Nikhil Vadhavkar's guest appearances

Nikhil Vadhavkar

SunCast

FLIR DELTA Podcast

Unmanned Uncovered

Watt It Takes

Elon Musk

Bill Gates

Marc Andreessen

Alex Williams

Peter Thiel

Chris Voss

Jason Zook

Richard Branson

Mark Zuckerberg

Jeff Weiss

Bill Parsons

Chris Anderson

Diana Cooper

Chris Johnson

John Berger

OwlTail

On Today's Episode: I’ve gotta give NASA credit.  It turns out the space program has delivered many many more terrestrial benefits and innovations than might be assumed at first observation. There’ve been a few folks lately on the show who’s original pursuits &amp; passions took them closer to the moon than the average person. Today’s guest is among that elite group, having spent time in deep research for NASA’s space-walking astronauts; his co-founder worked for SpaceX. You can say these guys are used to shooting for the stars.Nikhil Vadhavkar is the CEO and co-founder of Raptor Maps, solar lifecycle management software that they refer to as “The Slack for Solar” where collaboration between asset owners &amp; stakeholders has truly become a data and software-driven obsession.  Today we cover:his “climate wakeup” moment, parlaying a $100k investment from Y-Combinator leveraging SpaceX, Gates Foundation, Accenture and NASA to build Raptor Mapswhat “System of Record” &amp; “Digital Twin” mean &amp; why it matters Lastly, along the lines of SpaceX founder, Elon Musk (and perhaps inspired by his philosophy), we get into their decision to open-source everything:All the data capture methodologiesAerial inspections &amp; hosting data (including historical data from other vendors)Instructions on how to set up manned aerial vehicles, drones, etc Data set for doing Machine Learning on imaging anomalies  Why did they choose this path? What could it mean for your company?Tune–in to hear more. I promise you won’t be disappointed with today’s high-IQ episode!Nikhil is an MIT engineer, and his graduate research was thermal control systems for next-generation spacesuits. He met his co-founder in graduate school, and took Raptor Maps through Y Combinator in 2016.  You’ll get a much better understanding of why when you dig in here today. Raptor Maps has delivered critical data analytics to over 45 GW of solar PV plants in 38 countries, and many of you probably consider that it’s a drone-enabled data gathering company. You’d be wrong, as was I, and Nikhil forgives you.  You can read more about their story &amp; my thoughts on it, as well as links to articles, books etc we discuss over on the blog. If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.SunCast is presented by Sungrow, the world’s most bankable inverter brand.You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.mysuncast.com/sponsors.Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 620 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com.You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

On Today's Episode: I’ve gotta give NASA credit.  It turns out the space program has delivered many many more terrestrial benefits and innovations than might be assumed at first observation. There’ve been a few folks lately on the show who’s original pursuits &amp; passions took them closer to the moon than the average person. Today’s guest is among that elite group, having spent time in deep research for NASA’s space-walking astronauts; his co-founder worked for SpaceX. You can say these guys are used to shooting for the stars.Nikhil Vadhavkar is the CEO and co-founder of Raptor Maps, solar lifecycle management software that they refer to as “The Slack for Solar” where collaboration between asset owners &amp; stakeholders has truly become a data and software-driven obsession.  Today we cover:<ul><li>his “climate wakeup” moment, </li><li>parlaying a $100k investment from Y-Combinator </li><li>leveraging SpaceX, Gates Foundation, Accenture and NASA to build Raptor Maps</li><li>what “System of Record” &amp; “Digital Twin” mean &amp; why it matters</li></ul> Lastly, along the lines of SpaceX founder, Elon Musk (and perhaps inspired by his philosophy), we get into their decision to open-source everything:<ul><li>All the data capture methodologies</li><li>Aerial inspections &amp; hosting data (including historical data from other vendors)</li><li>Instructions on how to set up manned aerial vehicles, drones, etc </li><li>Data set for doing Machine Learning on imaging anomalies </li></ul> Why did they choose this path? What could it mean for your company?Tune–in to hear more. I promise you won’t be disappointed with today’s high-IQ episode!Nikhil is an MIT engineer, and his graduate research was thermal control systems for next-generation spacesuits. He met his co-founder in graduate school, and took Raptor Maps through Y Combinator in 2016.  You’ll get a much better understanding of why when you dig in here today. Raptor Maps has delivered critical data analytics to over 45 GW of solar PV plants in 38 countries, and many of you probably consider that it’s a drone-enabled data gathering company. You’d be wrong, as was I, and Nikhil forgives you.  <a href="https://www.mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/460" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">You can read more about their story &amp; my thoughts on it, as well as links to articles, books etc we discuss over on the blog.</a> If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to his contact info in the<a href="https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> show notes</a> on the blog at<a href="https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/</a>.SunCast is presented by<a href="https://www.mysuncast.com/sungrow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> Sungrow</a>, the world’s most bankable inverter brand.You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at<a href="http://www.mysuncast.com/sponsors" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> www.mysuncast.com/sponsors</a>.Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 620 other founder stories and startup advice at<a href="http://www.mysuncast.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> www.mysuncast.com</a>.You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:<a href="https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo</a><a href="https://my.captivate.fm/LinkedIn%20-%20https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus</a>

460: Collaboration at scale, a “Slack for Solar”? Raptor Maps CEO, Nikhil Vadhavkar

Nikhil Vadhavkar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Raptor Maps. He earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and an M.S. in Engineering Management from Johns Hopkins University. He worked at Accenture in the Federal Services division, and spent five years at MIT researching thermal control for space suits. Nikhil previously led a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project to use drones for emergency medical supply delivery in developing countries.

Nikhil Vadhavkar, CEO of Raptor Maps

Randall Warnas

Keeping solar farms as efficient as possible is a top goal for the utilities that own them. With thermal drones and the value added by solar drone mapping, that goal is a reality. In this episode, Randall Warns speaks with Nikhil Vadhavkar, Co-founder and CEO of Raptor Maps, about this sector of the drone economy and how thermal drones are utilized across the solar industry.

FLIR DELTA - Randall Warnas Interviewing Nikhil Vadhavkar of Raptor Maps