In this episode of How We Hatched, host Tim Winkler sits down with Matt Theurer, Co-Founder & CEO of HyperSpectral.ai, to explore Matt’s entrepreneurial journey and his groundbreaking work in AI-driven spectral technology. Matt’s career has been marked by a series of bold ventures, from his early days at NIH to leading successful tech companies, including the sale of Virtustream to EMC for $1.2 billion. Today, Matt shares how HyperSpectral.ai is revolutionizing areas such as food safety, human health, and secure supply chains by combining AI with spectral data.

They delve into:

- Matt’s journey from a curious engineering student to pioneering entrepreneur.

- His venture with Virtustream, including the pursuit of raising venture capital.

- The origins of HyperSpectral.ai and the many use cases of their technology

- Interest from DARPA in solving secure supply chain issues and expanding HyperSpectral’s applications in government

Join us as Matt shares insights into balancing family, ambition, and the relentless pursuit of innovation in spectral technology.

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Welcome to The Pair Program from hatchpad, the podcast that gives you

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a front row seat to candid conversations

with tech leaders from the startup world.

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I'm your host, Tim Winkler, the

creator of hatchpad, and I'm

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your other host, Mike Gruen.

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Join us each episode as we bring

together two guests to dissect topics

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at the intersection of technology,

startups, and career growth.

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Thanks everybody for joining

us on The Pair Program.

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Uh, again, this is a, another

bonus episode of a mini series

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that we call how we hatched.

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So today we've got Matt

Theurer spending time with us.

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Matt is the CEO and one of the co

founders behind HyperSpectral, a

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startup that's using AI powered spectral

intelligence to help detect hidden

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dangers and gather important information

in different industries like food,

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safety, healthcare, and, and defense.

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Uh, Matt, I'm excited to

have you with us today.

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Thanks for joining us on the pod.

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Matt Theurer: No, it's, it's my, uh, my

very great honor and pleasure to be here.

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I'm, I'm looking forward

to talking to you.

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Tim Winkler: Awesome.

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All right, well, let, let's jump in here.

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I always like to, you know,

start these episodes with a

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real thought provoking question.

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Uh, what did Matt Theurer have

for breakfast this morning?

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Matt Theurer: Ah, so, uh, I had a, uh,

Canadian bacon, uh, Egg sandwich on a

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sourdough toast with homemade pesto.

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Tim Winkler: Oh, man.

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That's a strong, that's

maybe the strongest answer

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we've ever had on the show.

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Is that, is that an everyday

thing or is this a special

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occasion kind of treat yourself?

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Matt Theurer: You know, well, I

probably have, uh, have, uh, eggs

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and some sort of bacon far more

often than my wife would prefer.

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Um, but I love to cook.

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It's a hobby of mine.

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Tim Winkler: Awesome.

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Matt Theurer: Um, so, uh, I, I try

to get a little, uh, creative when

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I, uh, Uh, when I cook or make myself

breakfast, you know, this is, this

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kind of sandwich is, you know, a couple

of times a week, other days it's, you

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know, oatmeal and, uh, uh, or, you know,

sometimes it's a full on, you know,

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hash brown, egg, bacon kind of thing.

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It just depends on, depends on what

I have time for in the morning.

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So

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Tim Winkler: sounds like you

geared up for, for this episode

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with a, with a hearty start.

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So we're, we're looking forward to it.

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All right, we'll, we'll jump in here.

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Um, you know, so in a, in, in true

kind of how we hatched form, you

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know, before we get into the, kind of

the groundbreaking technology behind

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hyperspectral, I would like to learn a

little bit more about the journey of the,

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the entrepreneur behind the business.

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So I always start with you telling

us a little bit about your background

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and, you know, what led you down

this path and, uh, and, uh, such a

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unique field, such as spectral data.

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Matt Theurer: Sure.

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Uh, That's a, that's, that's, it's a,

that could potentially be a long story.

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Um, so I'll try to keep

it as concise as possible.

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Um, so I am, uh, an engineer

by degree, uh, and by mindset.

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Um, always have been, always

been fascinated with, uh,

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the how and why things work.

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Uh, I mean, to the point where I

think when I was nine, um, I wanted to

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understand how, well, you know, this

stuff called electricity, so I shoved

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an antenna wire into a light socket.

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Um, and, uh, uh, pretty much blew

out, uh, the fuse box in the house and

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made my hair stand on end and smoke.

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And, and, uh, in true nine year old

fashioned, I screamed, I didn't do it.

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Um, hint, um, I did it.

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Uh, but, uh, you know, so, uh, but more

importantly, you know, I just, I've always

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had a really intense curiosity as to, to

just the how and why of, of the world.

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Um, and I, I'm always looking

for, for these technologies, these

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things, if you will, that I think

are really gonna, really gonna alter

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the world in which they're applied.

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Uh, and that's been very

early on my entire career.

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So, uh, we were just joking a minute

ago about Microsoft, uh, Microsoft

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technologies and the need to restart.

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Um, but I, uh, uh, I was one of the

very early adopters of Microsoft

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Windows NT back way back in the early

nineties when, when the, the world

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looked at, at Microsoft technologies

and said, yeah, that's really neat,

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but it's not going to be enterprise.

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Right.

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And I remember thinking to myself, you

know, they got a lot of work to do, but,

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you know, this, these, these things called

PCs are going to take over the world.

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They're going to replace the mainframes

or at least, you know, You know,

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greatly supplant a lot of the work.

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And, and I think I deployed windows NT

and then windows technologies, I think

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day or two after it went GA, um, a little

later on in my career, I, uh, uh, after

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I basically built a reputation as being

an expert in, in Microsoft technologies.

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Again, I was at a conference.

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It's actually ironically

enough, a Microsoft conference.

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And I ran across this little

company called VMware.

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And, uh, again, I remember

looking at it and saying, wow,

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the product is really rough, but.

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Geez, if you've got this capability

to run multiple operating systems and,

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and their attendant applications on

top of a single piece of hardware,

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a single processor, really driving

the use up, um, and the efficiency,

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that's going to change the world again.

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Right.

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And I, I jumped on very early and the

company I started was VMware's first

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authorized consulting company and partner.

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Um, and just for, for the, the readers

who, who are not geeks like me, or I'm

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the listeners who are not geeks like me.

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What VMware invented virtualization

on an x86 is the entire basis for the

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cloud computing that we all use today.

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I mean, AWS is based on that concept.

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Microsoft Azure cloud is based

on virtualization on x86,

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Google cloud, all of that stuff.

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Is, is based on that.

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And that's what I spent my career looking

for is really what's going to, what's

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going to really alter everything and

the scope of what these things alter

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has, has, has grown over my career.

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Right.

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Um, but that's what drives me, right.

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Is what's really going to go out there,

alter the world and solve real problems.

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Tim Winkler: Yeah.

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Sounds like a natural curiosity, uh,

kind of is a, is a theme throughout,

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uh, you know, your, your career and.

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You know, when this, this

company you're referring to

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is, uh, take it's Virtustream.

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Is, is that the,

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Matt Theurer: Yeah, so Virtustream is

another company I was a founder of.

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So VMware kind of, you know,

made x86 virtualization possible.

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The company I started, I was a co founder

of Virtustream was a cloud provider.

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So think of, um, you know,

again, Amazon Web Services,

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Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.

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That company we started in 2009.

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Um, that was actually.

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Uh, let me, let me roll back the company

I started that was VMware's first partner

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was a company called Bride Technologies.

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And we were just all into

just doing VMware technology.

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Um, we were approached in 2009 by

a couple of other entrepreneurs,

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my, my business partner and I, and

said, Hey, we want to build a cloud.

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Um, but we want to build a cloud focused

on enterprise applications, right?

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So things that were, um, or

applications that were not designed

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to run on the cloud were not designed

to run on Amazon web services.

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Um, so, you know, we need to run things

like SAP or Oracle financials or, uh,

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some of the big healthcare record systems,

which were all intended to run in house.

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So, We were the experts in, in building

stuff for VMware on top of VMware.

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And that was the foundation and

that was Virtustrength, right?

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It was an, we called it enterprise cloud.

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Tim Winkler: I gotcha.

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Matt Theurer: Okay.

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Tim Winkler: So I, I skipped

a, uh, uh, uh, it looks like a,

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a lengthy piece as well and in

your career, uh, at NIH as well.

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So, so it sounds like you, your, your

first company you started, um, with Bry

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technologies, uh, Were you working with

NIH in tandem, uh, of Bri, or tell me a

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little bit about how this overlap works.

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Matt Theurer: No.

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So I started working at the

NIH when I was still a student.

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Um, and, uh, I worked for their

division of engineering services.

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Um, and, uh, I was just started off

doing that kind of building automation,

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building control systems, right.

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And it was, I was really lucky.

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I had some great mentors there who,

who really gave me really kind of an

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outstanding level of freedom for a 19

year old engineering student to have.

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And that they plopped a

project in front of me.

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I was working for the energy engineer

specifically on, we need to find a way to

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optimize, um, the chilled water system.

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So when you look at big campuses,

university campuses, Things like the NIH,

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they tend to have a central chilled water

system, where they cool water down in

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a big central building, or in the NIH's

case, two central buildings, that pumps

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all over the campus, and, um, that's

how they cool the buildings, right,

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um, in a very hot, humid environment,

like Maryland is in the summer, um, you

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know, those pieces chillers, massive

power draw, and they're also, um, Not

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the most efficient things in the world.

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So I was given the task of figure out

the best way to turn on the sequence of

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turning these systems on and what load

they should run to provide the maximum

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cooling for the minimum amount of power.

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Uh, and it turned out to

be a very complex job.

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I was taking environmental

data and analyzing water flows

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and power draw and all this.

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But basically I offensively

built efficiency curves.

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Um, and we cut roughly a million dollars

a month off of NIH's summer power bill.

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Um, which, uh, I was pretty happy, you

know, as a, as an IT, you know, no,

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I was, I was under the guidance and

supervision of the engineer, but, uh,

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they ended up giving me a job, um, you

know, beyond the summer appointment

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that I had, um, and I, I worked at

the NIH throughout my college career.

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In fact, I ended up doing, getting my

degree under what they call a cooperative

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education program, which is where

you have a, uh, an engineering job.

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And then I was given a career

choice kind of, um, as I graduated,

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they're like, we have a job for you.

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Um, which was kind of nice.

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Uh, it wasn't necessarily easy to find a

job in the early nineties as an engineer.

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Uh, um, uh, but you know, these

things called personal computers were

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really growing and personal computer

networking was, uh, uh, it was still a

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grassroots effort in a lot of locations.

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Again, mainframes ruled the world still.

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But I was given the opportunity to go

work for the systems engineering group and

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switch over to computers at this point.

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And again, this is probably the

first time I'm in my career where I

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actually consciously sat down and,

and, and looked at what I thought

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the market opportunity was, right.

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And I remember thinking, okay, personal

computers growing, potential market.

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You know, a couple hundred million, you

know, personal computer or more in the U.

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S.

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alone.

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Um, well, that's a big market that's

going to need a lot of help and a lot

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of support and a lot of, and a lot of

opportunity given what I, I, I thought

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I saw in terms of what they could do.

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So I, I, I made the deliberate choice to,

to switch over to computer networking.

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Um, and I worked at the NIH first

for them and then I left and

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they brought me back as a project

manager, uh, permanent full time.

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And then.

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I, I wanted to spend some more

time in the commercial world.

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So, um, I, I took a job helping run

the Microsoft consulting practice

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for a, for a, a small consulting

company, but, um, in the DC area.

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But NIH followed me as a client.

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Uh, and they kept following me,

and then I started my own company,

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uh, and they followed me along

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And, uh, uh, it's finally when, um, you

know, we, you know, we started again.

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We started Bri and, and NIH was

a client of mine all the way up.

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Even actually after Virtustream, we, we

sold slash merged Bri into Virtustream

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and I, it's followed me as a client

and I probably didn't stop having

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NIH as a, as a client until 2010.

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So I, I worked in some shape or form

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Tim Winkler: Wow.

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It's always nice too, when you're

starting a business, uh, having a

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client, uh, already kind of teed up.

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Right?

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Matt Theurer: Oh, that, that, that,

um, that took a lot of load off and,

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uh, and certainly made the decision

because, uh, to start that company.

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So, so my business partner and I, when

we started Bri, Um, you know, we, we,

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we made a, you know, sat down for,

you know, probably a good year before

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we actually officially started the

company, because we had left our, we

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both worked for this previous company,

um, uh, which had been acquired.

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Um, in a joint venture by two

larger companies, neither of

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whom we wanted to work for.

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Um, but our former owner, our

former boss was the litigious sort.

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So we, we honored our one year

non compete for two years.

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Um, and then we, we, but we

planned out what we wanted to do.

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And.

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Um, you know, we started Bri is what

I'd call a lifestyle business, right?

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Where it was really just focused on,

you know, it's a small, small business.

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Let's make sure we're, we're doing enough

to do what we need to do as individuals.

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We were starting families, but

we started it with personal

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checks and guarantees against our

house, our house, I should say.

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So, uh, yeah, having, having some

customers already ready to go.

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Made a world of difference

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Tim Winkler: in, in making that decision.

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Absolutely.

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I bet.

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Sounds like a high risk tolerance as well.

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I always ask this question to,

to entrepreneurs, you know, was

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there a, um, uh, a history of,

of entrepreneurs in your family?

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Uh, any parents that were entrepreneurs

at what kind of, you know, gave you

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that bug to, to go out on your own?

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Matt Theurer: You know, I, I, I, I

wish I knew the answer to that, because

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I'm going to say no, I'm the only one

of my siblings who started a company.

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Um, in fact, my, my father,

um, worked for the, the federal

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government for his entire life.

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Um, well, I should say he started

off working for the government of

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California, state of California,

early in his career, but he was,

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uh, as a PhD in fluid dynamics.

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And, and that's where I got

my love of computers and math

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and engineering was from him.

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But no, he was, uh, uh, he was a

government employee his whole life.

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The only person, he was the first person

in his family to graduate college,

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let alone get an advanced degree.

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But, uh, I, I don't know.

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I just, I, for me, it's, it, it does, that

curiosity has driven me in so many ways.

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Now, my entire family, all of

my siblings, extremely curious.

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Uh, and my brother, one of

my brothers is an engineer.

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The other is in technology as well.

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Computer programming.

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My.

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Um, my sister's a advanced

degree in theology.

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My other sister was a medical

technologist and my other sister,

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I'm the youngest of six, by the way,

um, uh, is, uh, is, is a lawyer.

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Uh, the one brother who's an engineer is

also a former weapons systems officer,

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flew F 111s, uh, from the Air Force.

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But even as kids, we were very curious and

we were constantly taking things apart,

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uh, much to our mother's chagrin, right?

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Cause we would decide we wanted

the motor out of the can opener.

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Um, it should come home.

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And there's no can opener anymore,

uh, or we would, uh, assemble, you

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know, trying to make three wheeled

bicycles out of two wheeled bicycles.

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We'd build go karts.

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Um, you know, we built a replica

of the Starship Enterprise bridge,

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uh, in a closet once, uh, you know,

you know, anyway, very curious, but

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I'm the only, I'm the only one who

started a company for whatever reason.

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Tim Winkler: So a cure, a curiosity, a

curiosity that, that fueled, you know, a

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number of these ventures, it sounds like.

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You know, we kind of, uh, briefly

touched on it, but, you know, Virtustream

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looks, uh, to be a successful, uh,

venture that you eventually sell.

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Is that accurate?

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Matt Theurer: It is.

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It is.

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So, um, so Virtustream was really the,

kind of the, the, the first company of

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which I was a co founder where we, we

really went the, the, the VC route, right.

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Where we were looking to build

the rocket ship and ride it.

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Um, we had very ambitious plans.

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Um, you know, so we were, we were

going to build a global cloud business

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to support applications that were

not designed for the cloud, again,

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things like SAP or, you know, Oracle

financials or, or, or other things.

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Um, so we raised tens of millions of

dollars right off the bat and we bought

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data centers and we bought companies.

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Um, and we started off with,

uh, you know, two data centers

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in the U S and two in Europe.

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Um, and then we expanded into

France and Germany and the

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Netherlands, uh, Saudi Arabia,

Brazil, Japan, Singapore, Australia.

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Wow.

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Um, and it was, it was all around just,

you know, creating a technology to service

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these, these applications that were

being ignored, these legacy applications

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that, that were being ignored.

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That everybody just said,

they'll never run in the cloud.

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I, we were very successful.

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So, um, we started in 2009 and

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2 billion in cash.

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It was a great day.

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It was, it was, it was a great day, right?

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There was, there was a lot of, uh,

a lot of high fiving and a lot of

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woo hoo's going on in the hallways.

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I would hope so.

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And then, you know, so we, we spent

the next year integrating into EMC,

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which was an interesting, uh, Um,

uh, a whole interesting, cause you

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know, we were a startup when we were,

but when we got acquired, we were

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somewhere between two and 300 people.

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Wow.

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Right.

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Um, and then, you know, the day

after acquisition, EMC moved a

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whole lot of resources over to

us and we were suddenly somewhere

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between 2, 500 and 3, 000 people.

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Um, you know, and we weren't, uh, we

weren't living in startup time anymore.

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We were living into quarter based time.

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Right.

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What a, one of the quarterly

reports going to Wall Street.

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'cause we were suddenly

part of a public company.

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Sure.

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Um, so a lot of integration, a

lot of, a lot of work doing that.

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And, and the 2016 Dell buys EMC Right.

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For the, at the time, the

largest transaction, uh, in

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the technology world ever.

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I think, I think it was $68 billion.

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Yeah, I remember that.

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It was a massive transaction.

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Yes it was.

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Yes it was.

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And, and, and all of the work we'd spent

the previous year doing, integrating into

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EMC, we kind of reset the counter to zero.

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Um, and for a long time, it's only in

the last year or so that, that, um, you

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know, the Vergestein brand was kind of

just finally completely rolled into Dell

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technologies, uh, their services arm.

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Um, but yeah, we were a part and

parcel of, uh, and a brand name

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under the Dell technologies group,

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Yeah.

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Cause at that point I was, You know,

I'd been, been part of a startup and

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running, you know, 70, 80 hours a

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Tim Winkler: Yeah, it was

a fascinating transition.

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I always, um, you know, we do a lot

of these episodes where, you know,

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I, I talked to folks that either came

from big tech backgrounds to startups

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or, or startups that got acquired.

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Now they're in a big tech, you

know, fortune 500 environment.

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Um, it's a very, very different

culture and, you know, sometimes it

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doesn't sit well with folks, they,

they get, they get this itch, right?

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They start to get a little restless

being in the, in the, the walls of

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the, that large corporate environment.

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It seems like that was the case for you.

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I was tracking your, your LinkedIn.

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I found a, a, a, a fun, a fun little

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says, uh, Yeah, I'm open to helping

an existing company start up, or I may

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decide to start yet another company.

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I'll let you know.

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Yeah.

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But, uh, it seems like there was

some foreshadowing there because,

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you know, not far after that, you

know, you, you start Hyperspectral.

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But what, what was, uh, uh, we'll

get to that in just a second.

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But between the, those years of 2018 to

Uh, you know, founding Hyperspectral,

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what, what was, what was on your

plate where you take some time off

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or what was, what was going on?

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Matt Theurer: So I took some time off

again, cause it had been, um, like I said,

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I, I needed some time to rest and recoup

and in a lot of ways, kind of spend some

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time with my family and you kind of get

to know them as well, cause I mean, there

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was, there was a couple of years in there.

