What two MRO polls revealed about repair delays I recently ran two simple LinkedIn polls focused on one question: What actually slows repairs down inside MRO operations? No pitch — just listening to operators across aviation. Story #1 The results were clear. The biggest challenge wasn’t execution, staffing, or even compliance.It was parts sourcing. And when we went deeper, the reasons weren’t vendor-related either. Approvals, inventory visibility, and cert uncertainty all tied almost equally...
10 days ago • 1 min read
This conversation stayed with me Hi all, I wanted to personally share this episode with you because it’s one of those conversations that didn’t end when we hit stop. I sat down with Kelly Carlson for #Skybound Ops — founder of Extrinsic Aviation — and what struck me immediately wasn’t a bold claim or a polished narrative. It was how grounded the thinking was. Her path into aviation didn’t start in the obvious places. It started in accounting, operations, systems, and process — the unglamorous...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
The Objection Was Never About Price Why discount requests are really tests of risk, credibility, and execution TL;DR Discount requests are rarely about saving money. They’re about testing whether the value, scope, and execution actually hold together under pressure. Cheap upfront pricing doesn’t reduce cost. It relocates it into training gaps, compliance exposure, rework, and future invoices. Strong pricing isn’t stubbornness. It’s ownership of outcomes. There’s a misunderstanding I see over...
about 1 month ago • 9 min read
Happy 2026 Happy New Year! As we close out 2025, I’m finding myself less interested in grand resolutions and more focused on gratitude for the work we’ve done together. This year wasn’t always easy for our industry, but it was real. Heading into 2026, our promise remains simple: to keep building a system that respects your reality and supports your growth. Wishing you and your teams a New Year filled with stability, clarity, and success. Let’s make this next chapter count. Happy New Year!...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi - This time of year has a way of slowing things down - even if only for a moment. And in that pause, I wanted to reach out with a simple message of appreciation. No matter how you celebrate (or don’t), the end of the year invites reflection. It’s a chance to look back at the effort it took to get here, the lessons learned along the way, and the people who played a part in the journey, sometimes quietly, sometimes profoundly. This year asked a lot from many of us. It required adaptability,...
2 months ago • 1 min read
What Hearing “No” Every Day Taught Me About Building the Hard (Right) Way TL;DR Leading ERP.Aero meant hearing “no” every day. Not big enough. Not old enough, yet. Over time, those no’s stopped being a verdict and became part of the process. Trust was earned through execution, not asking. Progress replaced permission and craft mattered more than optics. Yesterday was conviction without consensus. Today is proof catching up. Tomorrow is steady confidence built on real outcomes. The work did...
2 months ago • 5 min read
Why This Conversation with Michael Miner Stayed With Me Hi everyone, Every so often, a conversation comes along that recenters you, the kind that reminds you why aviation captures people and never lets go. Our next Skybound Ops episode is that kind of conversation. This industry has its own gravity. You come in, you start learning, you start serving, and before you know it, years have passed. In the episode, we explore that exact pull - what keeps operators committed, what keeps builders...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The One Metric That Matters This Weekend Why stepping away from the dashboard is the best thing we can do for our business, our families, and ourselves. We spend 364 days a year focused on velocity. We track the metrics, we push for the deadlines, and we obsess over the next milestone. In the startup world, speed is often survival. But today, I’m hitting the pause button. Thanksgiving is a necessary reminder that the "who" matters so much more than the "what." To my team: Thank you for the...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hi, If you work in aviation supply or MRO, chances are your day doesn’t start with strategy. It starts with survival. You open your inbox to 300, 400, sometimes 500+ emails. RFQs, newsletters, spam, vendor quotes, internal threads, forwarded PDFs. You scroll. You search. You download. You try to remember which buyer asked for which part yesterday. Some quotes go out on time. Some slip to tomorrow. Some never get answered at all. Not because your team doesn’t care. But because the “system”...
3 months ago • 1 min read