S6E2 Derek Pietz | Industrial Automation, Losing A Million Dollars, & Successful Startups

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This episode is a re-run.

Derek Pietz shares his journey into engineering, his experiences founding and leading a startup called Lab to Fab, and the challenges and successes he's faced in the automation industry. He discusses the importance of teamwork, communication, and adaptability in engineering. Derek also provides insights into the trends and future of automation, as well as advice for aspiring engineers.

Main Topics:

• Derek's path to becoming an engineer and his early entrepreneurial ventures
• The founding and growth of Lab to Fab, including a dramatic week of highs and lows
• Balancing career and personal life during the startup phase
• Insights on engineering processes, teamwork, and overcoming challenges
• Derek's current role at Intuitive and the world of robotic-assisted surgery
• Trends and future of automation, including the impact of AI-powered vision-guided robots
• Sharing success stories and lessons learned from failures in engineering

About the guest: Derek Pietz is the Director of Automation Equipment and Test Engineering at Intuitive, a trailblazing company at the forefront of robotic-assisted surgery. Prior to his role at Intuitive, Derek has been a part of four start-up ventures including one as a co-founder. He has built and led engineering and operations teams, designed machines, run a P/L, pitched investors, obsessed over supply chain, developed sales strategies, taught robots to make pizza and fixed customer problems.

Links:
Derek Pietz LinkedIn
Intuitive - Website 

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