Valley of Depth

On today’s episode, we sit down with AJ Piplica, cofounder and CEO of Hermeus Corporation. The Atlanta startup aims to make hypersonic air travel a reality before the decade is out. AJ dialed into Pathfinder straight from the belly of the beast, i.e., Hermeus’s factory in Atlanta, which was abuzz with employees and machines whirling in the background. Today’s episode is brought to you by Altek Space.What is Hermeus up to?The Hermeus team is focused on shrinking the globe by developing the world’s fastest passenger aircraft. The timeline for that = 2029. In the meantime,  Hermeus recently selected Pratt & Whitney’s F100 turbofan for integration into its hypersonic engine, a move that the company claims will save it billions in R&D costs and years of schedule. Also in recent memory, Hermeus successfully demonstrated a turbojet to ramjet transition with its Chimera engine. Finally, Hermeus raised a $100M Series B last March to develop Quarterhorse and Darkhorse, its first and second hypersonic vehicles.Among other things, AJ and Ryan covered:— The startup’s origin story— The roadmap: Chimera → Quarterhorse → Darkhorse → Halcyon— What’s the state of hypersonics today?— How the Halcyon passenger aircraft will be designed— Derisking the business plan through iterative development and buying off the shelf— Lowering the cost of aircraft certification— Building in public and investing in marketing early on— Atlanta’s talent density and Hermeus’s recruiting effortsChapters02:40 – Welcome, AJ 06:02 – Hermeus's beginnings 10:49 – Rockets and ICBMs fly at hypersonic speeds...what's new here? (+ nice pun)14:24 – Why do planes fly slower today than decades ago? 20:14 – Chimera engine and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts 21:31 – Watch Chimera go turbojet –> ramjet 🔥🔥🔥24:28 – AJ's take on a hypersonics gap between the US and near-peer adversaries32:00 – How'd do you get VCs to bet on you so early on? 37:11  – Chimera → Quarterhorse → Darkhorse → Halcyon47:29 – UX for hypersonic airliners 49:03 – How do you back into your estimate that hypersonics could add $4T in GDP?!51:46 – All-in costs of bringing Halcyon to market54:05 – Outmaneuvering commercial competitors / defense primes57:19 – Status quo in government procurement 59:10 – Why build in public and invest in marketing so early on?  1:02:42 – Talent density in Atlanta  About usPathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand, and while we have designs on becoming the biggest space content company in the galaxy, for now, we publish: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, every Monday to Friday morning 2) Pathfinder, this podcast, on Tuesday mornings 3) ...and 💫Parallax!💫 on Thursday afternoons. Subscribe to our daily newsletter and find out more about Payload at www.payloadspace.com.

Today, Pathfinder turns the complexity up a notch by simultaneously welcoming two speakers onto the show. Matt Weinzierl and Brendan Rosseau research, write, and develop coursework at the intersection of space and economics. They teach MBA students at a business school just outside of Boston (why yes, we are indeed referring to Harvard Business School). Today’s episode is brought to you by Altek Space, which provides custom manufacturing of essential parts and components for rockets and satellites, including smallsats. Find out more at https://www.altek-inc.com/spaceWhy is HBS so invested in space?As Matt and Brendan wrote in a widely read Harvard Business Review essay, ”Your Company Needs a Space Strategy. Now.” The two join Ryan today to discuss the thinking behind this theory, along with: Space-for-space vs. space-for-EarthWhat types of students study space at HBS?The most encouraging signs of “innovism” on orbitWhy we’re living through an inflection point in spaceShould we prioritize human spaceflight or automation?The chicken and egg problem facing space station developersCould the commercial space market be in the middle of a bubble?…and more! Ryan quizzes the two on how their “space strategy” framework would apply to sectors ranging from semiconductors to consumer packaged goods, and probes for areas where the two disagree. You don’t want to miss this convo—it’s bound to shape how you think about the economics of space. Chapters00:00 – Intro 02:54 — Matt + Brendan bios03:50 — how’d you land here?08:59 — why HBS is teaching about space12:28 — professionalization of the space industry 14:18 — who’s taking space courses at HBS 17:36 — space hiring from Big Tech? 21:30 — the industry is at an inflection point25:18 — “Your Company Needs a Space Strategy. Now.” 29:43 — Applying that theory to e-commerce…31:03  …consumer packaged goods, and…32:37 …semiconductors34:23 — So…what’s HBS’s space strategy?!35:45 — Data, capabilities, resources, and markets37:04 — Space-for-space vs. space-for-Earth41:36 — Private vs. public players 43:44 — What in the world is innovism? 47:39 — KPIs for commercial success in space 55:32 — Thoughts on the launch market 1:02:35 — Commercial space bubble?1:05:06 — Lightning roundAbout usPathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand, and while we have designs on becoming the biggest space content company in the galaxy, for now, we publish: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, every Monday to Friday morning 2) Pathfinder, this podcast, on Tuesday mornings 3) ...and 💫Parallax!💫 on Thursday afternoons. Subscribe to our daily newsletter and find out more about Payload at www.payloadspace.com.

