How We Hatched: Lisa Rich, Founder & COO of Xplore

Welcome to “How We Hatched". In this episode, you’ll hear from Lisa Rich, Founder and COO of space startup Xplore. Get ready to learn all about what it takes for a startup to make it in the industry… and how you could join!

Lisa shares about:

• The story behind Xplore’s founding.
• Navigating funding (including government contracts and pitching to VCs)
• The challenges of starting a new business and ways to overcome
• Industry trends (diversity, the demand for talent, and more!)

About today’s guest: Lisa Rich is a successful serial entrepreneur, investor, strategist and communicator and thought-leader who entered the space industry in 2014 to accelerate sustainable, strategy-driven businesses that positively impact the environment, STEM education, national security, and advance the $1T space economy. She is Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Xplore, a commercial space services company using its high-capability multi-sensor platform to store and transmit data, achieve data fusion, on orbit processing and edge compute and is also a top venture-backed dual use company on Silicon Valley Defense Group’s NatSec100 list. Ms. Rich is also Founder of Hemisphere Ventures, a top early stage space sector VC that has invested in 37 outstanding commercial space companies including Axiom Space, Umbra and Lynk. She frequently presents at space and technology conferences, engages Fortune 500 companies in think tank conversations on space strategy and the landscape for space investment with institutional investors and wealth management firms. In 2022, Ms. Rich was nominated to the National Space Council User Advisory Group led by Vice President Kamala Harris, and was listed as the Top 12 Connectivity Execs To Watch. She played a pivotal role in establishing the Redmond Space District in Washington State, recently submitted to the Congressional Record (H. Res. 646) by Rep Suzan DelBene. Her media appearances include Bloomberg and CNBC. Dedication to the space industry is evidenced by relationships she has built with members of the House and Senate, U.S. Commerce Department, U.S. State Department, AFWERX, OMB, National Space Council and customers at the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, DIU, NRO, NSIC, NGA and NASA.

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Welcome to The Pair Program from hatchpad, the podcast that gives you

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a front row seat to candid conversations

with tech leaders from the startup world.

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I'm your host, Tim Winkler,

the creator of hatchpad.

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And I'm your other host, Mike Gruen.

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Join us each episode as we bring

together two guests to dissect topics

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at the intersection of technology,

startups, and career growth.

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All

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right, let's jump in.

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Lisa, thank you for joining

us on The Pair Program.

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Uh, this is another bonus episode of a

miniseries that we call How We Hatched.

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Uh, and today we've got Lisa

Rich spending time with us.

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Lisa is the founder of Xplore, a

commercial space exploration company

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doing some very cool things with

satellites and edge computing.

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Um, we're going to approach this episode

a little bit different, uh, than some

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of our past, how we hatched episodes.

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We're not going to be spending as much

time talking about your entrepreneurial

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journey, but instead, uh, we're going

to be focusing our discussion more

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around, you know, what it takes to

build a successful space company.

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Um, and, and the timing for this

chat couldn't be better, given we've

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been recently hosting some fantastic

entrepreneurs from innovative space

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and satellite companies on the pod.

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Uh, but just in general, you know,

the space tech industry is super

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hot right now, there's a ton of, uh,

modern advancement that's happening.

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And so I'm very excited to dive

into this discussion with you.

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So again, thank you for

graciously sharing your time with

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Lisa Rich: us.

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Thanks, Tim.

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It's great to be here.

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Tim Winkler: Awesome.

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Well, let's jump in.

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Um, I do still want to give our listeners

just a little bit of context on your

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journey into the space industry.

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So we could maybe just start there.

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You know, what was it that inspired

you to enter the space industry and

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how did that lead to you founding

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Lisa Rich: explore?

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Yeah, well, first got involved in

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understanding that at that time, there

was a transition occurring where the

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government was not just buying hardware,

but talking about buying services.

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And as we look at the space as an

opportunity for investment, I was an

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investor at that time, um, looking at.

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Opportunities that were, you know,

for exponential growth, because in the

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startup world, uh, the odds are pretty

low that you find great companies that

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are going to have, um, be the billion

dollar opportunities for investment.

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And so I was looking at.

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The, the venture environment and seeing

new companies popping up that were

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synergistic in terms of this combination

of software capabilities, mixing with

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hardware capabilities, and that if you

could merge software and hardware, uh,

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there were platform opportunities and

that that spoke to a services industry

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versus, uh, A buying of hardware industry,

um, which is what most venture folks

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did in the past as they were investing

in hardware, or we saw the government

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making investments in hardware, but

saying that they wanted to have services.

