My Story

Published on Nov 18, 2015

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

DAN GERRITY

MY STORY

I LEAD ENGINEERING

VP ENGINEERING, HAIKU DECK
I'm responsible for engineering at Haiku Deck.

My job is to build and manage a team of the best engineers in Seattle so that we can deliver on the vision of making it 10 times easier to create beautiful presentations that are 10 times more effective in 1/10 the time.
Photo by ecstaticist

ORIGINALLY FROM MICHIGAN

THE GREAT LAKE STATE
I grew up in the Michigan, sailing on Torch Lake, one of the most beautiful places in the country. Getting "up north" on the weekends, a popular activity in the midwest, led me to get my pilot's license, which factors in later.

The Gerrity family cottage built by my grandfather in the late 50s continues to be a hub of social activity. In fact, in Bellaire Michigan it is possible to order a "Gerrity" at a couple local bars. Hit me on @d_gerrity if you want the recipe. See http://goo.gl/hqWenG if you love maps like I do.

STUDIED AT STANFORD

I went to Stanford where I earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering and an MBA.

Some of my most fond memories are around the band. One night I was in a bar in Prague with some bandmates and we ended up getting up on stage and playing "All Right Now" to a wildly appreciative crowd.

I also did things like help my roommate hijack HBO and Stanford Instructional TV using a Folger's coffee can on the roof.

SPENT TIME IN AUSTRIA

I spent some time abroad, in one of the most wunderbar places in the world. Learned to love German, music, cafés, and opera.

After visiting many countries behind the iron curtain and carrying all my engineering circuit drawings in my bags, I got detained, strip searched, and interviewed for a long time at JFK. That was interesting...

AND BRAZIL

I also got to spend some time in Brazil. My family lived in São Paulo and I learned enough Portuguese to be dangerous.

Tudo azúl na America do Sul!
Photo by Thomás

BY THE NUMBERS

I'm an entrepreneur at heart with a strong technology focus. I've done four diverse technology startups.

The first two were software companies in the Bay Area, one having to do with "pen computers", which were essentially early prototypes of the iPad. I worked on add-ins to Microsoft Office products for the pen version of Windows 3.1.

Then, in 1993, I moved to Seattle to help my friend Jens get Coinstar off the ground.

COINSTAR

NOW CALLED OUTERWALL
I was the founding CTO of Coinstar. We built that company from nothing to something, going through early financings, IPO, and beyond. When I left as the CEO in 2001, we had something like $150 million in revenue from over $1 billion of coins processed. Today, the company (renamed to Outerwall, Inc.) has over 60,000 retail locations and revenues of about $2.5 billion.

We dealt with massive growth and scale issues in that business and managed to keep track of every single cent.
Photo by coffeego

NAVERUS

NOW GE AVIATION SYSTEMS
In 2002, I met a pilot from Alaska Airlines who had an idea about modernizing navigation. He had been flying into Juneau Alaska aboard a $50 million airplane that knew it's position plus or minus a couple feet, yet was required to navigate using AM radio transmitters on the ground.

So, together with another Alaska Airlines captain, we founded Naverus, Inc. In leading Naverus, I had the unique privilege of combining a lifelong love of flying with an engineering vocation that made a difference.

One cool experience from that company was being in the cockpit of the first ever Airbus landing in Lhasa, Tibet (runway elevation 11,700').

Naverus' technology is deployed mostly outside the US in China, Australasia, and South America. The company was acquired by GE Aviation Systems in 2009.

THINGS I LOVE

Favorites

  • Book - "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond
  • Music - Latin jazz, like Poncho Sanchez
  • Movie - "The Italian Job"
  • City - Dubrovnik, Croatia
  • Team - Seattle Sounders FC
Photo by -Reji

ENJOY YOUR CREATIVE FREEDOM

with HAIKU Deck
Right now, though, I'm just having fun building systems so that you can enjoy your creative freedom!
Photo by kleneway1379

Dan Gerrity

Haiku Deck Pro User