I’M STEFAN
SELTZ-AXMACHER
BIO
My name is Stefan, which I pronounce (Stef-IN). I'm excited about the future - whether that's practical robots making our lives better or better services making us more connected.
I co-founded and led Starsky Robotics which made the first ever self-driving truck to complete an entirely unmanned public highway test.Â
I like asking questions to figure out the spirit of a decision so as to figure out the minimal solution to the problem at hand. I write about the future of logistics and transportation, but also about how to run a startup well.
MY EXPERIENCE
Roles & Responsibilities
CEO & CO-FOUNDER, STARSKY ROBOTICS
September 2015 -Â 2020
Ideated, founded, and led Starsky Robotics. Led a 100 person organization through multiple world's firsts (first paid work without a person behind the wheel, first 60 mile zero-disengagment trip, first unmanned truck run, first public road unmanned test), and built a $6.5m/yr business. Raised $22m of venture capital and $4.5m of debt. Â
Directly oversaw business, press, government affairs, and product direction. Built a 5-person executive team
SR MGR OF SF CAMPUS, ROCKETSPACE
March 2013 - March 2015
RocketSpace was a selective co-working space, choosing only good startups to join its community of over 550 founders, innovators, and startup early employees.
My role was to both vet startups and get the good ones to join. In that role I booked $7m+ of bookings and meaningfully increased prices. Also owned the company's Events business.
ENTERPRISE SDR, GIGYA
September 2012 - March 2013
Gigya was a SaaS startup that made it easy for leading enterprises to integrate social functionality onto their websites.
My role was to get decision-makers at those enterprises to meet with our sales team. Early on it became clear that emails weren't working for me, so I started cold calling. By the end I was frequently making 150 calls/day.
INTERN, MYCUBE
Summer of 2011
MyCube was a Singapore-based social networking startup. At peak they had 120 interns but they never had more than 50 daily active users.Â
Mycube was hosting a neat international internship program and I desperately needed an internship to cap a half year exchange in Singapore. So I showed up at their office, got an internship, and ended up managing the 35 members of that program.
EDUCATION
My Studies
Summer of 2016
Y-COMBINATOR
Put ourselves under incredible pressure to be among the best companies in our batch. At the beginning of the program we were 2 people and an intern, with a robot that could drive in circles in a parking lot.
By the end we had done real work for money in a truck yard, with no person behind the wheel; grew to be 5 FTEs;Â were there most 'Liked' company in our batch; and raised $3.7m
Summer of 2012
SALES & BD, BOSTON STARTUP SCHOOL
Boston Startup School was a DevBootcamp for all roles that startups need to be successful. In their Sales program I was taught how to sell by sales leaders and trainers with incredibly diverse approaches to the same basic program. Towards the end one of the VPs of Sales had us do mock pitches, during which I sold him on throwing our entire class a $1000 pizza party.
September 2007-June 2012
BS IN BUSINESS, DREXEL UNIVERSITY
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September 2014 - June 2016
BA MACG UNIVERSITY
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