Jim served as the 13th administrator of NASA and spearheaded the launch of the Artemis program. During Jim’s watch, the US also returned to launching its own astronauts to orbit from US soil (with SpaceX). Jim’s bio will be familiar to most space buffs in Payload and Pathfinder’s audience, so in our convo, we dig a bit deeper on his backstory, get a status report on Artemis, and take a closer look at his current roles in the commercial space ecosystem.Today's episode is brought to you by Altek Space, a custom manufacturer of essential parts and components for rockets and satellites.*SNEAK PEEK*Serving as a US Navy aviator; landing on aircraft carriers; and TOP GUN…real life vs. the movieJim’s involvement in the Rocket Racing League and his time at the helm of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and PlanetariumServing in the US House as a representative of the 1st District of Oklahoma (and his HASC and SST committee membership)Working with an office of “space knuckleheads”—Jim uses that term endearingly—and honing his aerospace policy chops while on Capitol HillWhy going to the Moon vs. going to Mars was once an either-or, partisan debate on the HillJim’s time leading NASA, architecting the Artemis program, andHis post-NASA space involvement (which includes advisory or trustee roles with Voyager, Viasat, Phase Four, The Aerospace Corporation, Firefly, and Acorn Growth Companies)This is our longest show to date and for good reason. We had a lot of ground to cover, and yet we still didn’t get to Pathfinder’s planned segment about boots on Mars. Check out the episode and let us know what you’d want to hear in a Part 2.*CHAPTERS*02:54 Guest intro03:11 Jim's office photos03:37 Top Gun inspiration04:50 Does it surprise you the Navy wouldn't let Tom Cruise fly a jet?06:29 Journey into aviation, experience in the military, and using space assets in combat13:41 Rocket Racing League22:07 Trying to bring one of the Space Shuttles to Tulsa24:55 Time as an elected official31:51 American Space Renaissance Act37:05 Difference between approving NASA funding and running it42:48 Moon vs. Mars - why was it either-or and at times partisan?45:23 Why we should outsource some space functions to the private sector48:26 Artemis vs. Apollo54:32 Artemis I splashdown56:29 Advising space companies and organizations1:06:00 2022's biggest space story1:09:36 Worried about a shakeout in space markets?*SHOW NOTES*NASA's Artemis program: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/American Space Renaissance Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4945/textFirefly: https://payloadspace.com/firefly-production-ramp/Phase Four: https://payloadspace.com/phase-four-production/Rocket Racing League: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket\_Racing\_LeagueUS return to space: https://payloadspace.com/netflix-releases-return-to-space/Ryan's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ryandoofy — & LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rfduffy/Payload's Twitter: https://twitter.com/payloadspace — & LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace/*ABOUT US*Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 12,000+ decision-makers across commercial, civil, and military space.

