The Business That's Selling Sunlight After Dark with Ben Nowack, CEO of Reflect Orbital (#419)
In this episode, Chris sits down with Ben Nowack, co-founder and CEO of Reflect Orbital, one of the first companies building satellites that redirect sunlight from orbit to specific spots on Earth - with the goal of delivering sunlight on demand, 24/7.Why would you want sunlight 24/7? Agriculture and farming, construction projects, rescue missions, military operations, powering solar panels closer to 100% of the time instead of ~30%, etc.Ben started Reflect in 2021. He spent the first year in a garage, $60k in credit card debt, before a $350k raise came in. Reflect has now raised more than $35 million - Sequoia led the seed (its first space investment since SpaceX), Lux Capital led the $20M Series A - and launches its first satellite later this year.They discuss:- A speech Gwynne Shotwell gave during his tenure at SpaceX that he will never forget- What he learned while working at SpaceX that he implements at Reflect- The story of building the actual company and why building hardware is hard- How they think about vertical integration- The trillion $ business case for redirecting sunlight- How he recruits technical talent - what works and what doesn'tTimestamps:(0:00) Intro(1:07) "Rockets Are Cool, But They're Not the Big Money Makers"(7:00) Lessons from SpaceX: What Ben Took (and Left Behind)(16:35) The Origin: From High School Fusion Reactors to Reflect Orbital(25:10) The Fossil Fuel Problem and Why It's So Hard to Beat(28:37) "By 3 AM You Have a Minimum Viable Financial Model"(35:44) The Breakthrough: Putting Mirrors in Space(41:00) Building the First Satellite(51:03) First Satellite and Seven-Figure Demand Nobody Expected(57:00) The Constellation Plan: 18 Satellites, Global Coverage(1:10:00) What It's Like to Order Sunlight(1:22:00) Why Fashion Designers Build Better Spacecraft Than JWST Engineers(1:25:36) The 10-Year Vision: Starship, Scale, and Powering the EarthFind our sponsors:Collateral Partners - https://collateral.com/fortRelay Human Cloud - https://www.relayhumancloud.com/powers/Download FastJets:iOs: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fastjets/id6756160345Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flyjetting.appChris on Social Media:X: https://x.com/fortworthchrisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepowerspodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO