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Austin Morris
Austin Morris
01:17

Austin Morris

Kall Morris Inc

Marquette, MI USA

"If you’re going to fail, fail fast. Fail fast and learn what you can from it because failure is the best teacher."

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Austin's work combines: Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Building Things

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Day In The Life

Co-Founder & Director of Engineering

I lead engineering for an aerospace company aiming to remove debris in orbit.

01:26

Day In The Life Of The Director Of Engineering At A Space Company

My Day to Day

While we build Kall Morris Inc, I spend a lot of my time on the business side of the company. That primarily means writing grant proposals and drafting technical documents to explain what we're doing as a company. These are crucial steps I need to take while the company is still new. Eventually, I'll be able to transition to my true passions of designing, prototyping, and building in the workshop.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

The other founders and I struggle with imposter syndrome. To gain support, we need to explain our work. I'll start to doubt myself. When this happens, I start by creating a draft and aim for it to be bad. If it's bad, then I can figure out how to improve it. Then I can improve the updated draft, then the next one, and so on. When I eventually present our work, it goes well. We wouldn't have made it this far if we didn't know what we were talking about and if we weren't good at what we do.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Mechanical Engineering/Mechanical Technology/Technician

    Northern Michigan University

  • Certification

    Computer Numerical Control

    Northern Michigan University

  • Certification

    GIC iX Innovation Execution Program

    Stanford Center for Professional Development

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life has been direct

  • 1.

    I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

  • 2.

    I decided to go to Northern Michigan University for college after visiting my siblings at the school and falling in love with the Upper Peninsula.

  • 3.

    I majored in mechanical engineering technology and got some hands-on experience working on a few engineering projects while in school.

  • 4.

    After college, there weren’t enough job opportunities in my field in the area, so I moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to work as a mechanical engineer for Piasecki Aircraft Corporation.

  • 5.

    While in Philadelphia, I realized that the big city was not for me and yearned to move back to the Upper Peninsula.

  • 6.

    After a year and a half, I moved back to Marquette, Michigan, and co-founded Kall Morris Inc, an aerospace company aiming to create the first commercially viable product to collect debris in orbit.

  • 7.

    I currently work as the director of engineering and am helping with much of the business side of things while we get the company up and running.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Myself:

    I don't know what I'm talking about. This work isn't that exciting. They're going to figure me out and I'll fail.

  • How I responded:

    The other founders and I struggle with imposter syndrome. To gain support, we need to explain our work. I'll start to doubt myself. When this happens, I start by creating a draft and aim for it to be bad. If it's bad, then I can figure out how to improve it. Then I can improve the updated draft, then the next one, and so on. When I eventually present our work, it goes well. We wouldn't have made it this far if we didn't know what we were talking about and if we weren't good at what we do.