Startups Selling Services, Tech Far Beyond Satellites And Rockets  

by Irene Klotz

Aviation Week & Space Technology

August 3, 2018

RBC Signals, a Seattle-based company is bringing the shared services business model to space-to-ground communications.  RBC is part of a small but growing cadre of companies jockeying to serve the expected tsunami of smallsats, the fastest growing segment of a global satellite industry worth $269 billion in 2017, according to the Satellite Industry Association. While spacecraft manufacturers and launch companies garner most of the attention and investment dollars, ventures such as RBC and LeoLabs, which sells satellite-tracking and mapping services, are diversifying the ecosystem of the New Space economy.

“I think that investing in the space sector and the growth of the space economy now is a massive opportunity to make a lot of money,” said Joe Landon, chairman of the venture capital firm Space Angels, at the NewSpace conference in Seattle in June.

Reimagine Aerospace Product Design with Generative Design & Advanced Composites  

Free Webinar

Date: September 18

Time: 8am pacific time

As per the 2018 Global Aerospace & Defense Outlook from Deloitte, the passenger air traffic is expected to grow at an average annual growth rate of 4.7% contributing to increased aircraft production. As aircraft production continues to grow, the key challenges the industry needs to consider include – strengthening the supply chain, effective program management and use of new and advanced technologies to become more efficient.

With the aviation emission regulations getting stricter, designers and engineers are being continually challenged to lightweight aircraft components while the development cycles keep getting shorter.

In this webinar, we’ll explore how new technologies such as Generative Design and advances in Composites design and manufacturing can help Aerospace companies reimagine existing products and develop the next generation of products.

Space Symposium  

Dates: September 25th and 26th

Location: Traverse City, Michigan

Sponsor: Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association

The symposium focus is on understanding and taking advantage of defense and commercial opportunities in near-earth and low orbit space.

Thought leaders and policy makers who are envisioning and implementing the USA’s presence in space will provide context for the program. Prime contractors and program managers will brief attendees on their current and planned projects. They will be detailing the needs and opportunities available to the USA’s supplier network.

Attendees representing small and medium size enterprises in the fields of engineering and manufacturing will have the opportunity to participate in B2B meetings with the presenting prime contractors.

Whether it is the Pentagon’s new Space Force, nano/microsatellite networks, or Missile Defense Systems, near earth outer space is becoming crowded with business opportunities. Growth focused enterprises who aspire to be part of the next generation of high tech companies will benefit from attending this event.

Opportunities

Winnipeg A&D Company: Owner wants to exit a 30+ year old A&D enterprise possessing C$20m in revenue and C$3+m of EBITDA. The aerospace operation has top equipment and customer approvals and C$60m of capacity (affords a low-cost source of production given exchange rates). The defense operation is literally unique in North America, and provides R&O for all types and generations of military land vehicles owned by the US, Canada, Australia, etc. Owner is seeking the FMV of the assets, and the operations can be sold separately. If interested, please contact Jeff Knakal, Growth Partners at Jeff@GrowthPartners.Net or 818-713-8000.

Manufacturing Day 2018

This year, National Manufacturing Day will be on October 5. It is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers. It addresses common misperceptions about manufacturing by giving manufacturers an opportunity to open their doors and show what manufacturing is – and what it isn’t. By working together, manufacturers will begin to address the skilled labor shortage they face, connect with future generations, take charge of the public image of manufacturing, and ensure the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry.

A&D Forum Upcoming Chapter Meetings  

See the Meeting Notices tab on the A&D Forum website for descriptions and links to RSVP to any of the meetings. Waitlists are maintained for all meetings and tours.
Joining chapter mailing lists is free.

Recordings of over 200 chapter presentations are available for download by A&D Forum members.

