Andrew McMahon comes from a policy background, having worked at the Office of Management and Budget under the Obama administration and served as a liaison between that administration and Silicon Valley's tech and venture community, and he still writes about how startups actually break into federal and space markets. At Ridgeline, he focuses on companies that turn hard-to-use industrial and earth-observation data into something useful for AI systems, helps portfolio companies work through government procurement and connect with enterprise buyers, and is often described as someone who bridges the tech world and national security community—an identity reinforced by his studies at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy and his volunteer work with Jesuit schools in Chicago and Washington.