Meet the Innovator: Matt Piccoli, Co-Founder and CTO of Vertiq

We are pleased to feature Matt Piccoli, Co-founder and CTO of Vertiq, in our Pennovation Works Meet the Innovator spotlight.

Vertiq makes high performance propulsion systems for commercial and defense UAS. The core design consists of a lightweight, tightly integrated motor and ESC with an embedded position sensor. With position sensing and Vertiq’s sophisticated motor calibration and control software, vehicles experience significant performance advantages.

We had a great time getting to know Matt. You can check out our YouTube channel for a recorded version of his interview, or read below to learn more about Matt and Vertiq.


Interview Questions - Meet the Innovator Matt Piccoli:

What is the best part about working at Pennovation Works?
 

  • Pennovation grows with you. We've been here since 2017 and we've expanded seven times and Pennovation has grown with us every time.

 

What do you find to be the most rewarding and the most challenging about your work?

  • The customers. When they make something that's impressive we're really happy that they can do it with our products and then when they're frustrated it hits us hard and we have to work hard to make sure that they are happy.

 

What's one thing you want people to know about Vertiq?

  • We try to make the best damn motors you can get. I did my PhD at the University of Pennsylvania under Mark Yim in ModLab and GRASP Lab and to do my PhD research we needed more advanced motors that we couldn't get off the shelf so I ended up making these motors and then commercializing them. We don't want anyone else to have to reinvent the wheel the way I did.

 

Knowing what you know now what advice would you give to fellow innovators or startups?

  • Starting a company is a roller coaster so cherish and prepare during the highs and hopefully you can weather it out through the lows.

 

How do you see Vertiq growing and transforming in the future?

  • Literally growing. More products, shipping more products, more customers, more employees, and more space here.


What does a typical day at Vertiq look like?

  • It starts with the doing a couple of hundred emails in the morning, usually our International customers and manufacturers. And then we have a standup meeting right in this room over here at 11 o'clock. I use that to kind of shift gears, then I'll go into technical reviews. I also walk around and and see what the team's up to make sure they don't need any extra eyes or hands and then at the end of the day I'll do some domestic emails once they all pile up.


What has been your favorite event at Pennovation Works so far?

  • I have a soft spot for dogs and the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, every Halloween, will dress up all the dogs and parade them around out on the grounds out there. We always bring out the whole team to go see that.

Lightning round

 

What are you currently reading?

  • Data sheets. I'm always on the hunt for the next cool component or product or something that I can incorporate into our into our products.

 

Who or what inspires you?

  • Our customers. They always make such cool things and it's inspiring to be part of them. And they also motivate us to be better

 

What led you to where you are today in your career?

  • UPenn. I did my undergrad, my masters. my PhD. and then I did it right over there. They were with me every step of the way. They always gave me an easy next step and now we've we made it across the parking lot so I've spent my entire life in Penn's bubble and I'm definitely a lifer.

     

Do you have any hidden talents or hobbies?

  • As I've become a manager at Vertiq, my hobbies have all become engineering projects so I'll write some code for fun or I'll design a contraption for fun.

 

Describe Philadelphia in three adjectives.

  • Philadelphia is gritty the way startup innovator has to be.  Philly is, it's surprising, you know it's a major city it has all the things that you need but if you go one hour outside you can be at the shore, you can be in the mountains. There's nature but also there are skyscrapers. You got it all. Then the third thing Philly is, it's diverse which brings in different perspectives, you know, see life in different ways.


What's your go-to song right now?

  • When I work I can't listen to music that has lyrics so I listen to a lot of EDM while I'm working. You know standard engineer fair. And the song that's stuck in my head is always whatever the last song I heard was so it'll be different in an hour, when you watch this.

 

What show are you currently binge watching?

  • I love the show Psych and in Psych they make fun of The Mentalist so I figured I should go watch The Mentalist.

 

Thank you Matt for being our Meet the Innovator and for answering all of our questions! 

  • You're welcome!
Meet the Innovator: Matt Piccoli of Vertiq