Lukas Werling is the CEO and co-founder of ISPTech, a German space startup developing green propellants that eliminate the need for hazmat suits and could slash space propulsion costs by 75%. The company has in a short time secured €2 million in funding with three orbital missions lined up for flight later this year.

In this episode of Rockets and Radars, Lukas shares his journey from a mechanical engineering student rejected from aerospace programs to spending 14 years at DLR (Europe's premier rocket testing facility) before selling his motorbike to raise startup capital. From supervising thousands of rocket engine hot firings to managing Europe's most unique test facility, from watching technicians in hazmat suits handle toxic propellants to developing fuel safe enough to handle with bare hands, Lukas explains how patient research and perfect timing created a company that had paying customers before it even officially launched.

Want to get hired in ISPTech? https://tally.so/r/mOq9b7

Want to invest in ISPTech? https://tally.so/r/nGE4qp

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:09) Getting Rejected

(08:00) Breaking into DLR

(14:34) Finding the Perfect Co-founder

(21:01) The Spin-Out Decision

(30:32) Incorporating with €25K: Selling the Motorbike

(35:56) Getting First Customers Before Incorporation

(44:36) Funding Journey: €2M Pre-Seed

(51:17) Future Vision: Space Infrastructure & Mobility

(54:34) Quick Fire Round: Biggest Mistakes & Key Decisions

(58:52) Advice for Researchers

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Takeaways:

1) Persistence beats rejection - keep asking until someone says yes. "I talked to my professor during his lectures. I went to his office several times... he was always saying, yeah, I will reach out." Lukas got into DLR by repeatedly asking his professor for an introduction until he finally made the call.

2) Technology maturity trumps perfect business plans for deep tech - "We had like years and years of testing at the test bench... many companies didn't have those possibilities." Having proven technology from 14 years of research gave them customer confidence that business plans alone couldn't provide.

3) Know your customers' pain points before you spin out - "We knew some spacecraft manufacturers, some people... what their issues are, what their pain points are." Don't guess at market needs - work directly with your future customers to understand their problems first.

4) Hire people you've worked with for years, not strangers - "The first people we hired were from this... student team... We know them for years." Your early team should be people whose work quality and character you've personally witnessed over time.

5) Speed beats bureaucracy when markets are moving fast - "We can decide, we can make progress as a company much, much faster... people from DLR approaching us, ah guys, can you do it so fast?" Startup agility is your biggest advantage over large institutions.

6) Never start work without a written contract, no matter who asks - "The biggest mistake I made is to start some work... without a written contract... it never materialized." Even trusted contacts can disappear - always get agreements in writing before starting any work.

7) Build your network before you need it - "We had our network. Of course, we knew some spacecraft manufacturers... this was an advantage." Relationships built over years become customers and partners when you're ready to commercialize.

8) Focus on customer contracts, not just grant funding - "We need, just frame contracts... As a company you want customers and not additional grant funding." Paying customers validate your business better than government grants ever will.

9) Plan backwards from your vision to find the first step - "You want to build this huge power plant... plan backwards... solve one issue after the other." Break dreams into manageable technical problems you can solve sequentially.

Sebastian Klaus (CEO and co-founder of ATMOS Space Cargo) went from a 17-year-old watching SpaceShipOne make history to building Europe's fastest-moving space reentry company from prototype to flight under 12 months.

In this episode of Rockets and Radars, Sebastian reveals how ATMOS went from nearly going bankrupt in 2022 to successfully demonstrating inflatable heat shield technology from a small plane over the South Atlantic. From 14 years of military service to convincing investors to put €10M+ into the "most advanced technology in spaceflight history," this is the raw story of Europe's race to build space sovereignty—and how ATMOS could become the "FedEx for space."

Want to get hired in ATMOS? https://tally.so/r/wvalVD

Want to invest in ATMOS? https://tally.so/r/wLjeBp

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:49) From 17-Year-Old Dreamer to Military Officer

(10:23) Building the Dream Team: Finding Co-founders

(19:32) Early Prototyping & Technical Validation

(22:44) The Dark Year: 2022 Crisis & Near Bankruptcy

(29:58) The Funding Gauntlet: Raising €10M+ Seed Round

(38:45) Lori Garver & EIC Grant: €13M European Bet

(44:20) Phoenix One Mission: Historic Flight Success

(49:00) Defence Pivot: Ukraine War & Drone Applications

(54:39) Quick Fire Round & Hiring Philosophy

(58:21) Advice for Young Founders

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Takeaways:

1) Study the fundamental bottlenecks of your future industry before it exists. "I did my bachelor's on atmospheric reentry and my master's on reusable rocket engines. For me it was very clear - you need atmospheric reentry technology and you need to be able to reuse those things."