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So, there seemed to be a trend there

and a pattern forming it was signal of.

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Government shifting to commercial

services, and we saw that happening in

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the space industry, but how were space

companies going to respond to that?

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When traditionally, every space company

was designed around the hardware.

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And the founding teams were designed

to build great missions, like, for

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example, for NASA that are very large

missions with exquisite capabilities.

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But how could you look at space in

a new way to see it scaling where

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you didn't have to be a billionaire

anymore to run a space company.

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You could have a technology that is scaled

that's lower cost, higher capability.

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And maybe instead of selling that

hardware, you could be selling

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those services and those services

would be valuable to the government.

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Yeah,

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Tim Winkler: so it's, it's also clear

that, you know, you, you all are, um,

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uh, doing a number of like data as a

service, uh, and explore, I'd love to

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just kind of real quickly unveil, you

know, a little bit more about what

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it is that you're doing at explore.

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And then we can pivot more into, you

know, what it takes to be successful when

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building this kind of a space company.

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Lisa Rich: Yeah, well, the idea

behind Explore is that we have

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not, uh, uh, a satellite that is

a specific single purpose with a

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single sensor and a single customer.

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It's a satellite that's a platform

of instruments and that platform

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of instruments each have valuable

data that we bring down from space.

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And that that data is of interest

to any type of a customer.

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And can have a global impact because the

different stakeholders that would want

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this data come from the commercial sector.

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They come from the government

sector, governments themselves

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might be interested in this data.

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Um, we have the environmental, uh, and

climate customers that want the data

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science and research, uh, opportunities,

uh, would benefit from this.

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And educational, the educational

sector, even stem environments, uh,

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supporting stem, uh, can occur with this.

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So there's, there's really, um,

anyone that can benefit from earth

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observation data is going to be able

to access it at the lowest possible

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cost from our company in the future.

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And that's pretty disruptive.

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Tim Winkler: Yeah.

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A lot of use cases for sure.

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Um, and you know, as I mentioned, you

know, this is a, this is an area that,

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you know, we're seeing a ton of interest

from technologists wanting to get

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involved to new budding entrepreneurs

wanting to, to build something new.

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Um, but, uh, the reality is

that, you know, this isn't just

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something that happens overnight.

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Uh, it's very different than, you

know, just kind of whipping up a.

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A dating app or something along

those lines, no offense to those

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founders of Bumble or tender.

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But I would say that this is a very,

uh, different approach and process.

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And I'd love to hear it from you as a,

as an entrepreneur that's in this space.

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You know, what, what are some of these

things that you would say, um, are some

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of those challenges that you're going

to be facing in these earlier stages?

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And, and, you know, how did you

specifically kind of look to

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overcome some of those challenges?

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Well, I

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Lisa Rich: think I'll start with

what was being done before, uh, you

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had CubeSats and companies building

CubeSats and putting those into space.

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Those typically don't have propulsion.

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They're kind of considered disposable

and maybe lasting 1 to 3 years.

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And then you have the primes building

out higher capability satellites that are

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very expensive and companies, startups,

even paying for, uh, satellites that

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are smaller, but built by the primes.

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And so when we looked at the

marketplace of acquiring a satellite

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to fly multiple instruments, there

wasn't a solution that existed.

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For a low cost, high capability satellite

that we could acquire from someone else.

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So we had to engineer it ourselves.

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So again, yeah, nothing happens overnight.

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You have to start with what

is the blueprint for a new,

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highly capable satellite?

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And can you engineer something?

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That's that's so highly

capable at a low cost.

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And so that journey started a few years

ago, and we're very excited to be at the

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point where we're, we're close to launch.

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Uh, and I'm sitting here in my office,

looking out at our clean room on the

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opposite side of the table at our X

craft satellite, uh, Being assembled.

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Um, so it's, it's really thrilling to

be at this moment in time where we're

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months away from, you know, a launch

and proving out that a company could

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engineer a satellite on their own.

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That is this next generation capability.

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In terms of how you build a business

that's resilient, um, and even how do

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you, how do you have it survive until you

launch and get to the point of revenue,

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that's a challenge that every founder has,

no matter what business you're running.

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And we've followed a path that is

similar to many other space companies

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or tech companies where we've sought

out, uh, Government contracts and been

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very successful at that with contracts.

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We've successfully secured

from customers like NASA.

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Noah DARPA, um, D.

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I.

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U.

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which was a significant contract.

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We won where the defense

innovation unit in.

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Concert with the national security

innovation capital group, um, basically

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paid for the hardware for the X craft.

