# Erik Mirandette

> Erik Mirandette is the Chief Business Officer of Tulip Interfaces, an author, podcast host, former venture investor and former U.S. Air Force special agent. His career runs from humanitarian work in North Africa and a 9,000-mile motorcycle journey across the continent to counterintelligence assignments, MIT Sloan and the early commercial team at Tulip, where he has helped turn an MIT spinout into a global frontline-operations company.

- **Role:** Chief Business Officer at Tulip Interfaces
- **Organizations:** Tulip Interfaces, United States Air Force, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Start Garden, Gateway Medical Alliance, Kushiri, Pat Tillman Foundation, Augmented Ops
- **Education:** B.S., Political Science, United States Air Force Academy, M.A., International Commerce, Norwich University, MBA, Entrepreneurship and Innovation focus, MIT Sloan School of Management
- **Known for:** Selected as a 2015 Tillman Scholar., Awarded Army and Air Force Commendation Medals for meritorious service in combat., Published The Only Road North: 9,000 Miles of Dirt and Dreams in 2007.

## Career timeline

- **2003-2005** — Worked with Gateway Medical Alliance in Melilla, Spain and Al Hoceima, Morocco, supporting refugees and helping lead reconstruction after the 2004 Al Hoceima earthquake.
- **2004-2005** — Traveled roughly 9,000 miles by motorcycle from Cape Town toward Cairo with companions, including his younger brother Alex.
- **2007** — Published the memoir The Only Road North: 9,000 Miles of Dirt and Dreams with Zondervan.
- **2008-2014** — Served as a U.S. Air Force captain and special agent, including counterintelligence assignments and tours in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia and Japan.
- **2011-2012** — Co-founded Kushiri, a social enterprise designed to connect skilled volunteers with Kenyan organizations.
- **2015** — Worked at Start Garden as an investment analyst and venture partner and was selected as a Tillman Scholar.
- **2015-2017** — Completed an MBA at MIT Sloan and joined Tulip while the company was emerging from the lab.
- **2015-2021** — Built Tulip's early business development and post-sales operations, later serving as Head of Customer Operations.
- **2022-2023** — Led Product and Ecosystem at Tulip and publicly argued for composable, worker-centered manufacturing systems.
- **2024-present** — Serves as Tulip's Chief Business Officer and hosts conversations on industrial operations for the Augmented Ops podcast.

## Achievements

- Selected as a 2015 Tillman Scholar.
- Awarded Army and Air Force Commendation Medals for meritorious service in combat.
- Published The Only Road North: 9,000 Miles of Dirt and Dreams in 2007.
- Helped build Tulip's early customer base and led its post-sales organization across customer success, professional services, support, application engineering, account management and project management.
- Became Chief Business Officer of Tulip as the company expanded to more than 1,000 customer sites in 45 countries and raised a $120 million Series D at a $1.3 billion valuation.
- Hosts Augmented Ops, interviewing manufacturing and technology leaders about frontline operations.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Hosted Insight Partners managing director and former U.S. Deputy CTO Nick Sinai on Augmented Ops for a discussion of defense procurement, software and the industrial base.
- **2026-04** — Hosted MxD CTO Clark Dressen for an Augmented Ops episode on defense-industrial-base readiness, cybersecurity and connected manufacturing.
- **2026-04** — Presented Tulip's Factory Playback, Operations Data Hub and OpsMoto capabilities at Hannover Messe.
- **2026-01** — Marked Tulip's $120 million Series D led by Mitsubishi Electric, which valued the company at $1.3 billion.
- **2025-06** — Co-hosted an Augmented Ops season reflection on practical industrial AI, citizen development and composable technology stacks.

## Links

- Website: https://tulip.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikmirandette

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/erik-mirandette
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27