sourcery
@sourceryy
Investing + Tech → Newsletter/Podcast | Hosted by @mollysoshea
259 Following 21.7K Followers
Dylan Patel (@dylan522p) of @SemiAnalysis_ says open source is dying:
"There's multiple Chinese model labs who are telling all the inference guys, 'Our next model's not going to be open source. We're going to license it to you.'"
" Open is dying quickly, unfortunately."
Show more
"We have this saying that we stole from Ernest Rutherford.
He said, 'We have no money, so we have to think.'"
Rocket Lab CEO @Peter_J_Beck says their first suborbital rocket, Ātea-1, was built using scraps he found in a junkyard:
"We had a total capitalization of under NZ$100K, which was like $60K USD."
"On that rocket is Swagelok fittings that I’d salvaged from a junkyard. I could only afford the ferrules, not the cost of the fittings. So I would get the fitting from the junkyard and buy the $3.20 ferrules to put in it and recondition it into a fitting."
"It was seriously constrained stuff. But from that adversity comes good ideas."
Show more
BREAKING: Inside Rocket Lab ( $RKLB ) HQ
Tour in Long Beach, CA w/ Sir Peter Beck
FACTORY TOUR (Part II)
Rocket Lab reached space in 2009 on ~$60,000 in total capitalization, using fittings pulled out of a junkyard.
"From that adversity, comes good ideas"
Electron reached orbit in 2017 on <$100M w/ 80 people. Meanwhile, their nearest competitor, billionaire-founded Virgin Orbit, burned $1.2B & went bankrupt.
@RocketLab now runs 13 acres of factory across 9 locations, globally.
But before any of that, with dream of reaching space, @Peter_J_Beck applied to NASA:
"I was objectively too dumb & also a foreign national. So foreign national, no degree, it wasn't looking good."
NASA turned him down. He ended up launching their payloads instead, including CAPSTONE to the Moon, NASA's lunar pathfinder for Artemis, which operated out of the mission control room we walked through.
We cover:
› The $3.20 ferrules that got Rocket Lab to space
› Why $100M & 80 people beat $1.2B at Virgin Orbit
› Going public as a succession plan, not a financing event
› Why a reaction wheel is a moat
› The reality of buying companies
Plus: the 2001 lobby, his take on "number eight wire," the CAPSTONE spare that stayed home, 12-year missions that cannot fail, & where new space entrants actually die.
Check out the rest of the series:
› Part I: Full sit-down interview w/ Peter Beck
› Part II: Tour 01 - *This episode*
› Part III: Tour 02 - Engine Development Center (Friday)
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
(00:00) Touring inside Rocket Lab HQ
(01:44) The origin story
(05:45) What "Number Eight Wire" actually means
(07:14) Too much Capital can kill a startup
(09:03) Why Rocket Lab decided to go public
(10:45) From Rockets to an entire Space Ecosystem
(15:11) Where Escapade & CAPSTONE were flown
(16:44) Inside the satellite build floor
(17:15) In search for life on Venus
(18:08) Inside the Electric Propulsion Lab
(19:58) Inside the Thermal & Shock Testing Facility
(20:47) How big is this facility?
(21:45) Inside the NASA LOxSAT project
(23:06) Why so many Space startups fail
(24:00) Up Next: Inside the Engine Lab
Show more
Rocket Lab CEO @Peter_J_Beck shares the biggest reason why space companies fail:
"People don't build reliable stuff."
"It's easy to rush it and throw something on orbit, but the distance between putting something on orbit and putting something on orbit that can last 12 years or go to a planet—that gap is massive."
Show more
BREAKING: Inside Rocket Lab ( $RKLB ) HQ
Tour in Long Beach, CA w/ Sir Peter Beck
FACTORY TOUR (Part II)
Rocket Lab reached space in 2009 on ~$60,000 in total capitalization, using fittings pulled out of a junkyard.
"From that adversity, comes good ideas"
Electron reached orbit in 2017 on <$100M w/ 80 people. Meanwhile, their nearest competitor, billionaire-founded Virgin Orbit, burned $1.2B & went bankrupt.