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Um, this was quite exciting.

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We want to be sort of their poster

child, if you will, to prove out that

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they made a great choice and in backing

us, they had only a 15 million budget

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and looked for dual use capabilities.

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That they could accelerate to counter

the supply chain issues that arose

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due to covet and other issues we

were experiencing at the time.

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And so, to advance our dual use

capability and get the X craft

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built, the idea was, let's.

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Let's help explore become first in

line for buying those components

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to to then, uh, build the X craft.

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So, uh, out of the 15Million

dollar budget, uh, we were

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awarded 2Million dollars.

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Um, there were only 4 companies

that won the award at that

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time out of 400 applicants.

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So we were.

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Really honored to have them as a partner

and to be a winner and they've continued

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to support us over the years as we've

developed and and built out our plan

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and and purchases of all our components.

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I also, I should mention that what was

truly phenomenal in terms of execution

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with the government customer is that,

uh, we were awarded the contract.

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And the contract itself was executed.

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About 21 days after the award, so just

kind of imagine government showing

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that with a simple contract structure.

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That you could issue an award

and executed in 21 days.

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It was really something that we,

we said this was the government

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showing us that they could move at

the pace of commercial business.

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So that was.

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Quite a quite a thrill.

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Um, so D.

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I.

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U.

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is a really important contract for us.

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They're a great customer.

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But, uh, other government contracts that

are foundational for our company include

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our recent award from the National

Reconnaissance Office, which, um.

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Previously had electro optical awards

that were won by companies doing optical

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observation, like a planet or black sky.

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And those awards for those companies were,

uh, matured to a point where they secured.

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30 to 100Million dollars a year in

purchases for their optical data.

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And so we pursued an NRO award

for the hyperspectral imagery.

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We will bring back from our

satellite and we won that.

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So we're quite excited, uh,

thinking that the national

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presence office is going to be a.

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A great customer and buyer in the

future when we fly, but, uh, explore

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is, as I mentioned, um, bringing

data back for any type of a customer.

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And that's part of our de risked

model is that we can have government

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customers, but we expect the majority

of our buyers to be commercial.

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Companies, so the more you can do

to have a diversified customer base

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and diversified streams of revenue.

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I think the more the

resilient your company can be

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regardless of what it's doing.

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Tim Winkler: Yeah.

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And I, and that leads me to my next

point, which is, uh, centered more

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around the investment on funding, right.

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Uh, you know, when you're talking

to investors, um, are they probing

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for this dual use, uh, opportunity?

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Um, they're, they're looking for,

you know, outlets that, you know,

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you're not just, you know, siloed

into one side or the other, but the,

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this is a much more appealing way.

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And, and I'd imagine, you know,

uh, encourages more of a, you

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know, uh, writing of a check.

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Um, I guess, All in, uh, you know,

what are some of those challenges of,

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of pitching to, to, to VCs, you know,

when you're, you're building the, uh,

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you know, an early stage space company,

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Lisa Rich: we have, uh,

had dual use investors.

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Those are typically investors that

understand, uh, a government contract is,

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I like to say, uh, Uh, good, like having

a good housekeeping seal of approval, uh,

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because your technology and capabilities

have been vetted by the expertise of our,

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our government customers and that's a

feather in your cap, but, uh, dual use.

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Funds are coming online, uh, being

supported by the office of strategic

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capital in the months ahead.

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We have a program where the OSC is

actually matching funds for, um.

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The ability to, to advance and,

and have more capital available,

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um, for these larger funds that

will make dual use investments.

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So explore is listed on the Silicon

Valley defense groups, Nat sec, 100 list.

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So national security, 100 lips.

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List, and this is a list showing

the top 100 venture backed dual

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use companies, uh, that they've

selected as, you know, top tier.

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Which is really exciting, because I think

by having the Silicon Valley Defense

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Group identifying, uh, these dual use

companies that, um, with their expertise,

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they've vetted, that's a great list

for funders to be looking at to say, I

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probably want to be investing in a company

that's on that list because they're.

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Recipients of federal contracts,

government contracts that could

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grow and that's always good

to know that maybe there's.

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Already an existing customer there,

if they're not like, explore and

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already establishing a commercial.

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Base of customers in the future.

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Tim Winkler: Sure.

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So I'm always curious when, um, you

know, building a company, um, you know,

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when you built out a, maybe like a, a

sales team or folks that are going to

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be helping you really navigate those

federal waters where that were those

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things that you came in to explore with

a little bit of a background in, or

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did you strategically hire somebody?