2) Recruit co-founders when they're at career peaks but facing industry decline. "On Christmas Eve, I called a world-class engineer who had just launched a $10 billion space telescope. I said 'Your rocket program is being shut down. If you want to quit, now is the time.'" Target potential co-founders when their current path has obvious dead ends.

3) Physical prototypes unlock funding that slide decks never will. "We dropped a 1:10 scale prototype from a helicopter to test our inflatable heat shield. It worked on the first try and became a very good marketing tool for customers and investors."

4) Work second jobs to fund your startup - investors notice the sacrifice. "My co-founders and I were all working second jobs to keep the company afloat. We didn't pay ourselves a single euro in salary. Founders sacrificing personal income signals total commitment to investors.

5) Find technologies where physics gives you 10X advantages over incumbents. "With inflatable technology, we can bring back 10X more cargo from space." Look for fundamental physical constraints that new approaches can completely break.

6) Pivot when customers give you contracts, not just compliments. "Once we switched to building our own spacecraft and selling to pharmaceutical companies, we felt real customer pull. Companies immediately gave us letters of intent and MOUs." Polite interest isn't market validation - signed agreements are.

7) Fly to the middle of nowhere for your company's biggest moments. "I flew 700 kilometers over the Atlantic Ocean in a small plane with Starlink duct-taped to the window to watch our spacecraft return from orbit." Critical company moments require founder presence, not remote management.

8) Build operational flexibility into everything, not just your product. "We had to completely replan our space mission weeks before launch when our landing zone changed from the Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic." External changes will break rigid operations - adaptability determines survival.

9) Dual-use technology can 10X your addressable market overnight. "The same technology that returns pharmaceutical experiments from space can deliver drones anywhere on Earth within hours." Defence applications can massively expand your total addressable market.

Stefan Roebel transformed from 12 years in the German military and a decade scaling Amazon operations to co-founding Europe's largest autonomous military vehicle production facility in just 3 years.

In this episode of Rockets and Radars, Stefan reveals how ARX Robotics (ARX) went from a university research project to life-saving robots supporting Ukrainian troops in under 3 years. From a tired Thursday dinner where "nothing existed" to raising €40M+ and building combat-proven systems, this is the raw story of Europe's race to build its defense future before it's too late—and how ARX could become Europe's next defencetech unicorn.

Want to get hired in ARX? https://tally.so/r/3qqAYd

Want to invest in ARX? https://tally.so/r/mZA6Ga

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:57) Personal Background & Joining ARX as 4th Co-founder

(07:49) Project A Venture Studio Program

(12:40) The First Prototype

(19:37) Pivot to Modular Approach & ARX Framework

(25:45) Customer Acquisition Strategy

(31:27) Seed Round: €9 Million & NATO Innovation Fund

(39:54) Launching Mithra OS

(42:19) Series A: How we raised €31 Million

(46:24) Vision: Becoming a European Defence Prime

(50:35) Advice for Defence Tech Founders

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Takeaways:

1) Venture studios beat accelerators for hardware companies

"A venture studio is a level two accelerator. They assign a founder associate, shared resources like hiring, legal contacts - they have all the tools a classical VC has plus operational background." This mindset was exactly what ARX needed for complex hardware development.

2) Build your first prototype to fundraise, not to sell

"Investors got super excited because they saw a physical product after a decade of SaaS presentations." Hardware founders need something tangible to overcome investor skepticism.

3) Pitch deck hell is inevitable - embrace the chaos

"We had 40 iterations of the first pitch deck.

There are 500 different opinions on pitch decks, especially for hardware. Don't fight the feedback loop - use each iteration to find investors who actually understand your market and hardware.

4) Win credibility through real competitions, not demos

"We won the visitors award at Estonian autonomy trials. That was the first time we got exposure to other robotics companies." Public trials validate your tech against established competitors.

5) Pivot from single-use to modular approach

"We found most robots are single-use. But the change of situation is so rapid you need a new solution every five minutes." Undefined markets require maximum flexibility.

6) Start with R&D contracts, scale to procurement later

"We used smaller R&D programs to finance development of 1-10 robots. The procurement is still a tanker - we're the speedboats getting money to figure out new processes." Use innovation programs as stepping stones to larger contracts.

7) Hire military experience locally for each country expansion"My military English is bad. We're replicating what we did in Germany by hiring local teams with military experience to understand customer needs and adapt our system." Defence is hyper-local - you need native military speakers.

8) Series A requires proof, not just vision"Series A is proof of concept done, show us traction, pipeline, forward-looking revenue. It's more data-driven, unromantic. They need conviction the money scales an already working machine." Move from founder-market fit to product-market fit evidence.

9) Speed of iteration determines battlefield winners"Fast iteration cycles will be the difference maker. The current speed of change is mission critical to battlefield success. Whoever iterates fastest wins."

10) Pick investors who understand B2G

]We had investors with SaaS mindset asking about recurring revenues. Find investors who've lived your customer's world, not just scaled software companies.