For his first Pathfinder podcast of 2023, Ryan took a field trip to San Francisco to visit the 120,000-square foot digs of Astranis.Today's episode is brought to you by Altek Space, a custom manufacturer of essential parts and components for rockets and satellites.*SNEAK PEEK*For the uninitiated, Astranis aims to build small, cost-effective GEO satellites that will beam targeted chunks of broadband service down to under- or unconnected parts of Earth.The company got its start in 2016 and graduated from Y Combinator’s winter batch the very same year. Two years later, Andreessen Horowitz (or a16z) wrote its first check to a space startup when it led Astranis’s Series A. The space internet startup would later go on to raise $250M from the likes of BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, and Fidelity (i.e., blue-chip growth investors).In the coming weeks, the satellite unicorn is preparing to launch its first MicroGEO satellite into a geostationary orbit roughly 22,000 miles above our head. That first MicroGEO bird will provide Alaskans with a significant connectivity boost.The company has a lot more cooking, Astranis CEO and cofounder John Gedmark tells us on today’s episode.Along with Arcturus, its Alaskan satellite, Astranis plans to launch four more on a Falcon 9 later this year. As we saw firsthand, Astranis is ramping up production and satellite testing at its sprawling facilities, which have housed World War II ship makers, Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group, and now, software-defined satellite makersDuring our Pathfinder recording, Gedmark also broke some news about a key executive that Astranis recently hired. Read on for more. What else did we discuss? The value of GEO vs. LEO, bringing connectivity to Machu Picchu, buying an entire Falcon 9 rocket, use cases for space-based internet, geopolitics…and plenty more. Before we let him go, John also shared his personal 2023 goal, an under-the-radar sci-fi rec, and a very fun fact with us.*CHAPTERS*1:10 - Guest intro2:01 - Astranis HQ4:58 - Vocab7:52 - Why GEO?13:01 - Applying to YC17:31 - The best Demo Day story you’ll ever hear21:43 - Tech stack27:13 - Engineering tradeoffs29:50 - Business model35:48 - Launching with SpaceX40:40 - A big new hire46:52 - Threat surface in GEO55:13 - Who is the competition?*SHOW NOTES*John’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/gedmark Astranis’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Astranis Astranis: https://www.astranis.com/ Payload’s Astranis coverage: https://payloadspace.com/astranis-microgeo-testing-complete/ / https://payloadspace.com/astranis-arcturus-qa/ / https://payloadspace.com/astranis-and-telesat-strike-90m-deal-to-expand-connectivity-in-peru/*ABOUT US*Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 12,000+ decision-makers across commercial, civil, and military space. Payload began as a weekly newsletter sent to a handful of friends and colleagues. Today, we have three media properties and publish across multiple platforms. Our team is distributed across four time zones and two continents. We aim to inform but also educate and entertain, and we serve a highly concentrated audience of decision-makers in the commercial, civil, and military space sectors.While we have designs on becoming the biggest space content company in the galaxy, for now, we publish:1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, every Monday to Friday morning https://payloadspace.com/2) Pathfinder, this podcast, on Tuesday mornings3) Parallax, our weekly science newsletter for the space industry, on Thursday afternoons https://parallax.beehiiv.com/  

Today's episode is sponsored by Altek Space, which provides custom manufacturing of essential parts and components for rockets and satellites (including SmallSats). Find out more at https://www.altek-inc.com/spaceOur guest host is Tess Hatch, a former aerospace engineer and current partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, where she invests in all things deep tech with a particular focus on the space industry. She’s backed industry-leading space companies like Spire Global ($SPIR) and Rocket Lab ($RKLB). Today, Tess is coming for Ryan’s job at the helm of Pathfinder.The interviewee: Payload’s own Rachael Zisk. Rachael joined the Payload team as our fourth employee in the early days of the daily newsletter and has been working to shape our coverage of the space industry ever since. She’s also the author of Parallax, Payload’s weekly newsletter covering all things space science.This week’s episode runs the gamut from the inner workings of Payload to musings on the future of the space industry. *SNEAK PEEK*Rachael’s roots in storytelling The duck boat photographer to science writer pipeline Joining Payload as employee #4 The highs and lows of the daily newsletter biz Two key ways to determine the success of a Payload story Plus: who Rachael would bring to space, the rocket she would take, and what her next Payload deep dive might cover.*CHAPTERS*01:12 Intro 03:05 Origin story...also, what's a duckboat? 04:23 Path to becoming a space reporter 07:06 How'd you end up at Payload? 10:40 Best part of the job, and where there's room for improvement 15:19 Day in the life 18:26 What makes Payload stand out to its readers? 21:13 The orbital debris dilemma 26:35 Why isn't MEO popular? (MEO = medium Earth orbit) 26:59 Rachael's next deep dive topic 33:05 Predictions for 2023 36:32 Tess's thoughts about 2023 41:34 Common misconception about Payload 43:43 Rapid fire questions *SHOW NOTES*Parallax: https://parallax.payloadspace.com/subscribe Rachael’s socials: https://twitter.com/rachaelzisk / https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaelzisk/ Tess’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tesshatch/ / https://www.bvp.com/team/tess-hatch Rachael’s Payload profile: https://payloadspace.com/author/rachael-zisk/ Ada Ride’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ada_ride/?hl=en*ABOUT US*Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 12,000+ decision-makers across commercial, civil, and military space. Payload began as a weekly newsletter sent to a handful of friends and colleagues. Today, we have three media properties and publish across multiple platforms. Our team is distributed across four time zones and two continents. We aim to inform but also educate and entertain, and we serve a highly concentrated audience of decision-makers in the commercial, civil, and military space sectors.

