Last week I attended the Space Entrepreneurs Epicenter of Space meeting in Marina Park in Kirkland Washington. From their Meetup website, Space Entrepreneurs is " a physical and virtual network of individuals with ideas on what humanity's future in and using space should be." Space Entrepreneurs is for "Those who have an space-related idea and are wondering if they can make it a reality using entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship." They were founded in February of 2014 in Seattle, WA by Sean McClinton. They hold meetings every month in a variety of formats from casual happy hours to industry-wide events with keynote speakers. They are also a source of information and resources for the space industry.
The Space Entrepreneurs feel that there has sufficient entry of private firms into space exploration and exploitation to prove that businesses can successfully enter a field that has been the exclusive province of national governments willing to spend huge sums of money to reach space. They say that the current state of the commercial space industry is an excellent environment for entrepreneurship. They have located in Seattle because it is a "coalescing and growing hub" for commercial space activity.
Their Mission Statement reads "Accelerate the progress humanity is making in creating a space tourism industry, a low-Earth orbit economy, and deep-space economic development and exploration. We will do this by empowering entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs with space-related ideas."
Their aims are:
"• Educate those interested in the commercial space industry on how to get involved, what opportunities are available, and what the industry looks like.
• Connect our members in ways that benefit all parties involved, particularly when it comes to finding partners, co-founders, and investors.
• Support We support people on the path to finding a model of space entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship that fits their goals, lifestyle, interest and expertise."
The Space Entrepreneurs can help with finding partners to help start a business. They can help locate investment capital through their relationship with Space Angels Network, the biggest network of space industry investors in the world. Members of Space Entrepreneurs are an excellent sounding board for getting feedback on business ideas. With the rapidly changing private space industry landscape, Space Entrepreneurs can help people keep track of developments with overviews of space industry. When it comes time to put ideas down on paper, Space Entrepreneurs can help startups find the resources they need to create professional plans and presentations.
The meeting last Thursday took place in the Gazebo near the water in Kirkland's Marina Park. It was a balmy evening in a beautiful location. Unfortunately it was also a little noisy. The event attracted a hundred people interested in the private space industry. Drinks and food were served and for the first hour and a half, people wandered around networking. There was a quite a varied mix of people from students to professors, from aerospace workers to journalists, from people starting businesses to people looking for businesses to invest in.
The Keynote Speaker was Chris Lewicki, the President and Chief Engineer for Planetary Resources, a company dedicated to asteroid mining. He talked about historical examples of the explosive growth of economies in the past like San Francisco and Seattle during the gold rushes. He pointed out that Seattle is once again poised to be ground zero for the rapid growth of a new industry based on private exploration and exploitation of space. However, he cautioned that above all, businesses oriented on space had to be economically viable. His speech was followed by a Q & A session.
All in all it was an inspiring and encouraging evening for space enthusiasts. The crowd thinned out and I left after talking to a couple of acquaintances that share my interest in space. It is difficult not to get caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment, but it will be a long hard slog before there is a mature robust and profitable private space industry in Seattle.
Gazebo in Marina Park, Kirkland, WA:
