subject matter experts donated their time to speak with the cohort during week four. Two of these experts included Karri Palmetier and Yoriko Morita. Karri is a Government Contracts Adviser for Small Businesses at Palmetier Law. She gave a briefing to the cohort about government data rights. She also touched on some strange things regarding government contracting that are important for them to know as small businesses. Yoriko Morita is an Intellectual Property (IP) Law Expert, Patent Strategist, and Founder of Patents Integrated. She offered wonderful tips and tricks for IP and IP alternatives. Yoriko stated, “IP concerns for startup companies, whether US-based or international, are the same. Your IP strategy should support your business and product development goals as well as reduce legal risks by protecting your own competitive advantage while staying clear of other people’s intellectual property.”
Joe Marney, owner of defy DESIGN, will be filming each cohort company for their Demo Day pitch video during the sixth week of the Accelerator. He met with the cohort on Tuesday morning to offer his greatest tips and tricks as to how to make their pitch videos amazing. Mo Kanwischer, then led everyone in a fun and interactive activity called “Six Thinking Hats”. This activity is a simple, effective parallel thinking process that helps people be more productive, focused, and mindfully involved. A powerful tool set, which once learned can be applied immediately.
The cohort then had the privilege to hear from Ralph “Dinz” Dinsley, Director at Northern Space & Security (NORSS). He presented what gaps in SDA need to be solved as well as a briefing on his own SDA company. Col Laurent Rigal, French Liaison Officer for Space, then donated his time to speak with the cohort. Wednesday wrapped up with a cohort dinner at Catalyst Campus, followed by a speakeasy tour around Downtown Colorado Springs lead by Cecilia Harry from the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC.
The week ended on a perfect note with Dr. Ilyasova and Dr. Thorpe from University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) leading an incredible discussion on how to write job requirements when hiring. Afterwards, everyone from the cohort and several members of the Catalyst Campus family participated in a baby shower celebration for two cohort members, Hira Virdee and Michel Poucet, as well as the Catalyst Accelerator Marketing Specialist, Kate Menendez, who all have babies on the way!
Thank you to each of the subject matter experts who donated their time to speak with the International Space Domain Awareness cohort and answer their questions. The Catalyst Accelerator team is looking forward to what the next on-week has in store!
Author: Kate Menendez, Catalyst Accelerator Marketing Specialist
