Dr. Steven Sliwa, CEO of Insitu, Inc., knows how to grow a business.
Under Sliwa's leadership, this Bingen-based unmanned aircraft company grew from four employees to over 700, with revenues skyrocketing from practically nothing to $128 million in 2008 – the same year that saw Insitu acquired by Boeing Co.
It was this impressive track record which made Sliwa a natural choice for keynote speaker at VBJ's Business Growth Awards, to be held Thursday, April 29 from
5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hilton Vancouver Washington.
"They are a company with pretty consistent, phenomenal growth in their short history," said VBJ publisher John McDonagh. "In a room full of successful business folks, we tried to find keynote speakers with a history of growing business in our region."
A graduate of Stanford University with a doctorate in aerospace engineering, Sliwa had already been a deputy chief at NASA, sold a successful software company and was president of an aeronautical university by the time he took the reigns at Insitu in 2001.
"It seemed like a risky venture, but also a lot of fun," he said. "Plus, I fell in love with the Pacific Northwest."
Sliwa said his success at Insitu was guided by the same principles which had directed his earlier endeavors: staying focused, taking risks and learning to rely on luck.
Under his management, the company focused on its SeaScan prototypes, which utilized technology to launch, retrieve and transmit stable images from cameras mounted in remote-controlled aircraft.
Sliwa later guided Insitu to an alliance with Boeing at a time when many other startups avoided partnerships with "primes," or large corporations, for fear of being absorbed and losing control. "Those first few trade shows, we got called ‘sell-outs,'" Sliwa said. "Of course, two years later everyone got into ‘mating dances' with primes."
Being able to partner successfully with a large corporation remains one of Sliwa's most cherished accomplishments, he said. "While everyone around us failed, we took something very hard to do and made it look easy," Sliwa said.
During the early 2000s Insitu worked with Boeing to adapt the SeaScan into the ScanEagle, an unmanned craft designed to assist reconnaissance missions in war environments. In 2002, the Pentagon included the ScanEagle in its Iraq and Afghanistan theater of operations. In the years since, over 1,000 ScanEagle units have logged over 300,000 hours in combat zones.
Sliwa says that beyond having a good product, his experience working for companies, big and small, led to his success. According to Sliwa, Insitu's partnership with Boeing combines the global reach and massive resources of a corporation with the adaptability of a small business. "Our partnership was like a marriage, and I am very proud of both sides for the work done."
Currently, Sliwa is busy selling ScanEagle units for various purposes worldwide. Though Sliwa would like to find a domestic market for his unmanned aircraft, the devices have not yet been approved for use in U.S. airspace.
According to Sliwa, requests have been made to use ScanEagles to provide traffic reports, assist in post-disaster relief and even for outdoor concert crowd control.
"Some very exciting things are coming soon," he said.