@RocketLab now runs 13 acres of factory across 9 locations, globally.
But before any of that, with dream of reaching space, @Peter_J_Beck applied to NASA:
"I was objectively too dumb & also a foreign national. So foreign national, no degree, it wasn't looking good."
NASA turned him down. He ended up launching their payloads instead, including CAPSTONE to the Moon, NASA's lunar pathfinder for Artemis, which operated out of the mission control room we walked through.
We cover:
› The $3.20 ferrules that got Rocket Lab to space
› Why $100M & 80 people beat $1.2B at Virgin Orbit
› Going public as a succession plan, not a financing event
› Why a reaction wheel is a moat
› The reality of buying companies
Plus: the 2001 lobby, his take on "number eight wire," the CAPSTONE spare that stayed home, 12-year missions that cannot fail, & where new space entrants actually die.
Check out the rest of the series:
› Part I: Full sit-down interview w/ Peter Beck
› Part II: Tour 01 - *This episode*
› Part III: Tour 02 - Engine Development Center (Friday)
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
(00:00) Touring inside Rocket Lab HQ
(01:44) The origin story
(05:45) What "Number Eight Wire" actually means
(07:14) Too much Capital can kill a startup
(09:03) Why Rocket Lab decided to go public
(10:45) From Rockets to an entire Space Ecosystem
(15:11) Where Escapade & CAPSTONE were flown
(16:44) Inside the satellite build floor
(17:15) In search for life on Venus
(18:08) Inside the Electric Propulsion Lab
(19:58) Inside the Thermal & Shock Testing Facility
(20:47) How big is this facility?
(21:45) Inside the NASA LOxSAT project
(23:06) Why so many Space startups fail
(24:00) Up Next: Inside the Engine Lab
Show more
Rocket Lab CEO @Peter_J_Beck on why Virgin Orbit failed:
"The Electron rocket—under $100M & 80 people put the first rocket into orbit."
"At the time, our nearest competitor was Virgin Orbit, funded by Sir Richard Branson."
"In the end, Richard put $1.2B into that company before it went bankrupt with a handful of launches under their belt."
"If I look back and think of startups I've seen or been involved with, the ones that have failed most spectacularly were the ones that have been funded the most significantly."
Show more
We've never done a factory tour like this before.
SPB and @MollySOShea part II.
Full interview:
Has been a great journey with @Peter_J_Beck
"We have this saying that we stole from Ernest Rutherford.
He said, 'We have no money, so we have to think.'"
Rocket Lab CEO @Peter_J_Beck says their first suborbital rocket, Ātea-1, was built using scraps he found in a junkyard:
"We had a total capitalization of under NZ$100K, which was like $60K USD."
"On that rocket is Swagelok fittings that I’d salvaged from a junkyard. I could only afford the ferrules, not the cost of the fittings. So I would get the fitting from the junkyard and buy the $3.20 ferrules to put in it and recondition it into a fitting."
"It was seriously constrained stuff. But from that adversity comes good ideas."
Show more
BREAKING: Inside Rocket Lab ( $RKLB ) HQ
Tour in Long Beach, CA w/ Sir Peter Beck
FACTORY TOUR (Part II)
Rocket Lab reached space in 2009 on ~$60,000 in total capitalization, using fittings pulled out of a junkyard.
"From that adversity, comes good ideas"
Electron reached orbit in 2017 on <$100M w/ 80 people. Meanwhile, their nearest competitor, billionaire-founded Virgin Orbit, burned $1.2B & went bankrupt.
@RocketLab now runs 13 acres of factory across 9 locations, globally.
But before any of that, with dream of reaching space, @Peter_J_Beck applied to NASA:
"I was objectively too dumb & also a foreign national. So foreign national, no degree, it wasn't looking good."
NASA turned him down. He ended up launching their payloads instead, including CAPSTONE to the Moon, NASA's lunar pathfinder for Artemis, which operated out of the mission control room we walked through.
