After our rebrand to SKY VC, I've had the opportunity to reflect on how innovative thinking and startup solutions can transform the travel and transportation industry. With nearly 25 years of experience working at airlines — starting at Continental Airlines and then joining JetBlue in 2005 — I've witnessed firsthand how the right partnerships can elevate an entire organization.
My journey at JetBlue began in the System Operations Center (SOC), where I spent more than half of my aviation career. The SOC is near and dear to my heart, but what I've valued most about this industry are the personal connections I’ve made. In almost 20 years with JetBlue, I met some of my best friends at work, and we've traveled the world together thanks to the perks that came with the job. In my experience, these human connections matter, and they've shaped how we approach innovation.
To date, our team has conducted 26 innovation sprints and eight additional “mini sprints” focused on artificial intelligence in 2024. Each sprint follows a strategic process: we assemble cross-functional working groups, source relevant startups, conduct thorough vetting, and culminate with demo days that bring together industry leaders and emerging tech startups. From contactless travel to AI enterprise tools, we've explored technologies that span the entire travel and transportation ecosystem.
Looking back on these sprints — spanning System Operations Centers to inflight crewmember experiences and culture transformation — several key lessons have stood out that continue to guide our approach.
The Power of Cross-Functional Working Groups
Our most consistent finding is that variety in perspective drives better outcomes. Innovation happens at the intersection of different expertise areas, and our most successful sprints have always featured working groups that span departments.
Our sprint focused on crewmember experience and culture exemplified this perfectly with a 22-person working group including crewmembers from across departments. Similarly, our SOC modernization sprint succeeded because the Flight Ops, IT, Finance, and Airports teams provided critical support that shaped our final recommendations.
To streamline eight robust and effective sprints on AI in 2024, we partnered with the IT, corporate sales, legal, strategic sourcing, and other departments to assemble the right cross-functional working group for this wide-ranging focus area.
When you bring together people who understand operations, technology, finance, and customer experience, you create conditions for breakthrough thinking.
Start with Pain Points and Values, Not Technology
Across thousands of startups we've sourced, we've learned that the most impactful innovations address real, specific pain points rather than offering solutions in search of problems.
Our ability to pinpoint the right pain points is informed not only by structured processes but also by decades of hands-on experience in the travel and transportation industry. Sometimes that means knowing instantly when a flashy solution won’t work because we’ve lived through the operational challenge ourselves. Other times, it means drawing on a trusted personal connection who can provide a perspective that might not be obvious from the outside. These relationships and experiences give us an edge in identifying which startups can truly make a difference.
Take our SOC sprint: we didn't start by asking, "What new technology can we implement?" Instead, we began with questions like, "How can we improve the process to handle the hundreds of daily emails SOC teams receive?"
This pain-point-first approach led to meaningful focus areas. Similarly, the inflight sprint came about because crewmembers were having to juggle too many tools to do their jobs effectively.
Equally important, the best solutions must reinforce and amplify existing organizational values. Whether it's helping JetBlue’s crewmembers apply their core values of safety, caring, integrity, passion, and fun, or ensuring technology serves as a force multiplier for human elements, values-driven innovation creates lasting impact.
Demo Days Ignite Dialogue
One of our most important lessons has been to reframe Demo Days from pitch competitions to collaborative conversations. When we host 30-minute sessions with each finalist startup for audiences of 40+ leaders, we're setting the stage for invaluable feedback and future possibilities.
The in-depth feedback forms we collect don't just help startups identify areas to prioritize for strategic alignment with the organization — they help us understand which innovations align with operational realities. Demo Days also lead to improvements with existing partnerships or spark new proof-of-concept opportunities that we might not have considered otherwise. To date, we’ve facilitated nearly 50 proof-of-concepts between startups sourced through innovation sprints and our partners.
Low-Risk, High-Learning Opportunities
One of the most valuable aspects of our innovation sprint model is that it's designed to be a light lift for both startups and the business units partaking in a sprint. Startups don't have to navigate lengthy application processes, and business units can explore cutting-edge solutions without major upfront commitments.
This approach allows us to maintain operational consistency while keeping up with the latest innovations. We can test ideas without disrupting the company’s core business, making us better informed to make strategic moves sooner when the right opportunities emerge.
Prioritizing the Most Impactful Work
Of all the tech companies scouted for our innovation sprints, the solutions that have had the most lasting impact are those that allow people to focus on the highest-priority work for their teams.
For example, our SOC sprint focused on helping the operations team be more productive and communicate more effectively. Our Inflight sprint aimed to empower crewmembers to continue being best in class. Our crewmember experience sprint sought to strengthen connections between team members.
One of our biggest recent successes was identifying a startup that helps provide feedback and recognition to inflight crewmembers in hours, instead of the weeks it usually takes to hear compliments or complaints. This technology not only empowers crewmembers to adjust in real time, but it also aligns with JetBlue’s priority of delivering caring service by better understanding customer needs.
This pattern reflects something fundamental about our approach to innovation: we believe technology should help people do their jobs more effectively.
Looking Ahead
As we continue exploring enterprise and frontier tech opportunities, we're also excited about the potential to bring innovation sprints to additional partners. The lessons we’ve learned can benefit entire industries, advancing innovation across travel and transportation and improving how people and goods move around the world.
Interested in learning more about innovation sprints? Reach out to inbound@sky-vc.com to discover how this approach could transform your organization's approach and emerging tech stack.
