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Tampilkan postingan dengan label Conferences. Tampilkan semua postingan

Selasa, 16 Agustus 2011

Does your Mom Understand your Business Plan?

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Several months ago Jonathan Goff, CEO at Altius Space Machines, called me.  ASM was preparing for a business plan “sprint” to compete in the 2011 Heinlein Business Plan competition in Silicon Valley (hosted by the Space Frontier Foundation).  Could I help with the business stuff?

Jon had been pitching his new technology – “Sticky Boom” which is a really long tube with glue pads on the end of it.  Only the tube can be rolled in or out and the glue can be turned on or off via an electric current.  Altius knew Sticky Boom had space rendezvous and docking applications (think servicing satellite, grabbing lost wrenches during EVAs, etc.), but could we wrap a business around this cool technology?

Assisting on the Altius Business plan has been a big part of my life over the last few months which is my excuse for light blogging.  

I am pleased with the result (yes, we won the $25K grand prize).  Here is Jon Goff, Altius's CEO, pitching the plan (worth watching to get a better feel for what ASM is really trying to do as a company - about 6 minutes long).

Here are a few highlights the team at Altius and I kept discussing while developing this plan:
  • Is there a problem people will pay you to solve?  If not, you do not have a market.

  •  An attractive Market is even more valuable than an attractive technology.  New space technology is cool to us space nerds, but markets determine how valuable company technology really is.

  • Your customer is the organization that pays you – not necessarily the group that uses your product.

  • Once you have found a market, be cautious before competing head to head with incumbents (those competitors already selling to your market) – how do you take market share away at the edges without drawing an incumbent response – a disruptive strategy .

  • Management team – do you have the right team?  This is so important.  If you get the market and management right (and maybe a little traction), investors know that even if the product or technology changes over time, the company will have a good chance at success.  There is no substitute for the right market and the right team.

  • Money: how much do you need and how are you going to get it?  Banks probably won’t lend to you (at least not at first).  Investor money is an obvious choice but have you thought about govt contracting or strategic partnerships?

  • Few investors understand NewSpace (if you find one that does, keep him/her happy!).  The industry is small and in its infancy.  It is not right to expect Tech and Biotech investors to immediately understand: ISS regulations, LEO vs GEO, terminator tethers, plane changes, lagrange points, etc.  The question becomes how to present your idea in terms/images VC’s will understand while still being concise?  I recommend pitching your deck to your spouse or your mom.  If your Mom doesn’t understand your plan, VC’s won’t take the time to understand it either.  Simplify.  Simplify.  Simplify.

  • The “prize” in most public competitions is the publicity and connections made as a result of winning, not in a the few dollars at stake.  This is what the Google X-Prize teams are fighting over – the media rights!  To highlight the value of publicity, here are a few of the Altius Space Machines articles that have been written since winning the prize.  Ask yourself how long it would have taken to generate this media attention without the win?

List of articles:

  1. Aviation Week

  2. CNBC

  3. The Space Review

  4. Business News Daily

  5. Plus the sites that published the press release or the many posts by NewSpace blogs (thanks guys).

Business plans are like going to College – professors push you to do what you probably could not discipline yourself to do on your own.  This is why we have all-nighters finishing 20-page papers and cramming for tests.  On your own, you would just go to bed.

Business plans are great forcing functions and entrepreneurs learn a lot through the process.  I am glad I got to be apart this journey.

Here was some great advise we tried to follow when preparing the slide deck for the competition:

Pitching Hacks Preview
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Senin, 02 Mei 2011

Space Tourism Society’s +10, Turning a Family into an Industry

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On Thursday I attended Space Tourism Society +10 event in Los Angeles, CA. Dennis Tito, Space X, Virgin Galactic, 62 Mile Club and others spoke. This was less of a Commercial Space conference for those familiar with the feel of Space Access or Space Frontier Foundation’s NewSpace Conference. Instead this was more of a Dennis Tito-focused celebration of how far space tourism has come over the last ten years and what is to come in the next ten years.

What surprised me was the diverse audience at +10. I spoke with Alan Stern before the event.  He commented on the high percentage of new faces in attendance. During the pre-meal reception, I spoke with:
  • entertainment executives,
  • real estate investors,
  • lawyers, and
  • Virgin Galactic customers undergoing centrifuge training.

The event taking place in LA partially accounts for the diverse attendance list. But when John Spencer, event organizer, gets on the front page of the USA Today (above the fold) talking about Space Tourism, you know Times: they are a-changin. For those close to the New Space community, be ready for "the growing of the tent". For those new to Space Tourism, New Space, Commercial Space, etc. – welcome!

I expect over the next years, investor (and customer) interest in the sector will continue grow at the expense of that “family reunion” feeling we get at current new space gatherings. This is healthy: the family is growing into an industry. And it looks like an industry more and more each day. The Space Tourism Society’s +10 even is only the latest indication.

Senin, 14 Maret 2011

60 NanoSat Mission Ideas

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AxelSpace's WNIsat-1
The 2nd Nano Satellite Symposium is being held today at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Evidently the Tsunami has shortened the event from three days to one day. At the conference, AxelSpace and Symposium organizers announced sixty entries in a NanoSatellite Mission Idea contest.

Symposium organizers list the top 32 entries (and a mission abstract).  These top 32 entries come from 22 different countries signaling (or at least hinting at) strong international demand for a NanoSat launch capability.


The Top 32 Mission Concept Titles (listed with 10 Finalists on Top):

  1. Integrated Meteorological / Precise Positioning Mission Utilizing Nano-Satellite Constellation
  2. Distributed Multispectral Imaging System
  3. The Service for Individual to Meet Space; Future Space Funeral
  4. ExoplanetSat Constellation
  5. Northern Communication and GPS-based science Nanosatellite constellation mission
  6. Space Advertiser (S-VERTISE)
  7. Global ship monitoring using space-based AIS receivers
  8. Experiment of Tethered Nanosatellite Flying with Electrodynamic Tether
  9. Demonstration of Optical Stellar Interferometry with Near Earth Objects (NEO) using Laser Range Finder by a Nano-Satellite Constellation: A Cost-effective approach
  10. A Global Water Pollution Monitoring Satellite System (WAMS)
  11. Fire Alarm Constellation
  12. Medium/large vehicle tracking system
  13. Global water pollution monitoring using a nanosatellite constellation (WAPOSAT)
  14. Satellite Constellation for Monitoring of Chemical Composition of Earth Atmosphere
  15. Constellation of Atmospheric Density Research Experiments (CADRE)
  16. Building a long-distance power transmission system that uses magnetic resonance with nano-satellite
  17. EBELESAT 1
  18. Disaster Monitoring Constellation using Nanosatellites
  19. ELYSSAT A Nano Satellite for the desert remote-sensing
  20. Fire observing Nanosatellite Constellation
  21. Global orbital monitoring of nuclear facilities decommissioning - NUCLFADESAT
  22. MARINE LIFE MONITORING AND PRESENTATION
  23. Monitoring of on Earth Vegetation by Means of Spectral Analysis
  24. Nano SOS (Space Object Surveillance)
  25. NANOSATELLITE CONSTALATION
  26. ODEI –C24
  27. SPILL-SATCON, Satellite Constellation Mission Idea to Detect Oil Spills in Oceans
  28. Radio Telescope Nano-satellites
  29. Constelacion de Radio - Satelites
  30. Nanosatellite Constellation for Rural Telemedical Applications
  31. Silk Road Intellectual Transport System
  32. Stranded Traveler Tracking System