Bright Machines, Brilliant People November 1, 2018 • Greg Eden, CMO, Bright Machines By Greg Eden Many elements determine the success of a new company: Vision, funding, technology, customer need…even luck. However, the most important and often unsung variable in the success (or failure) of a new company is the people who work there. Last week we took the wraps off Bright Machines, the company we’ve been quietly building these past six months. While many took note of our funding and technology stack we’ve already amassed to tackle the promise of software-defined manufacturing, the people driving Bright Machines got less attention. Bright Machines has recruited some really brilliant folks representing an impressive spectrum of expertise. We didn’t build a company of 300+ hardware-tested manufacturing veterans, nor are we 300+ techy software engineers. We know that the secret sauce is in both hardware and software – that’s why we’ve built a company that’s a blend of both. We’ve brought together people – at all levels – from manufacturing titans and innovators such as FLEX, GE and Tesla with software and tech giants like Autodesk, Siemens, VMware and Google. We’ve carefully architected a foundation of people upon which we hope to build something truly special and transformative. Our ranks continue to grow across the company, around the world and at every level. Just this week, one of Silicon Valley’s finance stars joined our senior team. Craig Foster joins us from Financial Engines, where he engineered the company’s $3 billion merger with Edelman Services earlier this year. Craig’s twenty-year career has spanned from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. He has held leadership and CFO roles at a number of software companies and, as an investment banker, helped orchestrate a number of successful mergers and public offerings. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work alongside a financial executive of Craig’s caliber. We plan to add more than 100 people to our team in the next year, with openings across the company. We’re particularly interested in speaking with software engineers or experts in machine learning, AI, robotics and computer vision. But most important, we are looking for bright, passionate people up for the challenge of transforming one of the world’s largest and most pivotal industries. If this sounds like you, check us at out at bmdev2107.staging.wpengine.com.