What’s it like running a $11 billion dollar space business at a publicly traded company and managing a team of nearly 22,000? Or what about building the Orion spacecraft that just finished a 25-day trip around the Moon, and will carry astronauts on its next mission? In Pathfinder #0028, we'll get the answers to those questions and a whole lot more with Robert Lightfoot, the executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space and former acting NASA administrator.Today's episode is brought by Altek Space, which provides custom manufacturing of essential parts and components for rockets and satellites (including SmallSats). Find out more at https://www.altek-inc.com/spaceRobert leads the LM Space business, which is one of the four major divisions of its parent company. The $11 billion business line builds space technology systems for defense, civil, and commercial space customers. Its portfolio ranges from integrated systems for satellites to space-based missile defense capabilities to space observatories to interplanetary robotic spacecraft.Robert became EVP of LM Space on Jan. 1, 2022, so he’s coming up on his one-year anniversary. Prior to Lockheed, Robert spent 29 years at NASA, holding a variety of leadership roles and rising up the ranks to become associate administrator, the highest ranking civil service position at the agency. He served as the 11th director of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.*SNEAK PEEK*Though Robert is from Alabama, went to Bama, and led one of NASA’s key centers in the state, somehow we didn’t cover college football at all. But we did cover: An Artemis I postmortem and Orion’s performance during the mission Leading large organizations, first in the government and then at a Fortune 500 company“Protect, connect, and explore” as organizational guideposts Building space hardware at scale Recruiting and the importance of talent*CHAPTERS*0:00 intro3:51 Starting in space10:25 Engineer to leader19:30 Artemis I and Orion31:52 LM Space's portfolio..."protect, connect, and explore"41:05 Being part of a public company 46:19 Cost-plus vs. fixed-price contracts49:00 Future projects you're excited about54:32 Lightning round*SHOW NOTES*Full bio: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/leadership-governance/robert-lightfoot.htmlLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-lightfoot-lm-spaceWebsite: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/capabilities/space.htmlCompany Twitter: https://twitter.com/LMSpaceNDSA explainer: https://payloadspace.com/ndsa-explainer/*ABOUT US*Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 12,000+ decision-makers across commercial, civil, and military space. Payload began as a weekly newsletter sent to a handful of friends and colleagues. Today, we have three media properties and publish across multiple platforms. Our team is distributed across four time zones and two continents. We aim to inform but also educate and entertain, and we serve a highly concentrated audience of decision-makers in the commercial, civil, and military space sectors.

What if you could cut the time for data to be relayed from space to Earth from half an hour to milliseconds? That’s the vision of Hedron. Formerly known as Analytical Space, Hedron is developing a network of data relay satellites that it says “will connect space to Earth in real-time.”Hedron raised a nearly $18M Series A last year and brought on a new management team, including now-COO Katherine Monson. She’s the former CEO of KSAT Inc., the American division of Kongsberg Satellite Services. Before that, she was an early employee of Spire Global ($SPIR).Katherine joins us today on the Pathfinder podcast to discuss Hedron’s go-to-market strategy, the company’s technology, the space industry, the three rules of building networks, and more. Hedron has played its cards relatively close to the vest this year, so it was quite an honor to dig into the startup’s technology, strategy, and outlook for the next few years.SPONSOR : Today’s episode is brought to you by Altek Inc., a leading custom injection molding and precision machining manufacturer of key parts and components for rockets and satellites. Find out more at https://www.altek-inc.com/*CHAPTERS*00:00: Intro04:30 Dreaming of being SecDef6:49 International cooperation work at Pentagon8:12 High-stakes negotiating and high capital-intensity industries9:00 Entering aerospace world13:00 The importance of trust in business14:30 Changes at Hedron (formerly Analytical Space)19:13 “Today, that's measured in minutes and we need to be moving into milliseconds”21:20 The three rules of building networks28:00 Technology stack, network architecture, and inter-satellite links34:30 What needs to be done in-house and what doesn’t (aka buy vs. build)37:30 Target users and applications…why do firefighters need this technology?50:35 Other industries space can learn from*SHOW NOTES*Website: https://www.hedron.space/Rebrand/Series A https://payloadspace.com/hedron-rebrands-raises-series-a/Katherine’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinedmonsonKSAT: https://www.ksat.no/Spire: https://spire.com/Pathfinder’s 2022 Spotify Wrapped: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rfduffy_pathfinders-spotify-wrapped-weve-been-activity-7007133134081191936-4UvRRyan's socials — https://twitter.com/Ryandoofy / https://www.linkedin.com/in/rfduffy/Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace/*ABOUT US*Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 12,000+ decision-makers across commercial, civil, and military space.We aim to inform but also educate and entertain.