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I traveled like 40 some odd weeks a year.

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Um, and, and I also decided that I

wanted to accomplish a life goal.

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And I got a pilot's

license during that time.

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But, you know, shortly after I was off for

a couple of months, you know, I'm starting

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to, starting to, to, to get restless and

I'm like, all right, I need to go, there's

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a couple of things I want to accomplish.

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One, figure out what is that

next big change in technology.

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Uh, and two, um, you know, at

Virtustream, there were five co founders

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and, you know, we all had, uh, things

that we were particularly good at.

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Um, so we let the people who are good at

things deal with what they dealt with.

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Now, um, I realized running a business

and going the, the route that we had

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trying to, to build these rocket ship

businesses and, and raise money, there

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were things I needed to learn, um,

about that kind of aspect of a business.

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Um, so I decided to go back and,

uh, go get my master's, my MBA, uh,

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during this timeframe, so I went to

MIT, um, for a couple of reasons.

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Um, One, not only just to get the MBA,

but, uh, to get into that ecosystem

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up there in Cambridge, which is, um,

you know, a lot of universities have,

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have, um, ecosystems these days around

entrepreneurship and incubation, which

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didn't exist when I was an undergrad,

or if they did, I wasn't aware of them.

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Um, but I wanted to get ahold of that

ecosystem because now, if you want to

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find technology, uh, you know, you want

You know, the first, the first names

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that, that kind of university names

that come to your mind here in the

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United States will be Stanford and MIT.

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Yep.

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Right.

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Those, those are the, uh,

those are the big ones.

398

So, um, so I'm like, all

right, let me, let me do that.

399

Right.

400

And, uh, so I, I got my, uh, uh, got

my master's, uh, and I started looking

401

around and at that point I'm like, okay,

fundamentally, Artificial intelligence

402

and machine learning are going to be for

me, the next big technological shifts.

403

Now, artificial intelligence, at

least as a theoretical concepts

404

has been around since the 1960s.

405

Right.

406

Um, but what lacked up until call it

the last 10 years, uh, has been the

407

compute power, uh, the, the, the physical

hardware computational capabilities

408

to really Drive and, and create

artificial intelligence capabilities.

409

Um, you know, that existed now.

410

Uh, and I'm like, all right, I want

to, I want to, I want to start.

411

Uh, I want to do something with,

with artificial intelligence.

412

Now I've also lived my life with the

mantra that technology for technology's

413

sake, we'll never go anywhere.

414

Um, and the, the world is littered

with really cool technologies that

415

are sitting on the floor someplace

because they don't solve a problem.

416

Um, and, and technology has to solve

a real world problem for it to, to,

417

to get out there and get adopted.

418

Um, again, otherwise it's just

gonna be a really cool widget

419

sitting on the shelf someplace.

420

So I'm like, okay, AI is going to

change the world, but what, what problem

421

am I going to try to solve with it?

422

Uh, and I, and I was talking to some

classmates once, uh, one evening in a bar,

423

um, as you know, classmates are one to

do, uh, and, uh, you know, And we actually

424

decided to transform a company, um,

focused on using artificial intelligence

425

to, um, to affect advertising, right?

426

Could we, could we dynamically change

the content in streaming video so that

427

the content is integrated into the video,

um, but personalized to the viewer.

428

So, you know, I'm looking at your

video, uh, video stream here.

429

Now there's a picture

behind you on the wall.

430

You know, maybe I would

see a poster for Starbucks.

431

Uh, the person watching the same

video next to me would see a

432

poster for Dunkin Donuts, right?

433

Or the actor would interact with,

you know, the Starbucks or Dunkin

434

Cop or a Coca Cola or whatever.

435

Um, so AI was used to identify

the locations and do all the work,

436

you know, angles, skew, color.

437

Hey, is this product that we

were trying to assert appropriate

438

to the timeframe, right?

439

You know, you're not going to put a

440

Right.

441

Kind of.

442

Um, we got the technology working.

443

Um, it actually had some interest and

we're talking to, to folks, uh, and

444

then, uh, this little thing called,

uh, COVID came along and, uh, shut the

445

world down, everybody's advertising

budget from, you know, whatever

446

to zero, uh, we're, uh, we're, uh,

a, uh, supply multiplier, right.

447

Um, in a world where demand has gone to

zero, uh, and it doesn't take an advanced

448

degree in business to realize that,

uh, increasing supply when demand has

449

gone to zero is, uh, is a quick route.

450

Quick, quick route to, uh, bankruptcy.

451

So, uh, we've Doesn't take an

452

Tim Winkler: MIT degree for that one.

453

Matt Theurer: No, it did not

take an MIT degree for that one.

454

Um, and, but then, you know, during

the pandemic and I spent some time

455

engaging myself with, with doing

other work that had AI related to it.

456

Like I ran operations for an autonomous

vehicle, um, autonomous shuttle

457

company, um, you know, during this time.

458

But, you know, I remember thinking at

one point during the pandemic that, wow,

459

I'm sitting in a line for three hours.

460

To have a swab shoved up my nose.

461

Uh, and I'm going to find out three

days from now that I was okay.

462

Um, which did nothing to be able

to get me back into work, back

463

into kids, into school, right?

464

It didn't actually do anything

for me to, to allow me to

465

continue to move my life forward.

466

Right.

467

So, you know, I, uh, I remember thinking

this, this doesn't work for, for this

468

to work, we need to have a way to

detect whether people, whether it's

469

Whether this pathogen exists, right.

470

In this case, the COVID

virus, um, it's gotta be fast.

471

The test has to be fast.

472

We gotta be able to get the

results immediately at the edge.

473

Um, and so that kind of inspired us

and, and we kind of had the blessing of,

474

of ignorance of microbi, microbiology.

475

I'm an electrical engineer by degree

and a technologist and the computer guy.

476

Um, but I remember looking, we looked

around, um, and we're like, all right.

477

Um, what's way, what are

ways to find pathogens?

478

Where we could basically use physics and

computers to help solve the problem as

479

opposed to these traditional methods,

which while highly accurate, were,

480

were too slow to solve the problem.

481

Uh, and we, we looked around, we

like, Hey, spectroscopy right now,

482

spectroscopy as a means of, of

identifying, let's say bacteria.

483

I found a paper from the 1890s, yeah,

484

spectroscopy to identify bacteria.

485

The problem has been historically

from that perspective, um, that

486

the machinery is very complex, uh,

required very pure samples, you know,

487

they're suitable for a lab, right?

488

Um, the real world, right?

489

You need to have this out in the field.

490

Uh, and in the real world, I'm sure

you can imagine there's a lot more in a

491

nasal swab than the COVID virus, right?

