Steve Messinger

Yo, you gotta hear about Steve Messinger. This guy’s the real deal, straight-up tech genius with a crazy background in robotics and aerospace. He’s the co-founder and CTO of Perseus Defense, a YC S25 company. These guys are building guided micro-missiles for counter-UAS stuff-like, stopping drones before they cause trouble. That’s some advanced shit, right?

So, here’s the story-Steve’s been deep in the game of autonomous systems for a while. He’s got mad skills from his time doing swarm robotics research, like competing in naval-sponsored competitions and building collaborative behaviors for unmanned surface vehicles. Basically, he’s been crushing it in the autonomous robotics world, making robots that work together smoothly, kinda like a hive mind.

Before all that, he worked at Boeing, helping develop autonomous systems for commercial planes to land themselves. Imagine that-making flying safer and smarter. That’s some high-stakes, high-tech shit. And he studied aerospace engineering at Penn State, where he met his co-founder Jason Cornelius. That’s how it all started, just two guys messing around with ideas that turned into something big.

Now, he’s based in SF, which makes sense. That’s where all the innovation is, and where he’s pushing the boundaries of defense tech. His process shows he’s all about pushing the limits of autonomy, robotics, and making tech that actually matters in the real world. He’s not just playing around; he’s building the future of defense, and holy shit, he’s doing it with a passion that’s contagious.

Bottom line? Steve’s the guy who took his crazy background in aerospace and robotics and turned it into a mission to protect people with smart, guided micro-missiles. No Cap-he’s legit, and he’s just getting started.