In today’s episode of the Pathfinder podcast, we’re talking all about a gentler type of suborbital space tourism. In Pathfinder #0026, we sit down with Jane Poynter, the co-CEO and cofounder of Space Perspective. Today’s episode is brought to you by Altek Space (https://www.altek-inc.com/space).Jane was a member of the Biosphere 2 experiment, spending two years inside a closed ecosystem. She also cofounded Paragon Space Development Corp., which creates life support systems for spacecraft and stations.Now, she’s working on Space Perspective. The startup has raised nearly $70M to date, is closing in on 100 employees, and aims to launch commercial service in 2024. Space Perspective is selling tickets for $125,000 a pop and its capsule is designed to take a crew of eight (and one pilot) nearly 100,000 ft. above Earth.*SNEAK PEEK*This was a fun episode that runs the gamut from controlled environment experiments to breaking the world’s record for highest jump to what one would do if a customer was overserved on a space balloon. Here’s a sample of what we discussed over the course of an hour. We also discuss: Spaceship Neptune’s interior and exterior design Ticket sales; pricing power; and supply and demand The in-cabin amenities and cuisine Recruiting and fundraising Voyager, Space Perspective’s new ship, and how the startup is thinking about spaceport strategy…plus a whole lot more. You won’t want to miss this wide-ranging conversation.*ABOUT US*Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand, and while we have designs on becoming the biggest space content company in the galaxy, for now, we publish: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, every Monday to Friday morning 2) Pathfinder, this podcast, on Tuesday mornings 3) ...and 💫Parallax!💫 on Thursday afternoons.Subscribe to our daily newsletter and find out more about Payload at www.payloadspace.com

Welcome to Pathfinder #0025, brought to you by Spaced Ventures, the planet’s first public space investment portal.Today, we’ll be talking about what in the world Amazon is up to in space, with someone who can speak to this probably better than almost anyone else on the planet. Clint Crosier served in the US Air Force and Space Force for 33 years, and helped stand up the latter branch. After retiring as a major general, Amazon recruited Clint to lead AWS’s Aerospace and Satellites division.AWS is short for Amazon Web Services, which you’ll hear a lot in this conversation. For the uninitiated, AWS is the world’s leading cloud computing vendor by market share and revenue. In the last calendar year, Amazon’s cloud unit made $62 billion, representing a 37% year over year increase over 2020. And it posted an $18 billion operating profit.AWS’s Aerospace & Satellites group announced today that it had achieved a first, by running artificial intelligence/machine learning algorithms on a real-life, orbiting satellite. Clint and Ryan unpack the announcement, and also discuss what his team’s building, who they’re working with, how cloud and space fit together, and a whole lot more.*CHAPTERS*0:00 - Intro 5:54 - Clint’s résumé and life before AWS 7:43 - 33 years of “flying satellites and launching rockets” … and the highlight of his career: standing up the US Space Force13:10 - After leaving the military, career space folks were asking Clint: “Why are you at AWS and what are you trying to accomplish over there?” … and his “light bulb” moment16:07 - Why is AWS getting into the space industry? … and why cloud penetration within the space industry still in the early innings23:04 - “The AWS for space is AWS Space” 25:06 - As it sets up everything from ground segment services to geospatial analytics products, where has the learning curve been steepest for AWS Aerospace & Satellites? (plus…the tyranny of SWAP: size, weight, and power)27:55 - AWS’s compute + machine-learning experiment on orbit29:10 - Bringing cloud capabilities to solve real-world space data relay challenges for NASA36:45 - Processing data on Earth vs processing data in-orbit41:01 - Cloud and lunar colonization?44:06 - Case studies: "When I was a young captain flying communications satellites, we would have 20 people on a particular shift flying eight satellites. Today, companies like Capella have two or three people operating 15 satellites.” Lunar Outpost did 100% of its design for a lunar mission using digital AWS tools, and