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That you knew could kind of navigate

the bureaucracy and, uh, how to, how to

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get in touch with the folks that were,

you know, uh, making buying decisions.

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Lisa Rich: It's a great question because

the navigating of the government customer

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field is, is it's a minefield, right?

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Uh, there's so much to learn and,

and so much time really that's

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required to get to know different

government customers and to know.

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Which ones are likely

the buyers of your data?

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Um, it's taken years, I would

say to be building relationships

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with different agencies.

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And that comes from a lot

of groundwork, uh, right.

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Being at events, being at

conferences, and then as well, having

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external experts that you hire to.

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Make introductions and

search for opportunities.

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There are a number of organizations that

help, um, match a company's capabilities

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with contracting opportunities.

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And certainly an early stage

company has to, uh, allocate

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budget for that, for those types

of, um, consultants and advisors.

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Uh, and sometimes they pay off and a lot

of times they don't, uh, but it's money

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that you, you put into the effort, uh,

and maybe over time, whether a contract is

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one or not, you've built a relationship.

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So, for example, in with our

company, we have a future opportunity

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to go to this lunar space.

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Our initial flights are

for earth observation.

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But we built a satellite that

can go to cislunar space.

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Well, this is of interest to our

Space Force, our Air Force customers.

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But we think that once, once we

establish the capability and they've

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seen it fly and they see what it can

do, then they're going to say, okay,

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now it's time for us to work with you

on a CisLunar effort, for example.

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Tim Winkler: Build that

past performance up.

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That's a big, big thing in the government

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Lisa Rich: space.

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Um, they really have great people.

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So knowledgeable.

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Um, and Uh, working on these, what they

call the transport layers and the, the

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hybrid architecture, there's all this

government speak that you can can learn

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about, but, uh, really, it's, it's

strengthening the resiliency of and

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having a sustainable capability for.

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Uh, all United States space

companies, how can we work in concert?

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How can we work together to,

to have, um, to be stronger?

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It's pretty simple.

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Yeah.

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Tim Winkler: You know, just kind of, um,

circling back to, you know, this kind of

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playbook for entrepreneurs that might be

looking to build, uh, a space company,

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a space tech startup, um, It's tough to

boil this down to three things, but, you

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know, um, what would you say are three,

you know, crucial pieces of advice that

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you would, you would give somebody that's

really trying to jump off the deep end

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into, into this world of, of, uh, of

a space company, of a space startup.

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I think

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Lisa Rich: the, the idea

of having a business is.

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Exciting to a lot of people, but the

execution side of it is the hardest

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part and what are you executing on?

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Um, the business model, uh, and time

spent on what is your business model?

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How do you get to a profit?

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How quickly can you get to a profit

is lost on a lot of people because

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they maybe are in love with the

new technology they want to build.

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They're in love with the idea of

tinkering and building something

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new, and that's all great.

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That's that's wonderful.

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However, you must have it supported

by a very solid business model

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that if you can't plot it out on

paper, how you get to profitability

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in the shortest period of time.

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It's it's high risk.

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So the goal is to constantly

be de risking, uh, the business

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because you can't rely on any one

thing to get you to the finish

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line, to get you to profitability.

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Tim Winkler: Yeah, that's sound advice.

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Um, I feel like in startup world to,

um, you know, the, the, uh, kind of

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reference, like just building apps, you

know, I think that's a very different

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ecosystem than what we're talking about.

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If there's.

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You know, the combination of hardware and

software, you know, looking at much larger

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raises that are needed, uh, much longer

timelines and, um, being comfortable

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with that, uh, extended timeline,

extended runway of becoming profitable.

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It's very different than, you know,

building that quick hitting app

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that you're just trying to get.

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Subscribers,

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Lisa Rich: the venture world, um,

investors are looking for, uh, these

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time horizons of getting their return

on investment in seven to 10 years.

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And you have to have a business

that is not going to have this be

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fraught with risk along the way.

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Um, because they're not just

going to keep putting more and

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more money into the business.

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You have no guarantee of that.

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So you have to think about, um,

these creative ways of getting

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to some new form of revenue.

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Earlier on, and that may not be the

main business, but it can't also be

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a distraction from the main business.

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So, um, there are ways to do it.

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Um, every government contract my

company has pursued has aligned

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with our, our long term strategy.

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That's hard to do, but you don't

just pursue contracts for the sake of

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maybe I'll get money here or there.

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It has to make sense on the continuum

of where is your company going in the

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next few years and does this align?

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Yeah.

