Working In SpaceTech Requires 100X The Average Entrepreneur's Persistence.
SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Astra, and the series of unstoppable failures.
🕒 Here’s a TLDR summary:
🚀 Everyone thinks they know how to go to space. Then everyone screws up.
💸 Some investment stats of famous space companies.
🫡 The real inspiration is not Elon Musk.
💥 Failure is SpaceTech's middle name.
The Space Jam of Reality: Missed Shots in the Cosmos
SpaceX missed. Rocket Lab missed. Then Astra missed. In space, misses aren't just stats; they're the norm. Michael Jordan's 12,345 missed shots? Child's play compared to the cosmic ballet of trial and error.
Imagine Space Jam but with rockets instead of basketballs. That's where Elon Musk, Peter Beck, and Chris Kemp play (movie idea!)
SpaceX alone raised $9.8 billion and had 285 successful launches. That's $35 million per success, but it has a large wallet behind it (Musk's $244 billion).
Nonetheless, it sparked a movement, inspiring Rocket Lab ($712 million raised, 36 successes) and Astra ($390 million raised, two successes).
Raising these amounts and failing most of your startup’s early years is not what they teach you in class.
This isn't entrepreneurship; it's "crazypreneurship."
SpaceX: The Overachieving Nerd of the Space Classroom
Think of SpaceX as the kid who skews the class average. You're a teacher, and the class average is 15/20, but wait! SpaceX scores a wild 60/20 (yes, it doesn’t make sense). Suddenly, the average jumps to 18.3/20. You’ll have to explain that to the parents.
SpaceX doesn't just raise the bar; it propels it into orbit (I know…)
Reading Ashley Vance's book on Space companies, I realized this is not about SpaceX or SpaceTech. It's a brutal boxing match where getting knocked out 50 times in a 20-round fight seems quite normal.
Space Failures: The Inevitable Path to Stardom
Astra's story is not like Space X. It is more like “A series of unfortunate events” with no happy ending. Actually, they did have a couple of successful launches eventually. But the story is one of explosions, misfires, and tilted rockets.
Yet, Astra's perseverance and around $390 million put it in spacetech history.
Takeaway? Every space company thinks they're immune to failure, then reality rockets in.
Space's Unsung Heroes: Beck and Kemp Over Musk
Elon Musk is the poster boy of space, but the real inspiration lies in lesser-known names like Peter Beck and Chris Kemp.
Beck, with no university degree, literally ate a hat for his company, Rocket Labs.
You don’t believe me. I know. I wouldn’t as well. Okay, here it is.
On the other hand, Kemp's SpaceTech journey with Astra is a story from another angle that’s just unstoppable failures with priceless lessons.
The focus shouldn't be on Spacetech's coolness but on the next-level persistence of those behind the scenes.
A person would work in a startup for a couple of years. But if it’s reaching nowhere, they will probably call it quits.
Team members of Astra would work for over eight years to have only two successful launches.
If this isn’t next-level persistence, then I don't know what is.