LeoLabs uses the AWS cloud to run very sophisticated collision detection models 45:15 - SSA and why we need to understand where objects are and what they’re doing on orbit50:40- Clint’s career role model and his most contrarian view on the future of space*ABOUT US*Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 12,000+ decision-makers across commercial, civil, and military space. Payload began as a weekly newsletter sent to a handful of friends and colleagues. Today, we have three media properties and publish across multiple platforms. Our team is distributed across four time zones and two continents. We aim to inform but also educate and entertain, and we serve a highly concentrated audience of decision-makers in the commercial, civil, and military space sectors.And while we have designs on becoming the biggest space content company in the galaxy, for now, we publish:1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, every Monday to Friday morning2) Pathfinder, this podcast, on Tuesday mornings3) ...and 💫Parallax!💫 on Thursday afternoons. Parallax is our new weekly science newsletter for the space industry. Subscribe now so you can say you were early by signing up at parallax.beehiiv.comSubscribe to our daily newsletter and find out more about Payload at www.payloadspace.com

Today’s guest is Bill Perkins, a hedge fund manager, film producer, high-stakes poker player, and author of Die with Zero. If he wasn’t in those lines of work, Bill tells Ryan he’d be a farmer.More importantly for our purposes, Bill is the founder of SkyFi. The startup doesn’t fly its own satellites, and is instead tackling what it sees as a software problem.SkyFi is developing a clean, consumerized experience for buying satellite imagery through a web browser or smartphone app. Behind the scenes, SkyFi’s platform pulls from 70+ satellites and leverages partnerships with more than a dozen EO partners. The app is in beta, with a global launch slated for next year. The marketplace supports (or will support) high-res satellite imagery, night, hyperspectral, satellite video, SAR, and stereo. Prices start at $20 for an existing image and $175 for a new one.This convo was a fun one that you won’t want to miss. Just don’t listen to this episode at 2X speed.*CHAPTERS*(02:39) Bill voted early(05:17) Die with Zero(08:12) Life as an energy trader, what types of data funds are buying to gain an investing edge, and how it all ties into the origin story of SkyFi(15:02) Bill’s frustrations buying millions in satellite imagery—and the industry status quo in sales cycles, target customers, and user experience(30:36) Is SkyFi a consumer-focused venture? Who will use the product? Why would anyone use it?(33:20) Bringing on Luke Fischer and handing him the reins as CEO, raising venture money, and recruiting from non-traditional space backgrounds(45:30) The pitch to partners and how SkyFi signs on satellite operators(36:25) Putting satellite imagery, data, and analytics into the hands of the geniuses of the world will help us solve “intractable problems,” like pollution, deforestation, and illegal fishing(50:04) Sci-fi, wakeboarding, aliens, and the answer to: “Why are you building an Android app?” (Editor’s note/trigger warning: Both Bill and Ryan use Androids.)*SHOW NOTES*SkyFi website: https://www.skyfi.com/Bill's Twitter: https://twitter.com/bp22SkyFi's socials: https://twitter.com/SkyfiApp | https://www.linkedin.com/company/skyfi-imaging/ | https://www.instagram.com/skyfi.app/Die With Zero: https://www.diewithzerobook.com/welcomeRyan's Twitter: https://twitter.com/RyandoofyPayload SkyFi coverage: https://payloadspace.com/exclusive-skyfi-raises-7-15m/ | https://payloadspace.com/skyfi-beta-app/Apply to be a SkyFi beta tester: https://r66ka677lo0.typeform.com/to/n1mWYCjZ*ABOUT PATHFINDER*Pathfinder is powered Payload, a modern space media brand. While we have designs on becoming the biggest space content company in the galaxy, for now, we publish:1) 🚀 Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, every Monday to Friday morning2) 🧑🏼‍🚀 Pathfinder, this podcast, on Tuesday mornings3) 🌌 ...and 💫Parallax!💫 on Thursday afternoons.Parallax is our new-ish weekly science newsletter for the space industry. Subscribe now so you can say you were early by signing up at parallax.beehiiv.comSubscribe to our daily newsletter and find out more about Payload at www.payloadspace.com