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Tim Winkler: I want to talk

briefly about, um, Diversity in

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the, in the industry as well.

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Um, you know, you're a successful

woman in a, we consider maybe a

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traditional kind of male heavy sector.

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Um, how has that seen changing or what

would you say the industry can do to

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maybe encourage more women to take up.

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You know, leadership roles

in space and tech ventures.

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It's such

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Lisa Rich: a challenge, really.

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Um, we need, uh, we have a workforce

issue in the space industry because we

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don't have enough, uh, talent coming

out of university to support the

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jobs and the roles that exist across

the space sector, whether you're.

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A young man or a woman, um, and so

we have a gap in our education system

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that we need to be graduating more

of more students from stem careers.

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So, when you're then at the point

where you're hiring, and you're

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looking for, not just students that

are out of school, but, um, maybe.

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With 10 years plus experience, then how do

you find, uh, women that are qualified and

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men that are qualified and in an industry

where the talent is a finite pool.

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And so what, so you effectively have

space companies with people that

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have jobs at those companies, and you

don't necessarily have a lot of people

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outside of the space industry that

you can draw from for new positions.

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So, with our company Explorer,

we're looking for talent and.

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I would love to attract more women to the

roles that we have to fill in engineering.

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Um, and hopefully women would

understand that we're an early

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stage venture back company.

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And in that regard,

there's an opportunity for.

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Um, equity for options, uh, that you

would not have if you were going to

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work at a prime, for example, um,

the benefits are very different.

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So if you start to learn, I would

encourage young women engineers

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out there listening to learn

about the venture opportunity to

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understand how that can compare.

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To a job where you could work at a big

prime or a big company, like an Amazon

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or Microsoft or that type of thing.

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Um, it's a very different.

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Uh, to be at a startup and so.

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I wish there was more education out

there about the venture opportunity

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and the startup environment.

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To attract more women to it, because, um,

I think if they understood, uh, more women

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understood the, the upside, uh, they might

be more attracted to, uh, being at venture

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backed startups versus applying to.

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Uh, work at a large prime, like a

Lockheed or a Boeing or something

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Tim Winkler: like that.

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Yeah, I think that with the wave of,

of tech startups that are playing in

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this space, um, both satellite and

space companies, uh, I think it will

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open up a lot more doors where folks

maybe thought that the space industry

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was almost untouchable or, you know,

it was going to be a, a much longer

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journey to get into, to break in.

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Um, I think that's, what's great about

startups is it, it does create a window

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for folks that maybe, uh, don't have

the extensive tenure, um, but they

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are able to, to build on that, you

know, in a, in a real world setting.

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Um, and it's, you know,

it's on those founders to.

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So, you know, they take a little

bit of a chance on, on folks as

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well with the intent that they

groom them and build them up.

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But I have, I've been, uh, seeing

a lot more of these kinds of career

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fairs where it's really catering to

space and satellite tech companies.

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Um, that are really looking to hire

because there is a, there is a gap out

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there, uh, from a talent marketplace.

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So,

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Lisa Rich: um, really, um, they've

got founders, uh, myself and my

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business partner, our CEO, uh,

have built businesses throughout

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the course of our career.

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We are investors in 37

commercial space companies.

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We built Hemisphere Ventures, which

is one of the top VC firms in the

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space sector and top in deep tech.

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Um, we were out also, by the way,

listed on the national security 100

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list right behind, uh, In Q Tel as the.

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Most prolific investor in the

top tier dual use companies.

399

And just this week, uh, our investment in

Axiom space, we were the first investors

400

in Axiom, they just closed their series

C round of 350 million and sent their.

401

Second, a group of astronauts to the ISS,

uh, this year, so that company began with

402

our being the first investor with four

people and our understanding that this

403

could be a multi billion dollar company.

404

Um, all this to say that just as founders

of a startup, uh, I understand the

405

investment environment, uh, very well.

406

And as a result, have built hemisphere

ventures in 5 years to have, uh,

407

multiple return for investors, uh.

408

By making great investments in companies

and understanding what great business

409

models are, and then putting a great

business model in place ourselves that

410

we expect to bring through to fruition,

um, and produce great revenues and

411

returns for our investors and our

412

Tim Winkler: employees.

413

That's really impressive.

414

That's impressive.

415

Um.

416

I want to kind of close on, um, another

little area here, which I think is

417

something that's top of mind for a

lot of folks that are coming into the

418

space, which is kind of like ethics

and in space, uh, and and with the, you

419

know, the commercialization of space,

there's You know, it's a responsibility

420

for these different companies to kind

of play, you know, play nice up there.