We cover:
› The $3.20 ferrules that got Rocket Lab to space
› Why $100M & 80 people beat $1.2B at Virgin Orbit
› Going public as a succession plan, not a financing event
› Why a reaction wheel is a moat
› The reality of buying companies
Plus: the 2001 lobby, his take on "number eight wire," the CAPSTONE spare that stayed home, 12-year missions that cannot fail, & where new space entrants actually die.
Check out the rest of the series:
› Part I: Full sit-down interview w/ Peter Beck
› Part II: Tour 01 - *This episode*
› Part III: Tour 02 - Engine Development Center (Friday)
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
(00:00) Touring inside Rocket Lab HQ
(01:44) The origin story
(05:45) What "Number Eight Wire" actually means
(07:14) Too much Capital can kill a startup
(09:03) Why Rocket Lab decided to go public
(10:45) From Rockets to an entire Space Ecosystem
(15:11) Where Escapade & CAPSTONE were flown
(16:44) Inside the satellite build floor
(17:15) In search for life on Venus
(18:08) Inside the Electric Propulsion Lab
(19:58) Inside the Thermal & Shock Testing Facility
(20:47) How big is this facility?
(21:45) Inside the NASA LOxSAT project
(23:06) Why so many Space startups fail
(24:00) Up Next: Inside the Engine Lab
Show more
.@Peter_J_Beck hates being called a "number 8 wire" person:
"In New Zealand, it means to bodge stuff together. And I'm the opposite of a bodge stuff together kind of guy."
"But its subvertable meaning is more 'making do with not much.' Which I think is technically accurate."
Show more
'You can do whatever you want, but have the most amount of impact with your life possible.'
Rocket Lab CEO @Peter_J_Beck shares the biggest reason why space companies fail:
"People don't build reliable stuff."
"It's easy to rush it and throw something on orbit, but the distance between putting something on orbit and putting something on orbit that can last 12 years or go to a planet—that gap is massive."
Show more
BREAKING: Inside Rocket Lab ( $RKLB ) HQ
Tour in Long Beach, CA w/ Sir Peter Beck
FACTORY TOUR (Part II)
Rocket Lab reached space in 2009 on ~$60,000 in total capitalization, using fittings pulled out of a junkyard.
"From that adversity, comes good ideas"
Electron reached orbit in 2017 on <$100M w/ 80 people. Meanwhile, their nearest competitor, billionaire-founded Virgin Orbit, burned $1.2B & went bankrupt.
@RocketLab now runs 13 acres of factory across 9 locations, globally.
But before any of that, with dream of reaching space, @Peter_J_Beck applied to NASA:
"I was objectively too dumb & also a foreign national. So foreign national, no degree, it wasn't looking good."
NASA turned him down. He ended up launching their payloads instead, including CAPSTONE to the Moon, NASA's lunar pathfinder for Artemis, which operated out of the mission control room we walked through.
We cover:
› The $3.20 ferrules that got Rocket Lab to space
› Why $100M & 80 people beat $1.2B at Virgin Orbit
› Going public as a succession plan, not a financing event
› Why a reaction wheel is a moat
› The reality of buying companies
Plus: the 2001 lobby, his take on "number eight wire," the CAPSTONE spare that stayed home, 12-year missions that cannot fail, & where new space entrants actually die.
Check out the rest of the series:
› Part I: Full sit-down interview w/ Peter Beck
› Part II: Tour 01 - *This episode*
› Part III: Tour 02 - Engine Development Center (Friday)
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
(00:00) Touring inside Rocket Lab HQ
(01:44) The origin story
(05:45) What "Number Eight Wire" actually means
(07:14) Too much Capital can kill a startup
(09:03) Why Rocket Lab decided to go public
(10:45) From Rockets to an entire Space Ecosystem
(15:11) Where Escapade & CAPSTONE were flown
(16:44) Inside the satellite build floor
(17:15) In search for life on Venus
(18:08) Inside the Electric Propulsion Lab
(19:58) Inside the Thermal & Shock Testing Facility
(20:47) How big is this facility?