492

Um, oh, it's a very

messy, noisy environment.

493

And you have.

494

Relatively weak signal to

very strong noise, right?

495

Which is traditional art.

496

So we're like, all right, what if we can

combine artificial intelligence to analyze

497

this data, build models and, and really

understand the data with spectroscopy.

498

And there's been a lot of

advances in spectroscopy.

499

Like you can now actually do stuff

in the field, relatively low cost.

500

I mean, devices that used to

be, you know, a quarter of a

501

million dollars, you can now get

equivalent performance for 10, 000.

502

It doesn't solve the noise problem, but

it does make the cost of data acquisition.

503

Um, we've got ubiquitous broadband,

low latency connectivity to push

504

large amounts of data back and forth.

505

So you can now do stuff at the edge.

506

We have massive amounts of compute

to, to run these kinds of models

507

and process them in, in all these

cloud data centers around the world.

508

Um, Let's try to solve the problem of

rapid pathogen, pathogen detection.

509

Now, luckily COVID, you know, um, as a

problem that needs testing has gone away.

510

And, and, you know, thank God for that.

511

And I'm knocking on wood and, you

know, to, uh, that we don't have

512

another pandemic though, I will say

513

think we had two in all of the 1900s.

514

Right.

515

So don't think that's the last one.

516

I'm going to see in my lifetime.

517

Um, but the problem of being able to

rapidly detect pathogens as we found

518

out, you know, it exists in a lot of

industries or I should say rapidly

519

find hazards, but we'll just start

off with the concept of bacteria.

520

Um, you know, and I, we started

looking into what are the, what

521

are the best places to do that?

522

Right?

523

Well, obviously human health, right?

524

Hey, I've got a staph infection.

525

Is it, Is it, uh, MRSA, the, the

antibiotic resistant version of STAP,

526

or is it the antibiotic susceptible

STAP in, you know, in my postoperative

527

wound or, or the cut I got?

528

Um, or, you know, do

I have a strep throat?

529

Do I have, uh, you know, do I have

a urinary tract infection, right?

530

Human health is, is a very

obvious use case for it.

531

Highly regulated environment, right?

532

For good reason, uh, with

having to get FDA approval.

533

Um, but as we looked into markets,

you know, we're like, Hey, you know,

534

food safety, much, much, much less

heavily regulated, uh, there is

535

actually no government regulation

required to have a food safety test.

536

Um, and the problem is growing, right.

537

And it's growing for a couple of reasons.

538

Uh, I mean, you could, you could, uh,

make the statement that, um, you know,

539

whether it's caused by climate change.

540

Uh, or anything else, right?

541

The truth of the matter is, is that

there's a growing number of bacterial

542

outbreaks causing sickness and death

throughout the food supply chain.

543

All you have to do is

look at the headlines.

544

Uh, and some really big, well known

names are having this problem.

545

Um, but even, even outside of a

national scale problem, I know there

546

was a food recall, uh, One per day from

like December, the middle of December

547

last year to the middle of January.

548

Wow.

549

Some place in the United States alone.

550

Um, and that's a big problem.

551

Um, you also have growing

organic market, right?

552

Where you traditional kill steps,

use of chemicals and other things

553

to just presumptively kill bacteria

can't be applied anymore, right?

554

It's because it's no

longer organic, right?

555

People don't necessarily want

nasty chemicals, uh, in their food.

556

So there's a growing market

and a growing problem there.

557

And interestingly enough, a lot of

the bacteria that are problem in

558

food are the exact same bacteria

that are a problem in human health.

559

So all the techniques and the data and

the models that we've built, um, which

560

we apply to food safety testing can apply

to the human health use case as well.

561

So we get a, basically we

get a twofer in terms of.

562

The processes, techniques,

and models that we built.

563

That's just the concept of

pathogen detection, right?

564

Now you can also start to look

for molds, funguses, pesticides,

565

anything else you don't want, uh,

in your food or in your environment.

566

And then, um, we started getting some

interest from, um, from DARPA, the

567

Defense Advanced Research Project Agency.

568

They're like, Hey, uh, can you use this

to solve some secure supply chain issues,

569

right, where can you prove that this

stuff based on its spectral fingerprint.

570

Um, is what it's supposed to be and coming

from where it's supposed to come from.

571

And the answer is yes, you can do that.

572

Uh, in fact, one of the biggest things

that keeps me up at night is making

573

sure we maintain focus because there's

so many use cases where the, the

574

combination of, of, um, artificial

intelligence with spectral data.

575

Um, I got, I got asked by a company

contacted that, okay, could you use this

576

You know, turbine blades in

offshore windmills to see

577

developing, you know, craps.

578

And I'm like, uh, yeah, I could,

but I'm not going to right now.

579

I've got, I've got other

things I need to do.

580

You can apply this to a

heavy industry, right.

581

In coolant or oil analysis.

582

Or, I mean, there's all sorts of use cases

for it, quality control and manufacturing.

583

The key for us.

584

Again, is, is actually not

in the hardware, in the

585

spectroscopy hardware itself.

586

It's, it's in the software layer, um, is

every use case, you know, that you talk

587

about, um, you know, maybe I need to

use one sort of spectroscopy versus the

588

other, whether it's absorption or FTIR or

surface enhanced Raman or plain old Raman.

589

There's, there's so many

different forms of spectroscopy.

590

And there's different hardware vendors

that are, it's applicable for different

591

use cases, but that kind of backend

platform, that process, that software,

592

there's models and engines that we

develop apply across all of them.

593

We work with multiple sources of hardware

for different sorts of use cases.

594

In fact, for the same use case, we

can work with the same, with different

595

pieces of hardware, you know, provided

that, uh, you know, they have the

596

same, you know, we'll call it roughly

the same set of capabilities from the

597

hardware, because for us, again, it's

all about the software layer and it

598

enables a broader set of use cases.

599

We're looking for partners who, who have

a problem we haven't thought of that

600

they can leverage our software and our

platform to go solve their problems.

601

Tim Winkler: Yeah, it's interesting.

602

I was reading that it's a hardware

agnostic solution, which is, you know,

603

really opens you up to so many, so many

different partners and opportunities.

604

So just kind of like retracing that

story, you know, COVID kind of killed

605

one business, but created a new business,

uh, right before your eyes, which

606

is, which is a fascinating timeline.

607

The, the, the, you know, it sounds

like you were kind of scratching

608

your own itch there with the idea of.

609

You know, slow, slowness of COVID

testing results, which is, which

610

is also very interesting when you

started, um, hyperspectral, you know,

611

did you, or are these co founders,

uh, that you met alongside MIT?

612

Tell me how you kind of came, uh,

came about with your co founders.

