Consulting

 

I work with a select group of companies and founders as a consultant working on engineering, people, and process-related challenges. I work with companies and teams of all sizes (startup -> large publicly traded). Please contact me if you are interested in learning more or working together. My technical expertise is in electrical / software engineering for hardware-based systems (aerospace, robotics, medical, etc.) though I identify as a generalist.

You Can Hire Me For

  • Technical Direction and Execution (engineering)

  • Prototype Development

  • Executive Coaching

  • Startup Mentorship / Interim Leadership

  • Workshops

  • Process Development

  • Engineering Technical Direction Review and Mentorship

 

Testimonials

 
 

“Keenan is a fast-moving straight shooter wrapped in a blanket of empathy. He knocks out hardware prototypes in his sleep. He's been a startup founder and can give operational advice that matters. He's also a good guy and saving us from climate demise. Need someone to tell you the truth, deliver results, and make you feel good about it? Keenan's your guy.”

- Cassandra Xia
Co-Founder of Work on Climate

 

“Keenan is a thoughtful and empathetic coach with a real knack for helping you address the really challenging, ill-defined problems that come up in an early-stage startup. Working with Keenan has been incredibly helpful when I need a reframe or plan to move forward with my business.”

- Sean Islom
Founder of TerraKit

 
 
 

“Keenan poses a unique skillset: deep technical competence, people skills, empathy, and an intuition into how organizations function. In my time with Keenan at Impossible Aerospace, he has proven himself as a natural builder of organizations from the ground up (as he did with the engineering team at Impossible). He understands how to structure an organization effectively, staff it with the right people, empower its individuals to succeed, and effectively manage the organization's relationship with other teams.”

- Josh Jetter
Director of Avionics Hardware at Relativity Space

 

“My man Keenan Johnson is one of the sharpest SpaceX alumni about VC and startups. Give it a listen!”

- Quincy Lee
Founder of Electric Era

 
 

Recent Projects

  • Created an IoT Fleet of both Linux (single board computers) and microcontroller-based sensors

  • Provided feedback and proposed a development roadmap for a climate, hard-tech startups product development roadmap

  • Set up engineering team processes and meetings for small engineering startup just getting up and running

  • Implemented a software update framework, simulation environment, and testing process for a climate-related robotics company

  • Validated several sensors for a robotics company

  • Provided technical review for electronics/software of an aerospace company’s new satellite design

  • Provided advice on hiring strategy and process for a cleantech company looking to scale

  • Served as an executive coach to several first-time managers and executives

  • Reviewed and advised a large publicly traded, finance company on how to implement procedural and first-principles based operations and operations software.

 

For Early-Stage Founders

  • • Understanding, describing, and proving the problem you are trying to solve

    • Creating your vision of future success

    • Roadmap creation

    • Short-term tactical planning tied into the longer-term roadmap

  • • Climate

    • Hard tech & Manufacturing

    • Software Engineering

    • Building Safety Critical Systems

    • Electrical Systems Architecture & Design

    • Open-Source Software

  • • Finding a co-founder

    • Hiring

    • Team Planning

For Startups

  • • Project Roadmaps and Schedules

    • Technical Risk Analysis

    • Technical Mentoring

    • Technical & Design Review

  • • Climate

    • Hard Tech & Manufacturing

    • Software Engineering

    • Building Safety Critical Systems

    • Electrical Systems Architecture & Design

    • Open-Source Software

  • • Trust-based Organization Building

    • Team Brainstorming Workshops

    • Leadership & Management Coaching

    • Technical Leadership & Mentoring

    • Panic De-escalation

    • Tools & Systems Setup for Team Success

  • • Building successful corporate partnerships through an actionable process

For Corporations

  • • Systems & processes design and execution that cannot fail

  • • Climate Industry Landscape

    • Climate Data

  • • Executive Team Workshops

    • Leadership & Management Coaching

  • • Trust-based Organization Building

    • Team Brainstorming Workshops

    • Leadership & Management Coaching

    • Technical Leadership & Mentoring

    • Panic De-escalation

    • Tools & Systems Setup for Team Success