(21:45) Inside the NASA LOxSAT project
(23:06) Why so many Space startups fail
(24:00) Up Next: Inside the Engine Lab
Show more
There's only been one knight to reach orbit.
Rocket Lab CEO Sir @Peter_J_Beck on becoming a knight:
"It was very weird."
" I just like to build rockets."
"But it's great for restaurant reservations."
Show more
Dylan Patel (@dylan522p) of @SemiAnalysis_ reveals his favorite hot chip:
"I've been a real big fan of the Takis Blue Heat."
"It's quite spicy. Limey. It's good."
"Chips in Europe have less seasoning than chips in America and Mexico."
"More MSG, please."
Show more
Rocket Lab CEO @Peter_J_Beck reveals how a "stupid" constraint led to Neutron’s unique Hungry Hippo fairing:
"I made a constraint at the very early part of the program. I said, 'We need to be able to turn this vehicle in 24 hours,' which I'll admit, it was a stupid constraint."
"But what that constraint did is it drove a whole bunch of really important design decisions. The Hungry Hippo fairing came out of that because it's like—you've got 24 hours to fish a fairing out of the ocean, recondition it, blow all the salt water out, and get it back on a rocket. That's not going to work."
"That one requirement drove the design for the Hungry Hippo fairing, so we never throw away a fairing."
"Sometimes you've got to be cruel to be nice. That was an example where we put this unrealistic constraint on the team, but it drove a whole lot of goodness everywhere throughout the vehicle."
Show more
Is launch the only moat for a rocket company?
Rocket Lab & SpaceX both revealed that once you master launch, that’s just the start.
For global domination, Rocket Lab multiplied their business by also manufacturing components for the entire industry..
"People focus on the rocket because it's the big firework in the sky & everyone gets emotional, & it's very cool. It's hard to get emotional about a reaction wheel, or a star tracker, or a little component that goes into a spacecraft."
"The reality is, launch is a huge moat. But all of these spacecraft components are huge moats as well."
"It doesn't matter how much capital you've got, if you turn up tomorrow & say, 'I want to build 1,000 satellites,' good luck. It's just not happening."
"We saw that to get to this end-to-end space company, we needed to own all the components that go into the spacecraft so we could literally build any spacecraft we want."
@Peter_J_Beck
Show more
In 2021, Rocket Lab went public & acquired 3 companies.
"I don't recommend that. That is really painful."
@Peter_J_Beck says acquiring companies is like buying a car off a used car lot:
"They're going to hate me for this analogy."
"You look at the nice polished car, & it all looks great, & it's all shiny. It's not until the drive home that you realize the visor's squeaking, the wheel's rumbling, & all of the things that just aren't quite right."
Show more
$RKLB Molly doing the tour of RL.
Don’t miss out on the second part.
Really cool that @Peter_J_Beck sat down with @MollySOShea! So bullish on $RKLB it hurts!
$RKLB
Factory tour.
Rocket Lab CEO @Peter_J_Beck on why Virgin Orbit failed:
"The Electron rocket—under $100M & 80 people put the first rocket into orbit."
"At the time, our nearest competitor was Virgin Orbit, funded by Sir Richard Branson."
"In the end, Richard put $1.2B into that company before it went bankrupt with a handful of launches under their belt."
"If I look back and think of startups I've seen or been involved with, the ones that have failed most spectacularly were the ones that have been funded the most significantly."
Show more
"Your Tinder date knows where to turn up because your GPS got them there."
Rocket Lab CEO @Peter_J_Beck on how space infrastructure impacts life on Earth:
"It's kind of ridiculous that you can put a little box of electronics up in the sky and really have so much impact to everybody down on Earth."
"At the end of the day, that's probably what gets me out of bed the most. The only thing my parents said growing up is, 'You can do whatever you want, but have the most amount of impact with your life possible.' So that's how I feel like I can deliver on that."
Show more
