Success in engineering—and in building a company—often comes down to solving the right problems alongside the right people. In the latest podcast from Machine Minds, Austin Spiegel, CTO and co-founder of Sift, shared his journey from building software for rockets at SpaceX to founding a company that’s redefining how engineers manage complexity in modern machines. The conversation covered lessons learned from his time at SpaceX and Riot Games, the early challenges of building Sift, and practical insights for engineers and founders tackling hard problems in mission-critical industries.
Early Career: Building a Foundation for Hard Problems
Austin’s journey began with an interest in film, but his focus shifted toward solving real-world challenges through engineering. While studying computer science for game design at USC, he developed a unique blend of technical and creative skills. Over time, however, his experience at Riot Games reinforced a realization that his true passion lay in building tools for physical systems rather than virtual worlds. This shift became more pronounced during his time at SpaceX, where he learned invaluable lessons in engineering and leadership.
Founding Sift: The Customer-First Approach
Sift was born out of challenges Austin and his co-founder, Karthik Gollapudi, encountered firsthand while working with telemetry tools at SpaceX.
- Defining the problem: Many industries—like aerospace and transportation—struggled with outdated tools for analyzing telemetry data from hardware systems.
- Validating the need: Before writing a line of code, Austin and Karthik conducted over 30 interviews with aerospace companies to understand their pain points.
- Embedding with users: Sift’s first customer, Parallel Systems, provided critical feedback by allowing the team to co-locate and iterate on the product in real-time.
Sift is not just another observability platform—it’s designed specifically for the unique needs of hardware engineers.
What Sets Sift Apart
Sift is not just another observability platform—it’s designed specifically for the unique needs of hardware engineers.
- Purpose-built for hardware: Sift focuses on developing software solutions for companies building complex hardware. Sift ingests, analyzes, and visualizes telemetry data from complex systems like rockets, satellites, and autonomous vehicles.
- Real-time insights: By enabling faster iteration and anomaly detection, Sift helps hardware teams approach development cycles more like their software counterparts.
Scalable across industries: While rooted in aerospace, Sift has already expanded into transportation and robotics, addressing common challenges in hardware-software integration.
Lessons from SpaceX and Riot Games
Austin’s experience across two very different organizations played a pivotal role in shaping both his leadership approach and engineering philosophy:
SpaceX’s influence:
- First-principles thinking: Question assumptions to create better, faster solutions.
- Rapid iteration: Small, frequent improvements often outperform larger, slower overhauls.
Riot’s perspective:
- Leadership evolution: Seeing how different teams approach leadership and management sharpened Austin’s ability to guide teams with empathy and clarity.
Scaling Sift: What’s Next
Sift is bringing the speed and precision of iterative development to hardware engineering, much like continuous integration transformed software. The focus is on helping teams move faster without sacrificing reliability. In the immediate term, that means cutting development cycles for customers, like increasing satellite launch cadences.
Sift is also expanding its platform to tackle adjacent problems, including testing, deployment, and configuration management—areas that are often bottlenecks in hardware development. Long-term, the goal is clear: to apply Sift’s telemetry-driven approach across industries like robotics and manufacturing, empowering engineers to build faster, iterate smarter, and deliver with confidence.
Long-term, the goal is clear: to apply Sift’s telemetry-driven approach across industries like robotics and manufacturing, empowering engineers to build faster, iterate smarter, and deliver with confidence.
Advice for Engineers and Entrepreneurs
Austin offered practical advice for those starting or scaling their careers:
- Work on hard problems: Seek opportunities to collaborate with smart, mission-driven teams on meaningful challenges.
- Bias for action: The best engineers iterate quickly, learn from mistakes, and focus on delivering value to users.
- Stay customer-focused: Always build with the end-user in mind; a product-first mindset is critical for success.
The Takeaway
Austin’s story is a testament to the value of tackling meaningful challenges with focus and purpose. From developing software for rockets at SpaceX to co-founding Sift, Austin has consistently prioritized iterative learning, direct customer engagement, and solving real-world problems. His approach highlights the importance of blending technical expertise with a deep understanding of user needs—principles that now drive Sift’s mission to simplify data complexity for hardware engineers. For those navigating the intersection of engineering and leadership, his journey offers a clear lesson: success comes from solving the right problems with the right people.
Check out the full podcast episode here.