613

Matt Theurer: Sure.

614

So, uh, Um, that depends on

which one you want to talk to.

615

So one of them, um, was actually a

venture, a limited partner in one of the

616

VC firms that helped fund Virtustream.

617

Tim Winkler: Yeah.

618

Matt Theurer: Um, and

that's how I knew him.

619

And, and, and we, we, we

got in touch that way.

620

Um, and we were talking about

this problem and, and, you know,

621

that's how we moved forward.

622

He introduced me to the, my

COO and co founder, Lauren.

623

Um, And then I actually brought in

one of my, not only an MIT classmate

624

of mine, but it was actually also

a co founder of Virtustream as

625

well, uh, along for the ride.

626

Um, so we have definitely leveraged

the network that I've built, um,

627

both from previous entrepreneurial

experiences, as well as MIT.

628

There's, there's several, um,

several, uh, uh, MIT EMBA alums.

629

Um, Uh, here at, uh, here at

Hyperspectral, just because, you know,

630

Mon, I mean, first and foremost, they have

the skill sets we need, uh, to, you know,

631

you know, having people you've known and

work with, work with and know that you

632

can work with is really important, right?

633

I mean, startups are stressful, um, you

know, uh, and, uh, take a lot of work.

634

So having people that you, you

already know, you know, and you trust,

635

Tim Winkler: It's really important

for them to be successful.

636

Yeah.

637

Especially in those early stages, making

those key, those key hires, having

638

that network, uh, is super valuable.

639

So when, when you first started,

you, you, uh, did you focused in on

640

human health or food health first?

641

Matt Theurer: Well, we were,

we were originally looking

642

to solve the COVID problem.

643

Um, but we looked at the market

and said, all right, that's,

644

that's going to go away.

645

Um, so what is the, what is the, the.

646

The market that's going to have, um,

647

the lowest barrier to entry that has a

sufficient, um, total adjustable market

648

and service adjustable market, um,

649

that hopefully, you know, we can then

basically double dip on the data, right.

650

And use it to solve other problems.

651

Right.

652

And that's where food came up as, as

the most logical, um, the most logical

653

starting, uh, beat at market for us,

because again, we could re leverage

654

all the work and the data, um, You

know, for human health, uh, lightly

655

regulated enough that we weren't going

to have significant regulatory barriers,

656

you know, cause I got that question

a lot when I was talking to VCs.

657

They're like, why would you pick food?

658

Right.

659

That's, that's a relatively

low thin margin business.

660

Uh, and, uh, I'm like, it, it is.

661

But here's, here's where we address a lot

of their problems, lowering their costs.

662

Um, you know, they can to, uh, you

know, not have these, um, loss of

663

shelf life by having to, to wait to

ship, you know, all sorts of financial

664

benefits to the food world and low

barrier to entry regulatory wise.

665

And Hey, I can reuse all this

data and everything that we did

666

to, uh, Uh, into human health

and then they're like, Oh, okay.

667

That makes a lot of sense.

668

Then

669

Tim Winkler: it's a smart, it's a smart,

uh, pivot, uh, but beyond that, right.

670

You know, it kind of, you alluded

to it briefly, uh, with the, uh, a

671

recent, uh, pilot program with DARPA.

672

You know, we constantly are hearing a

buzz around dual use startups these days.

673

We've had multiple founders from

dual use, a lot of venture partners

674

actively investing in dual use kind

of previous guests on this show.

675

Um, explain to me a little bit about

how HyperSpectral has made that decision

676

to expand from You know, maybe some of

these commercial markets into government.

677

Was it something where you were

approached or did you kind of design

678

a team to go expand into some of these

other more regulated government markets?

679

Um,

680

Matt Theurer: so, I, I, so

we, we were, we were somewhat

681

opportunistic in that, in that matter.

682

Right.

683

Um, so we were certainly

having conversations with

684

various government agencies.

685

There's a lot of, um, there's a lot of

interest, um, whether you're talking

686

about BARDA, which is the Biomedical

Advanced Research Development Authority

687

or ARPA H, which is the Advanced

Research Project Agency Health or DARPA.

688

Um, in a lot of use cases and

sometimes overlap, um, that we could

689

apply our technology to, right?

690

So Um, they've all published what they

call BAA or broad agency announcements

691

saying, Hey, we're interested in, in

people to apply for grants to solve,

692

you know, these kinds of problems.

693

And we're like, well, you know,

check, check, check, check, check.

694

We can, you know, let's pick

the ones we want to go for.

695

Um, but also from a DARPA perspective,

um, one of our employees, um, had

696

some previous history working with

DARPA at a previous company, uh,

697

and, uh, had some contacts there.

698

Um, so we really, we went in and

we just, uh, gave them a kind of an

699

overview of the technology in general.

700

Right.

701

Um, and it really perked up their ears,

um, around, um, you know, the potential.

702

Right.

703

And that's really what I think these,

these, uh, government agencies are looking

704

for are, Hey, this is really interesting,

you know, maybe I don't have that exact

705

problem, but can you apply your technology

to apply this other problem we have?

706

And that's what DARPA came

back and said, and said, well,

707

Could you address this problem?

708

Uh, and we took it away and, and,

uh, thought about it and we kind of

709

sketched out the approach that we

will take to solve their problem.

710

We went back to them and we gave them

more like, here, here's a, you know,

711

a couple of pages proposal, you know,

cut us a, cut us a, a, uh, relatively

712

small, what they call a flex contract.

713

And we'll give it a shot.

714

And that's where it's like

a grant of sorts or yeah.

715

Yeah.

716

It's effectively a grant.

717

Uh, proof of proof of concept that

the technology can solve the problem.

718

And then they, they tend

to grow from there, right?

719

Once you show, Hey, I, yes,

I can solve this problem.

720

And then you start to dive into,

we'll call it more specific uses.

721

Um, so DARPA has a lot

of, a lot of interests.

722

Um, you know, some of which are

really interesting, but aren't

723

necessarily commercially viable.

724

I'm sure you're going to.

725

They're interested in some say pathogens

that you would not necessarily look for.

726

Uh, you know, that, you know,

if they start showing up in

727

hospitals, it, it means somebody's

728

Tim Winkler: done

729

Matt Theurer: something we really

don't want them to do kind of, but, um,

730

you know, but they just grow, right.

731

As, as, and when you've got a technology

that's as broadly applicable and

732

flexible, you know, you get, again,

it's not just dual use, it becomes,

733

you know, You know, multi use, I mean,

yeah, we can talk about quality control,

734

quality assurance, manufacturing,

materials provenance, um, you know,

735

pathogen hazard detection, right?

736

There's so many things

that we can do with it.