421

Um, so how, how does Explore kind

of approach space ethics and I guess

422

any thoughts on, on that at large?

423

Are

424

Lisa Rich: you talking about

space as it relates to responsible

425

operation of your satellite?

426

Exactly.

427

Yeah.

428

Well, all satellites have, um,

uh, have to file their, their...

429

How they operate is already like approved

by like the licenses that you have.

430

So we're fully licensed, um, for the

missions that we're going to fly.

431

Tim Winkler: Yeah.

432

I didn't know if there was just a general

thought or, you know, during, you know,

433

throughout some of the conversations

or conferences that you attend, if

434

there's Big things in space ethics that,

that are popping up, uh, just because

435

it's a fast moving arena and a lot

of new companies are coming into it.

436

A lot more satellites are getting sent up.

437

So I didn't know if there were things

kind of color top of mind in that regard.

438

Lisa Rich: International issues that I

think are too big for this conversation.

439

Probably

440

Tim Winkler: sure.

441

Sure.

442

Yeah.

443

Well, let's, let's, let's move on.

444

Um, uh, I did want to kind of just close

the main discussion before we transition

445

into the five second scramble with.

446

Um, it's just a sneak peek into the

future for explore some of those

447

exciting projects or collaborations

that are on the horizon, I guess, what

448

you're able to share with our audience,

some of those things that folks can

449

be excited about going into 2024.

450

Yeah,

451

Lisa Rich: well, we have, um, already

established a great rapport with a slew of

452

customers that want to buy the capacity.

453

Of data on our satellites, and so

can't wait to to deliver, uh, to

454

those customers, but those customers

include international interest and.

455

Partnerships were

forming with governments.

456

That are small nations, for example,

that a small government that could

457

be getting data back from the X

craft and allowing them to monitor.

458

Their land, the oceans, um, the,

uh, assets that they have and

459

so it's been really a humbling

to meet, uh, constituents

460

around the world that want to.

461

Be working with Explorer once

we fly, you know, we're an early

462

stage company and yet we have the

ear of very important governments.

463

And, um, I just can't wait to

see what the future holds there.

464

And we want to be able

to provide services and.

465

Valuable data to all of them, uh,

because we think that, uh, what we're,

466

what we're building, uh, with data from

video instruments from hyperspectral,

467

uh, IR spectrometry, uh, allowing us to

measure greenhouse gases, um, et cetera

468

in our sensor suite is all going to

be, uh, something that customers want.

469

And they need to start thinking

today about their space strategy.

470

Uh, this is something I, I love to harp

on it at events is to say, if you're

471

not thinking about transformative

data, that will come that will be

472

available and accessible to you.

473

In the next year, if you're not

prepared for this, and you don't have

474

a space strategy, aren't you similarly

in the same boat as the person at

475

the dawn of the Internet that didn't

think the Internet was a thing.

476

And were you left behind because our data

will be valuable to commercial companies,

477

insurance companies, financial firms, um,

you know, environmental and climate change

478

monitoring people, the list is endless.

479

And this is why we built the company is,

could we have something that we could

480

build that we would have, you know.

481

Interesting projects for the

next 10 years at minimum by

482

the work we can do it explore.

483

And I think that answer is yes.

484

That's awesome.

485

Tim Winkler: Yeah.

486

As you know, you talk about the, you

know, the global partnerships as well.

487

I mean, the space race is, is happening in

real time and India just today, you know,

488

landed on, on the, the Southern pole.

489

So the moon, so it's a, it's a

really fascinating, uh, space

490

that's happening so quickly.

491

And, um, again, brings it back to why this

is so, so current and, and, um, relevant.

492

So.

493

Yeah.

494

Um, I guess the last thing with regards

to explore, uh, before we do a couple

495

of little rapid fire Q and a, um, what

kind of roles do you hire for, uh,

496

what kind of roles are you hiring for?

497

I'm always curious to hear

498

Lisa Rich: about that.

499

Well, we are looking for a suite

of engineering roles, specifically

500

looking for folks with, uh, hands

on expertise with satellites in, um,

501

mechanical electrical engineering.

502

Systems engineering, all of the

things that, uh, get a satellite

503

to flight and help us build a

whole suite of X craft satellites.

504

So, uh, more hands, uh, on the

satellite process would be a good thing.

505

Uh, more hands.

506

On site in Redmond, Washington,

building satellites is what we're,

507

we're looking to have here and, uh,

folks can go to our website at www.

508

explore.

509

com and look at the careers page to apply.

510

Tim Winkler: Awesome.

