The Gap in “Cool” Tech Investment

I have addressed our focus on supporting and investing in aerospace oriented technology companies before. In light of the USAF’s Virtual Collider event, which just took place last Thursday (March 12, 2020) I thought I would rehash and review investment in the Deep Tech sector, to re-invigorate discussion and potentially attract other like-minded investors to join the cause.

When I first started investing in aerospace (space, drones, autonomy, other) related startups 5 years or so ago (2015), there were few investors beyond my core group that were very interested. I had founded LightSpeed Innovations, an aerospace focused accelerator, to support the astropreneurs who were inspired to make the brave attempt to found a company in this space. At the time, and to this day, we strive to help companies we think will make a real difference; this is an exciting time as technological and scientific advances are transforming the world around us at a staggering pace.

Steve Blank, whom I had met when inviting him to speak about disruption at Wharton Aerospace Ventures, had thought the accelerator was a great idea and immediately introduced me to Kathryn Gould, a physicist turned Oracle executive turned venture capitalist. Alas, Kathryn was intrigued and encouraging but suggested that aerospace would be a terrible investment. The capital required was perceived to be prohibitive, barriers to entry too high, company gestation period too long. She was right, or wrong, depending on the investment timeline one would like to take. The required…