Present: Investor at @mfvpartners (early-stage deep tech). Past: @DormRoomFund, @mattfellowship, and a few dozen satellites. Personal account.
Silicon Valley
Joined September 2015
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This week on Molding Moonshots, I share my perspectives on the @FermiExplorer program to explore another solar system.
Check it out!
Link in the first reply.
Aaron Pickard retweeted
glorifying long hours like this is dangerous. everywhere i’ve been, we’ve rightfully had hard restrictions on what you were allowed to do based on your shift length
you’re allowed nowhere near a mill or welder after hour sixteen on your shift
Aaron Pickard retweeted
This is the central dogma of the space industry, accepted uncritically by almost everyone until they pick up the phone to get a quote from a launch provider. A better request would be to start a company that lowers launch prices, which are going up @garrytan
Starship isn’t interesting as a VC because of its upmass to LEO.
It’s interesting because of how it affects flights to other destinations!
linkedin.com/pulse/promise-s…
Aaron Pickard retweeted
If you’re pitching a space tech startup don’t use AI to make your videos, the space nerds will be suspicious.
Make your videos using Kerbal Space Program and they’ll know you at least did simulated engineering.
Aaron Pickard retweeted
$2M seed at 20% dilution
means every $100k you burn on stuff that doesnt move revenue costs you 1% of your company
founders would think about spend WAY differently if they did that math out loud
Aaron Pickard retweeted
Sometimes you read news and it's like, yeah @NotCaptPicard has cooked.
spacenews.com/former-tesla-e…
This is true in aerospace.
It's also true in VC (in different locations).
I think it's true throughout the private sector--and in a big part of the public sector as well.
The best way to experience exceptional career growth is to work where the innovation is happening!
Aaron Pickard retweeted
The most important lesson I learned working at a rocket startup was the importance of revenue. Sometimes venture funding flows easily but winter is always coming. Generational companies need 20+ years of steady execution, and getting to default alive asap is critical
Aaron Pickard retweeted
Fun detail in the Space Force's first picks for its wartime satellite-tracking reserve: two of the six companies aren't American.
Interesting because the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR) is modeled on the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, which only takes US airlines.
The first operational cohort includes @anduriltech, @Intrack, @sling_shot_aero, @LeoLabs_Space, Australia's @aussie_eos & Canada's @NorthStarEandS.
From @USSF_SSC: ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/…
Aaron Pickard retweeted
Founders beware: the rise of strategic corporate investors in hard tech deserves a hell of a lot more scrutiny. Founders get stoked when a Fortune 500 wants on the cap table. But whose interests are actually being served? They may also be your customer, competitor or eventual acquirer. Suddenly navigating conflicts around IP, commercial exclusivity, information rights and acquisition optionality. Strategic capital isn’t inherently smart capital, rather a cheap option on company’s future purchased by an incumbent with a very different agenda.