Kieran Skelly graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in UAV Engineering, where his entrepreneurial journey began in a garage filled with custom-built drones powered by Pixhawk flight controllers. That garage, and the growing drone collection, was lost to a winter space heater fire, but the setback only fueled his determination. By the following semester, he was filming campus events, co-founding the university\'s AIAA chapter, and serving as its vice president. After college, he put his engineering background to work at a wind turbine inspection company, pioneering the use of heavy Sony A7R cameras on drones to capture and transmit high-resolution imagery. He went on to develop one of the first long-distance drone video links, a breakthrough that led him to Skycatch, a VC-backed drone surveying startup. There, as Lead Customer Success Manager, he trained a global team on UAV standards, led onboarding and testing programs, and traveled to hundreds of sites across 18 countries. In the process, he became a translator of sorts: bridging the gap between Silicon Valley design thinking and the realities of rural mining operations. When the pandemic hit, his inventive streak resurfaced, this time in the world of lighting. Starting again with a Pixhawk controller and the same hands-on curiosity that launched his drone career, he began experimenting with light as both an engineer and an artist. Today, as founder and entrepreneur, he's driven by a mission larger than hardware: to illuminate hidden truths and teach his fellow fish about the water they swim in.