511

Yeah, we'll be sure to

promote that as well.

512

Um, and, uh, that's kind of a

wrap on, on the main discussion.

513

Um, are you up for a quick.

514

A quick five second scramble segue here.

515

All right, let's do it.

516

Um, it's, uh, it'll start with a couple

of business questions and then we'll have

517

some, some fun personal questions as well.

518

But, uh, uh, explain, explore to

me as if I were a five year old.

519

Lisa Rich: Well, if a five year old

knows what a Swiss army knife is, we

520

could say that Explore is a satellite

that's like a Swiss army knife, or maybe

521

a five year old knows what an iPhone is.

522

And basically Explore has built

an iPhone, but it's a satellite.

523

Tim Winkler: That, that latter one is

certainly something that I think most

524

five year olds still know at this point.

525

What, um, what are the biggest

problems that you all are solving?

526

We're,

527

Lisa Rich: we're solving the

problem of accessing valuable

528

data from space for a low cost.

529

Tim Winkler: What aspect of your culture

do you most fear losing with growth?

530

Lisa Rich: Well, we're all

fantastic jugglers here.

531

And as I say, there's never

a dull moment at our company.

532

I think that there's very personal

aspects of being a close knit group.

533

And, um, what Lou, you

know, we do want to keep.

534

Uh, a talented team of experts

and be a, a close knit group.

535

We don't expect to be a

thousand person company.

536

So I don't know that, that I

have a lot of fears around that.

537

I think our, our culture is just.

538

Constantly reinforcing, um, the

excitement of what we're doing and

539

the impact it can have on the world.

540

And I want to make sure that that

trickles down to everyone at the company.

541

Tim Winkler: Awesome.

542

What type of technologist

thrives at Explore?

543

We,

544

Lisa Rich: we have a very bright

minds here and people that

545

are able to juggle many tasks.

546

Um.

547

That is the tradition of at a

startup is being good jugglers,

548

but I think it's really the problem

solver mindset is absolutely

549

Tim Winkler: key.

550

Nice.

551

What is a charity or corporate

philanthropy that is near and dear to

552

Lisa Rich: you?

553

We are very interested in the.

554

The impacts that we have on, um, humanity.

555

And so climate disasters, uh,

we just saw happening in Hawaii.

556

Um, we, you know, what we can do to

change that in the future with, uh,

557

advanced warning systems with weather,

et cetera, um, are important to us.

558

And I think just, that's an

example of a situation most

559

recently, which strikes my heart.

560

We have a partnership.

561

With the Keck Observatory in Hawaii,

not in Maui, but, um, it, it strikes us

562

all of what, what they're going through

right now and our hearts go out to them.

563

Tim Winkler: Yeah, well said, um, all

right, on a lighter note, uh, can you

564

briefly describe your morning routine by

565

Lisa Rich: morning routine?

566

Well, I'm someone that's kind of on 24 7.

567

so regardless of the time zone,

people often say, you know, I

568

got a message from you at 3 in

the morning or 5 in the morning.

569

It's because I'm always thinking about

different people at different times of

570

the day, so my morning routine is somehow

getting myself dressed into the office.

571

But by the time I've gotten to the

office, I've probably sent many

572

emails, texts, and voicemails to

people because that's how I operate.

573

I just, um, I have people and

priorities in mind and I am constantly

574

communicating regardless of my.

575

You know, I'm lucky to get dressed

in the morning to tell you the truth.

576

Tim Winkler: Are you a coffee drinker?

577

Lisa Rich: No, I'm a, okay.

578

Truth be told, um, I'm a diet Coke

drinker and typically when I've had

579

calls with people, um, and I've had too

much diet Coke, they know it because.

580

I come, I'm too, um, no, I just, I think

I, I can move at a very, very fast pace.

581

That's, um, a little, um, uh, alarming

for some people because I'm just excited

582

and, and, uh, you know, always wanting

to advance a conversation quickly

583

because I have a lot going on in my

584

Tim Winkler: life.

585

Sure.

586

I'm a proud Diet Coke drinker myself.

587

It's a good Diet Coke plug.

588

Um, All right, here's a fun one.

589

If you could take a one week

vacation anywhere in our

590

solar system, where would you

591

Lisa Rich: go?

592

Well, my favorite planet is Saturn.

593

I am fascinated by the rings of Saturn.

594

Uh, the sort of, the ring is made up

of these Ice crystals that are actually

595

some of them the size of buildings,

which I don't even understand.