737

Tim Winkler: And that's where, you

know, coming back to your, your, uh,

738

comment about staying focused is so

essential because you could easily

739

find yourself spread so thin chasing

so many different projects that before

740

you know it, you just don't have the

capability to solve all those problems.

741

So.

742

It's a, um, it's certainly, uh, something

where it sounds like you're, you're

743

really kind of, you know, keeping your

team, uh, you know, heads down in a

744

couple of key areas, really proving

out, uh, the, the technology and the

745

solution in those areas and expanding,

you know, at a slower clip and.

746

Matt Theurer: Uh, absolutely.

747

It's all about, you know, uh, as I've

talked to one of our VCs and board

748

members, uh, it's a sequencing, it's,

it becomes a sequencing problem, right.

749

Uh, or they didn't say a problem.

750

It's a sequencing task, right?

751

Right.

752

Or set of tasks, right?

753

You just, you just build and build

and build the technologies and

754

build the capabilities and the

layers of what you want to do.

755

Um, and, and that's,

that's what we're doing.

756

Tim Winkler: And so I got just a

couple of quick hit questions, um,

757

around where the company is at, at this

point, and then we will kind of close

758

with a fun little segment called the

five second scramble, have a, have a

759

little bit of fun with some, some Q

and A, but tell us a little bit about

760

like, uh, your current headcount, uh,

where you're at, uh, funding and, you

761

know, where are you guys based out of?

762

Are you hybrid, uh, in office, remote?

763

Matt Theurer: Sure.

764

So, um, we're about 12, 12 people.

765

Uh, we have a couple

of contractors as well.

766

Um, we closed our series A in May.

767

Uh, and of course, you know, anybody

who's ever raised money from VCs,

768

as soon as you, as soon as you, you,

uh, you go through closing, you start

769

planning your next round, right?

770

And, uh, so, uh, we're, we're currently

looking to do a series B probably mid

771

next year, that would be the goal.

772

Um, And, uh, we're technically

headquartered in, uh,

773

Alexandria, Virginia, uh, which

is actually where I am today.

774

Uh, I live in Maryland, by the way.

775

Um, we are actually, we have historically

been very spread out around the country.

776

Um, we are actually concentrating a

lot of our technical work, um, out

777

of the engine up in Cambridge, part

of the, the MIT engine, uh, up in

778

Cambridge, Massachusetts, um, you know,

unlike a lot of tech companies today.

779

Um, you know, we're not just

purely software based, though,

780

that's our primary focus.

781

That's where our value is,

but we are dealing with a

782

multidisciplinary approach, right?

783

So, um, you know, microbiology,

sample collection, bacteria,

784

viruses, uh, funguses, molds, etc.

785

So you need to have lab space.

786

Um, uh, so that's, that's where having

a facility, an incubator, You know, like

787

the engine become very, very useful.

788

And so we're concentrating up there.

789

I do have, uh, uh, for, for roles

that, you know, aren't as critical

790

to be in the same location.

791

Like I've got, you know, machine

learning folks, AI folks down in

792

Texas, in Washington state, uh, my

chief science officers outside of LA.

793

My chief medical officer,

um, is, uh, out of Ohio.

794

Um, so, so we are distributed, but.

795

We are coalescing around, um, uh, around

796

Tim Winkler: the, uh, the

Cambridge ecosystem right now.

797

That's great.

798

Yeah.

799

I mean, it's, it's nice to, to have

some central locations though, where,

800

you know, it sounds like if it's MIT

area, the, that folks can kind of

801

congregate, come together, exchange ideas.

802

Um,

803

Matt Theurer: yeah, that's

804

Tim Winkler: really

805

Matt Theurer: important to me.

806

Uh, I've always found that.

807

You know, face to face

physical interactions, right?

808

You know, water cooler conversations, the,

Hey, let's walk down the street and get

809

a cup of coffee and chat about things.

810

You get so, so many good ideas and so

many aha moments come out of those,

811

those kind of random interactions.

812

And I really encourage that.

813

And not, not only that, do you get these

ideas, but you build a sense of teamwork

814

and camaraderie when you actually get

a, You know, break bread with people or

815

physically interact that it's hard to

do over, over, uh, technological means.

816

I don't mean, maybe that's

just my age showing.

817

Right.

818

But I just, I have found that.

819

That, uh, you, you can't

beat those actual physical

820

Tim Winkler: interactions.

821

Right.

822

So, yeah, I've had, uh, uh, a couple of

entrepreneurs called those, those magical,

823

those magical moments when you're just

kind of crossing paths in the hallway

824

or at the water cooler where, you know,

something, you know, something said,

825

and it leads to that next thing, you

know, and, and, you know, I, I, I, you

826

know, in the world of recruiting where

we spend a lot of our, our focus, we

827

We have certainly seen that, uh, as an

early stage startup, it's, it's a lot

828

more difficult, uh, to, to drive that

innovation when you're fully remote.

829

And I think we're seeing a lot of

that coming back to office from,

830

you know, big tech, uh, right now.

831

Um, and I'd imagine, you know, it,

it'll probably, it'll never be what

832

it once was, but there will, will

need to be a, a, a time and place

833

for folks to come together in person.

834

Matt Theurer: I, I, yeah.

835

You're, you're preaching

to the choir there.

836

Tim Winkler: Yeah,

837

Matt Theurer: it's funny.

838

I, I actually spent some time talking to

my, uh, my eldest daughter especially,

839

and her, her college roommate.

840

She's a, she's a junior at,

at CU Boulder right now.

841

And I'm like, you know, when you're

looking to go out on the job, I

842

mean, what are you looking for?

843

And it's what I, and I had some

conversations with some other kind of

844

younger folks entering the workforce.

845

They don't, the folks I've

spoken to don't have an objection

846

to going into the office.

847

What they have an objection to is being

told they have to and have no flexibility.

848

Um, and then what I'm trying to engender

from a culture perspective is giving

849

them the flexibility, um, to do that.

850

Uh, and I think a lot of the problems

we hear about, uh, that get written

851

up and sensationalized in the news

around the battle over coming to the

852

office or coming not It'd really be

resolved if we all just sat down and

853

looked at each other and said, well,

what is it you're really asking for?

854

Right.

855

Right.

856

Finding and asking for flexibility.

857

Tim Winkler: Yeah,

858

Matt Theurer: I can do that.

859

Tim Winkler: Yeah.

860

I think that's a, a number one trait

that, uh, you know, startup founders

861

are starting to realize they got to

have a little flexibility to work

862

with the next workforce here, so.

863

Um, well, exciting stuff, you know,

we'll, we'll obviously continue to, to

864

track the story and it sounds like, you

know, growth is, is actively happening.

