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When Luke Wachtel applied to �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder, he wrote his supplemental essay about the Deming Center and his hope of one day building a climate venture.

At the time, it was just something he thought would be cool. He had no idea he would actually end up building one.

Now, a few months into his freshman year, the San Diego native is the founder of Orion Fire Technologies Inc., a startup working to stop wildfires before they spread. He's also part of the upcoming Spark �鶹��Ѱ�����Founders cohort, one of the Deming programs he wrote about in that essay.

"I wrote my college app on Spark �鶹��Ѱ�����and Deming and how I wanted to go into climate ventures. I thought that would be cool, but I actually had no idea. It's kind of crazy how all the cards are stacking now."

Those cards started stacking long before he got to Boulder.

A Venture Rooted in Personal Experiences

Orion Fire wants to fight wildfires in their first minutes, before they have a chance to grow. It pairs AI fire detection with autonomous aircraft, all coordinated by software that humans oversee.

"Every wildfire starts small. But the resources aren't there in time, and time is money with wildfire fighting.”

For Wachtel, the problem is personal. When his family was spending time in Maui, around Lahaina in 2023, he watched a wildfire destroy the historic town in a matter of minutes, and since moving to Boulder, he's seen how the Marshall Fire still hangs over the area. He believes fires like these will only get worse as weather becomes more extreme.��

However, he's quick to point out that he isn't knocking anyone already on the front lines, as his venture acts as a tool and a resource for those already out there.��

"Our firefighters are great. I want to put that out there. “I think that they're just extremely under-equipped with what they actually need."

The moment that stuck with him most came before college.��

Wachtel went to a small high school with a graduating class of 25, and twice a year the entire school traveled together.

On a senior-year trip to Bahía de los Ángeles, a remote town of about 100 people in Baja California, his class spent time doing community service. There, they helped a man whose house had burned down. Talking with him showed Wachtel how much a fire can take from someone who already has very little.

"I feel like I have a duty to that guy, through entrepreneurship, to make a change. To be able to develop a technology that's able to stop this for good."

Still, he doesn't see fire itself as the enemy.

“Fires at the end of the day are a natural pattern. They reset the environment. They are supposed to burn, But when you have humans encroaching on these wild areas, that's not good."

A Visionary

Wachtel has a deep entrepreneurial and startup background, with Orion Fire already being his third venture.

He started a photography business in San Diego in eighth grade and grew it to four employees before moving to Boulder. Later, he launched an e-commerce brand called Rendezvous Supply Co. It never took off and he eventually shut it down, but he says he learned a lot from it.

For a long time though, he pictured himself on a different path.

"I wanted to be an engineer at Apple and design the products. I kind of realized I don't really like the math aspect of it. I like being the visionary."

That instinct shaped Orion Fire from the start. Wachtel first had the idea in May, and by July he was taking it seriously. He cold-called former Apple employees and landed meetings with engineers to figure out how to actually build it.

Those conversations changed his thinking. He had started out focused on the aircraft, but he came to see that the real value was in software that could predict fires and send resources where they're needed.

“Hardware is one aspect, and all this stuff already exists. It's all about integration.”

Today, his software pulls from public data like satellite feeds and fire cameras across California and Colorado. Wachtel describes it as a "hive mind" that connects the outposts where the aircraft are stored. AI handles the planning, and people make sure it's doing the job right.

He plans to sell to insurance companies and utilities. Negotiating with clients that size is exactly where he's hoping Spark �鶹��Ѱ�����can help.

A Spark to his Future

Wachtel hasn't been to his first Spark �鶹��Ѱ�����meeting yet, but he already knows what he wants out of it.

The first thing is community. Building a company can feel like a one-man show, and the program offers a network of founders who are willing to trade help and connections.��

The second is mentorship, especially as he prepares to work with much larger companies.

“I'm going to be dealing with utilities and guys with serious money. You need to figure out how to price your thing fairly, where they're still winning, but you're also winning too."

For Wachtel, the risk that comes with starting a company is part of the deal. What matters is why you take it on.��

"Entrepreneurship is the power for change. You're not just doing it for the money. You're doing it for the outcome to change the world and make the world just a little bit better.”

He wrote about that idea before he ever got to Boulder. Now he's building it.