596

It's just hard to even understand

what we're looking at through, you

597

know, the lens of a telescope and and

I'm just fascinated by that planet.

598

And I could go there.

599

That's where

600

Tim Winkler: I would go.

601

Yeah, I like that answer.

602

Um.

603

What is the worst fashion trend

that you've ever followed?

604

Lisa Rich: Well, I haven't followed

it, but, um, I refuse to buy the puffy

605

shirts and the long sleeves that women

have been wearing for the past year.

606

I just don't see the point.

607

I can't stand pushing a tire.

608

It looks like 1980.

609

Tim Winkler: Yeah, baggy, baggy

clothes are coming back, apparently.

610

Yeah.

611

Um, on the topic of fashion,

you know, we've all kind of seen

612

the classic astronaut suits.

613

Um, if you could design the next gen

space outfit, is there a fashionable

614

feature or fun feature that you would add?

615

Lisa Rich: Oh, what an

interesting question.

616

Cause Axiom just designed a new

space suit and I actually bought the

617

Axiom Build A Bear teddy bear that

is the astronaut bear wearing the

618

Axiom space suit, so it's adorable.

619

Um, and I have that teddy bear now at

my house, but, um, well, what, uh, what

620

fed, what would I add to a space suit?

621

Um, I'm one of the first people to.

622

Be in a space suit that women have, like

very few women have been able to try

623

on, um, new versions of space suits.

624

And what was fascinating to me as the

designers of the suit, when they saw me

625

in it, and this was several years ago,

they said, wow, we're so fascinated to

626

see your level of mobility because women

move differently in a space suit than men.

627

And.

628

Uh, I think that that, uh,

lightness of a suit is important.

629

So we could totally get on a

riff about materials, by the

630

way, I'm a, I'm a materials nerd.

631

So I love, um, any kind of

discussion of, you know, like,

632

um, aerogel and things like that.

633

Tim Winkler: And lightweight material.

634

Right.

635

Yeah.

636

Well, we'll have to run

a sec, a second episode.

637

We'll talk all, um, materials.

638

It was fun.

639

Uh, just a couple more

here, uh, to wrap it up.

640

So if you had to pick one fast food

joint to establish as the first

641

restaurant on Mars, which one would it

642

Lisa Rich: be?

643

Well, I am a sucker for

five guys, so I know this.

644

We ordered lunch the other week.

645

From five guys, and I didn't realize

how often I go there, but it's kind

646

of like in and out burger where you

get to know the language and you

647

can order something that's called

all the way with all the toppings.

648

And I made the mistake of telling.

649

The person doing the ordering,

Oh, I want, you know, a double

650

cheeseburger all the way.

651

And she said, wow, you must

really go to five guys a lot

652

if you know their terminology.

653

And I said, guilty as charged.

654

Tim Winkler: Yeah.

655

A five guys.

656

I'm in heaven right there.

657

Yeah, that's.

658

That's, uh, that's great.

659

Um, that's actually the, uh,

that's actually my answer.

660

Um, I, I would pick five guys as well,

but we get a lot of folks on the pod

661

that are maybe on the West coast in

California and an outbreaker seems

662

to be their, their pick and choice.

663

Um, Chick fil a is in the running as well.

664

Um, Alright, uh, last one.

665

What was your dream job as a

666

Lisa Rich: kid?

667

What did I dream of becoming?

668

Well, ironically, I did the Myers Briggs

test and it told me that I would be either

669

a gardener Or an astronaut now, I was

technically kind of both as a kid, I was

670

studying, uh, flora and fauna and the

genus and species of all sorts of plants.

671

And not only having, um, you know,

thousands or thousands, sorry,

672

hundreds of house plants that I had,

but I was interested in in space.

673

So in an odd way, I think I.

674

Grew into my dream job.

675

Tim Winkler: Yeah, that's really neat.

676

What are both a very interesting

professions, but, uh, I think the, the,

677

the vertical space seems like one that a

lot of folks would be really jealous of.

678

So good, good for you.

679

I

680

Lisa Rich: remember getting

the test results and saying,

681

I don't know what this means.

682

I do not understand.

683

Tim Winkler: Well, that's a wrap,

uh, Lisa, I want to thank you

684

again for spending time with us.

685

Uh, we are excited for the future of

what you all are building at Explore.

686

It's a very fascinating company.

687

Um, we're excited.

688

I'm sure you'll be super successful.

689

So we're rooting for you all and I

wanted to thank you again for hanging

690

us, hanging with us on the podcast.

691

Thank you,

692

Lisa Rich: Tim.

693

It's been great.

694

Have a good one.