865

So we're excited for the, the

work that you're building.

866

We're going to transition and close the,

the, the episode with a quick segment

867

that we call the five second scramble.

868

We're going to start with some, some

questions about, uh, hyperspectral

869

as well, and the culture, and then

we'll, we'll have a little bit of

870

fun on some personal questions, but,

uh, are you ready to, to, to jump in?

871

Matt Theurer: I'm ready to

872

Tim Winkler: jump in.

873

All right.

874

So, um, explain hyperspectral to

me as if I were a five year old.

875

Matt Theurer: We analyze light to

find things that you can't see.

876

Tim Winkler: What's your favorite part

about the culture at hyperspectral?

877

Matt Theurer: My favorite part

of the culture at hyperspectral.

878

Is the high degree of trust that we

exhibit in each other's capabilities.

879

Tim Winkler: What type of

technologist thrives at Hyperspectral?

880

Matt Theurer: The curious who always

question the what and the how.

881

Tim Winkler: I had a feeling curious

was going to come up in that answer.

882

Um, what, what are some of the, the

top kind of tech roles, or maybe not

883

just tech, but you know, top roles

that you're actively hiring for today?

884

Matt Theurer: Oh, uh, always looking

for, um, really good artificial

885

intelligence folks, uh, in the tech world.

886

But also we're looking for experts in,

there's a very specific field called

887

chemo, chemometrics, um, and chemometrics

all about the hard data that, um, and

888

the scientific data that comes out of

chemical and biological interactions.

889

Uh, so, so chemometricians,

uh, and spectroscopy experts.

890

Tim Winkler: What is a charity

or corporate philanthropy

891

that's near and dear to you?

892

Matt Theurer: Um, wow, there's,

there's, there's a lot.

893

I have a, I have a soft spot

in my heart for, uh, for

894

anything that affects children.

895

Um, and also, uh, quite honestly,

um, I've, I've, I've recently

896

started, uh, fostering a rescue dog.

897

And, uh, yeah, that, uh, that, that

little dog I've had for a month has,

898

has wormed her way into my heart.

899

She's a little, uh, she was found, uh,

abandoned and, uh, badly wounded and

900

they amputated her leg and, uh, now

she's barreling around on three legs.

901

Um, so, you know, fostering rescue

902

Tim Winkler: dogs is another one.

903

That's great.

904

Yeah.

905

I've got a soft spot for, um,

you know, animals as well.

906

And my wife and I were just talking

about this about anytime we see a dog

907

with, you know, out there on, on three

legs, or maybe they got the little

908

wheel, the wheelchair on the back.

909

Yeah.

910

I mean, just kind of gives you

some inspiration of like, wow,

911

you know, that dog's pushing

through it, biting through it.

912

Matt Theurer: Oh, it is that, that

the dog we're rescuing, she's, I mean,

913

If you did not know or could

not see the fact that she's

914

missing one of her front legs.

915

I mean She doesn't know

she doesn't have right.

916

Yeah, right.

917

She doesn't allow it to to stop her.

918

Tim Winkler: Very cool Uh,

well good good good on you.

919

Um Briefly describe your

your morning routine.

920

Matt Theurer: Uh, so, uh easily up,

uh, somewhere between 6 6 30 a dog out.

921

Um You know dog back in to eat

Uh, I try to, uh, grab a shower.

922

Um, I actually have a series of games

that I actually play to start the day.

923

Uh, like some things on the

New York Times, games, Wordle.

924

Wordle's one of them.

925

Wordle, Connections, uh, the mini.

926

Yeah.

927

Um, and then I like to play

the, the, the, the, the daily

928

challenges on Microsoft Solitaire.

929

I know that sounds really dumb.

930

But it allows me to set my mind and,

and get myself kind of just how I

931

get myself in the, in, in the, in

the frame of things, a lot of times

932

I'll take the dog for a longer walk

outside in the woods someplace.

933

And then I'm down to work, right?

934

Cook some breakfast, uh, whether it's

that oatmeal or that, that special

935

sandwich, uh, and I'm off to work.

936

Tim Winkler: Love it.

937

Yeah.

938

Uh, the connections game my wife

and I play it every, every morning.

939

It's a good, it's a good one

to get the, the wheels turning.

940

It is.

941

Um, if you could have dinner

with any tech icon, current

942

or past, who would it be with?

943

Matt Theurer: Oh, wow.

944

That's not a fair question.

945

Can I have a group dinner?

946

Um, uh, tech icons, past or presence.

947

Oh, cheesy peasy.

948

Um, you know, I'm going to go with,

949

uh, I'm going to go with Bill Gates.

950

If I, if I only have to give you

one, I'll go with Bill Gates.

951

If you, uh, if you give me a group dinner,

it'll be Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, uh,

952

Steve Wozniak, uh, Hewlett and Packard.

953

Um, you know, probably Michael Dell, uh,

you know, um, Zuckerberg, uh, Sergei,

954

uh, from Google, folks from Google.

955

Tim Winkler: You got a

full house right there?

956

Matt Theurer: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

957

that be, uh, Eric Schul did be,

that might be, uh, that might

958

be a dinner where things start

getting thrown across the table.

959

, yeah.

960

Come

961

Tim Winkler: quickly.

962

Um, okay.

963

Last couple of ones here.

964

What is, uh, the worst fashion

trend that you've ever followed?

965

Oh, geez.

966

Knit ties,

967

. Okay.

968

We, we know what, uh, headshot,

uh, photo we're gonna use here for

969

your, for your episode placeholder.

970

What was your dream job as a kid?

971

Matt Theurer: Oh, my dream job as a kid.

972

Uh, honestly, something where I got

paid a lot of money for, uh, for ripping

973

things apart and rebuilding them into

things that nobody would ever use.

974

Right?

975

I mean, just, uh,

976

You know, I'm doing my

dream job at this point.

977

I, you know, I don't know that I

would have, you know, when I was

978

11, if I would have said that's my

dream, but I'm, I'm getting to do my

979

dream job now, which is take advanced

technology and apply it to problems

980

that really affect a lot of people.

981

Tim Winkler: Yeah.

982

Well said.

983

Uh, well that's a, that's a good

note to kind of, to wrap on.

984

So I just wanted to, to thank you for,

for spending time with us, Matt, uh,

985

excited for the future of what you all

are building at, at Hyperspectral and,

986

uh, you're a, uh, an inspirational

entrepreneur, so we're rooting for

987

you all and, and, uh, thanks again

for hanging with, with us on the pod.

988

Matt Theurer: Oh, I really appreciate it.

989

Thank you.

990

It's been my pleasure and my honor.

991

Tim Winkler: Take care.