Independent field validation for safety-critical outdoor technology

The products people trust in the outdoors have to work the first time.

Gravity Strategy helps product, engineering, safety, and quality teams uncover human-factor and operational failure modes before launch. We validate hardware, software, and emergency workflows under cold, low-connectivity, high-stress field conditions.

Scope a Field Validation Sprint → See Selected Work ↗
  • 1,000+ field operations
  • Professional avalanche forecasting
  • AMGA ski guide
  • Search-and-rescue leadership
  • EMT experience
  • Carnegie Mellon Integrated Innovation Institute
Field footage · hero.mov
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When to Engage

Bring Gravity Strategy in when:

Gravity Strategy works with product, engineering, safety, quality, research, and innovation leaders responsible for products used in remote or high-consequence environments.

Choose a starting engagement ↗
Why Me

Rescue leader. Safety tech at scale. Research rigor. Almost no one holds all three.

Most consumer technology is forgiven for rough edges. Safety-critical products carry a different weight: they operate in cold, stress, and failing battery life, in the hands of people who may be coordinating a real emergency. The assumptions made at the studio desk get tested hard in the field.

Patrick Scanlan has built from both sides of that gap. Over more than a decade he has led over 1,000 mountain rescue and avalanche operations, forecasted avalanche hazard for the federal government, and earned certification as an AMGA ski guide and EMT. In parallel, he consulted for a Fortune 10 technology company on consumer emergency systems used by millions: satellite-based SOS, crash detection, and 911/PSAP validation.

That background is evidence for the work, not the product being sold. It means Gravity Strategy can sit in a product review and describe exactly what a search and rescue team needs from an interface at 2am. More about Patrick ↗

1,000+
Mountain rescue & avalanche operations led
Fortune 10
Consumer emergency systems: satellite SOS, crash detection, PSAP validation
CMU
Carnegie Mellon Integrated Innovation Institute
10+
Years in safety-critical product & field environments
Engagements

Ways to start

01Focused diagnostic

Field Failure-Mode Workshop

Map critical use cases, expose foreseeable failure modes, and define what must be tested before the next product decision.

Best for
Teams approaching prototype testing, design freeze, a field beta, a new market, or launch.
You receive
Failure-mode register, prioritized risk hypotheses, and validation-plan recommendations.
Format
Fixed-scope, about 5–10 business days.
Learn more ↗
02Flagship engagement

Safety-Critical Field Validation Sprint

Design and execute independent tests that combine environmental conditions, human factors, connectivity limitations, and operational workflows.

Best for
Teams that need independent evidence before a consequential design, launch, investment, or market-entry decision.
You receive
Ranked failure-mode register, human-factors findings, and an executive decision brief.
Format
Fixed-scope project, about 3–6 weeks.
Learn more ↗
03Specialized research

Responder Workflow Research

Translate dispatch, SAR, emergency-response, and field-operational realities into product requirements and design priorities.

Best for
Teams whose product enters 911, dispatch, SAR, medical response, or field operations.
You receive
Stakeholder and workflow maps, information-gap analysis, and product requirements.
Format
Structured research engagement.
Learn more ↗
Additional engagements

Beyond a starting engagement, Gravity Strategy also supports product strategy, advisory and diligence, longer-term validation programs, implementation support, and project-specific operational research. These typically begin as a scoped extension of one of the engagements above. Start a conversation ↗

Who's Involved

The buyer, and the experts we bring in

Who hires Gravity Strategy

Product, engineering, safety, quality, research, innovation, and investment leaders responsible for products used in remote or high-consequence environments.

Who we bring into the process

Depending on the project, Gravity Strategy can recruit and facilitate guides, forecasters, rescuers, dispatch professionals, medical professionals, field operators, experienced users, and representative consumers.

This second group contributes research and testing insight. They are participants in the work, not the client it is built for.

White Mountains Field Validation Network

Test where products actually get used

Based in North Conway, New Hampshire, Gravity Strategy can test products in sub-zero, wet, mountainous, low-connectivity, and rapidly changing field conditions. Projects can include carefully selected guides, avalanche professionals, rescuers, medical professionals, experienced users, and representative consumers.

Locations, permissions, safety plans, and participants are arranged on a project-specific basis. Gravity Strategy does not claim standing access to specific land, agencies, facilities, or personnel.

Discuss Winter Testing →
The Research

Why field validation matters

Outdoor technology is changing who enters the backcountry, how people make decisions, and how they call for help. Even excellent product teams can miss failure modes that emerge only when environmental conditions, human behavior, connectivity, and responder workflows interact.

Read the research behind Gravity Strategy's approach to outdoor technology, human behavior, and rescue-system design.

Read the White Paper ↗

About

Patrick Scanlan

Founder
Patrick Scanlan

Gravity Strategy is led by Patrick Scanlan. Patrick leads every engagement directly and assembles project-specific specialists when the work requires them.

Gravity Strategy exists because talented teams build products for the backcountry that were never tested against its realities. Patrick has spent more than a decade on both sides of that problem: as a mountain guide, federal avalanche forecaster, and search and rescue leader who has led over 1,000 field operations, and as a product consultant on consumer emergency systems used by millions, including satellite-based SOS, crash detection, and 911/PSAP validation for a Fortune 10 technology company.

Every engagement is led directly by Patrick, from the first conversation to the final deliverable, with no handoffs to junior staff. When a project needs specialist hands, Gravity Strategy assembles a small team around it. Read the full story ↗

Carnegie Mellon University, Integrated Innovation Institute American Avalanche Association, Professional Member American Mountain Guides Association, Ski Guide Emergency Medical Technician
Let's Build Something

Ready to bring your product into the field?

Whether you're pre-launch or scaling, tell me what you're building and where it has to hold up. If you already know my work, the fastest path is a short call.

Email
patrick@gravitystrategy.co
Based In
North Conway, NH
Working globally
Response Time
Within two business days