Building a market, then a business
I founded SATAVIA in 2013 and began active operations in 2015. As a solo founder I bootstrapped the company, raised investment and grew it to nearly 30 people.
When COVID took our predictive-maintenance pipeline to zero, I pivoted to contrail avoidance and flight-planning optimisation and built a market before regulation required it. I designed the commercial structure that took Etihad from pilot to a 10-year agreement within 18 months, signed at the Dubai Airshow in 2022. The patented avoided-impact carbon-credit methodology behind our approach received Gold Standard concept approval in 2023.
In 2024 I negotiated SATAVIA's acquisition by GE Aerospace.
AI products used in live operations
Our first product, DECISIONX, was AI software combining aircraft-engine data with the environmental conditions aircraft fly through to predict component degradation, helping OEMs reduce maintenance costs under power-by-the-hour service contracts. Our second combined weather forecasts with flight data for contrail avoidance and flight-planning optimisation.
I translated customer requirements into product priorities, shaped the API roadmap and integrated the product into existing flight-planning software. I designed usage-based SaaS pricing around assets tracked, aircraft flight hours and user numbers, and owned the consumption revenue forecasts.
From first pilot to long-term agreements
I built the sales function from zero: hired and coached sellers, established CRM and sales processes, wrote the playbooks and owned a board-set annual revenue quota. We did business in 14 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, selling to CEOs, CFOs and COOs.
Customers included Airbus, GE Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, Safran, Lufthansa Technik, Etihad Engineering, Iberia Maintenance, Emirates, Etihad, KLM and SunExpress. Several accounts grew from proof of concept to fleet-wide use and recurring revenue.
I also won funded programmes from the European Space Agency, the Aerospace Technology Institute, the European Commission and Innovate UK, and built go-to-market partnerships with Microsoft and AWS.
Roles
- 2024 – 2026
General Manager
GE AerospaceOwned the P&L, product roadmap and commercial strategy for the DECISIONX product line after GE Aerospace acquired SATAVIA. Led the commercial integration of the business into GE Aerospace, including its cloud migration and integration with GE Aerospace's software products. Worked across commercial, product, finance and engineering teams, influencing without formal authority, to co-sell into airlines with GE Aerospace's Engines and Software-as-a-Service teams.
- 2013 – 2024
Founder & CEO
SATAVIA, CambridgeSolo founder. Built the products, the sales function and the partnerships, owned the revenue quota and led the company to acquisition by GE Aerospace.