# Doug Tallmadge

> Doug Tallmadge is the co-founder and CEO of Gradial, a Seattle enterprise-AI company building agentic tools that automate the unglamorous middle of marketing - the approvals, tagging, compliance checks, and publishing that sit between a finished idea and a live campaign. Before Gradial, he spent nearly five years at SpaceX as a software engineering manager, where he helped scale the Starlink network from zero to more than 500,000 customers. A Dartmouth physics graduate who also passed through Lockheed Martin and Bridgewater Associates, he started Gradial in 2023 with three Dartmouth classmates and has since raised roughly $53M across seed, Series A, and a $35M Series B led by VMG Partners.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Gradial
- **Organizations:** Gradial, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Bridgewater Associates
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A. in Physics, High Honors, Dartmouth College
- **Known for:** Helped scale the SpaceX Starlink network from inception to over 500,000 customers, Co-founded and leads Gradial, a category-defining agentic marketing operations company, Raised approximately $53M across seed, Series A, and Series B rounds

## Career timeline

- **early career** — Held roles at Lockheed Martin and Bridgewater Associates
- **~2018-2023** — Software Engineering Manager at SpaceX; helped scale Starlink from 0 to 500,000+ customers, led network analysis and optimization teams, contributed to direct-to-cell and satellite power systems
- **2023** — Co-founded Gradial in Seattle with Anish Chadalavada, Deip Kumar, and Anup Chamrajnagar
- **2024-02** — Gradial raised $5.4M seed financing for generative AI content and marketing operations
- **2025** — Gradial raised $13M Series A led by Madrona
- **2025-11** — Gradial announced partnership with Stagwell (STGW) to bring agentic marketing to more brands
- **2025-12** — Gradial raised $35M Series B led by VMG Partners, bringing total funding to roughly $53-55M

## Achievements

- Helped scale the SpaceX Starlink network from inception to over 500,000 customers
- Co-founded and leads Gradial, a category-defining agentic marketing operations company
- Raised approximately $53M across seed, Series A, and Series B rounds
- Landed enterprise customers including T-Mobile, AWS, and Prudential
- Drove an 80% reduction in time-to-market and 10x work capacity for T-Mobile
- Graduated from Dartmouth College with High Honors in Physics

## Latest updates

- **2025-12** — Gradial closed a $35M Series B led by VMG Partners to scale agentic marketing automation
- **2025-11** — Gradial partnered with Stagwell (STGW) to bring agentic marketing to more brands

## Links

- Website: https://gradial.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-tallmadge-14166075

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/doug-tallmadge
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-12