Orange County Chapter:

• September – Dark because of holiday
• October 4 – “Finding & Financing So.Calif A&D Companies”, panel of executives from A&D companies and private equity groups

South Bay Chapter:

• Sept 12 – Tour of Systems Technology in Hawthorne
• October 10  – Tour of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – a joint meeting of the South Bay and San Fernando Valley chapters

Dallas – Ft. Worth Chapter: September 13 – “Developments in Additive Manufacturing”, Kelly Knake & Sam Hockaday, Impac Systems Engineering

Arizona Chapter: September 27 – “United States Space Force: What does it mean for the Market?”, Benjamin Hernandez, CoFounder of the Arizona Spaceport Alliance

Los Angeles Chapter: Septembe 20 – A&D Leaders Evening (by invitation only)

San Fernando Valley Chapter:

• September 13 – Tour of Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, Valencia
• October 10  – Tour of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – a joint meeting of the South Bay and San Fernando Valley chapters
• November 15 – Tour of Vanderhorst Brothers, Inc. an advanced machining facility in Simi Valley

San Diego Chapter: Manufacturing Discussion/Orientation, Panelists/Speakers: TBD, July 24

By Debbie Gregory.

A new pack-frame design using ground-breaking technology could be a game-changer when it comes to reducing fatigue.

Lightning Packs, LLC has developed a patented pulley/bungee cord system that allows it to slide up and down on a mounting of metal rods. This reduces impact forces on the user by 80 to 90 percent, and reduces the metabolic energy requirement by 40-80 watts. This allows a wearer to carry an extra 8-12 pounds “for free.”

When people walk, their hips move up and down by as much as seven centimeters, which normally causes a backpack to bob up and down, too. That is bad news for the joints and back, because on its downswing the pack exerts added force on the wearer. A 50-pound load, for example, can slam down with 80 pounds of force when a person is walking and up to 150 pounds when running, says Lightning Packs’ founder Dr. Lawrence Rome.

A video on the company’s website demonstrates that when the pack is in the locked position, it bobs up and down as a normal pack would. But when the pulley system is activated, the pack appears to “float.” As a person’s hips rise, the mounting raises as well, but the bungee cords let the load dip down, limiting its movement.

“We first designed, built under contract, and delivered a series of ergonomic and electricity-generating backpacks for personnel of the United States Army and Marine Corps,” according to the company’s website. “The ergonomic benefits of our design have been field-tested and approved by soldiers themselves,” the website states.

What was originally designed for the military and rescue workers could be a game-changer for consumers, especially for parents who have long been concerned  about the effects on the spines of their school-aged children who carry heavy loads of school books.

The company will be launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding for the consumer version, the “Hoverglide,” sometime in September. The Hoverglide will be offered in several models for backpacking, commuting and light hiking. There will also be a tactical model which is about the size of a standard daypack or assault pack.

By Debbie Gregory.

McLean, Virginia-based government technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton has won a $1 billion contract for up to six years to provide a suite of cybersecurity services to six federal agencies, the defense and cybersecurity contractor has announced.

Cybersecurity services will be provided to the General Services Administration, the Health and Human Services Department, NASA, the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department and the U.S. Postal Service. With one base year and five one-year options, Booz Allen will help the federal agencies address cybersecurity gaps and help fortify the security of networks, systems and data.

The work will be part of the federal government’s largest cybersecurity initiative known as Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense and its Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program (CDM), which Booz Allen has supported for the past five years. Booz Allen also won a multi-million dollar contract in May for seven other agencies under the CDM project, which covers the Executive Office of the President and the Office of Personnel Management, as well as the departments of Energy, Veterans Affairs, Interior, Transportation, and Agriculture.

Booz Allen’s CDM program secures nearly 80 percent of the “.gov” enterprise, including 4.1 million network addressable devices, 1.75 million users, 19,700 sites and 89 individual federal organizations.

“Cyberdefense has become a race. And success means faster decisions and faster actions,” said Rob Allegar, Booz Allen vice president and lead for the CDM work. “We design Booz Allen’s CDM solutions to help agency leaders understand their attack surface, detect evolving threats, make informed risk-based decision, and act quickly.”

Founded in 1914 by a young college graduate in psychology named Edwin G. Booz, the company laid its foundation using new approaches to management that emphasized people, not products, were the key to unlocking an organization’s full potential.

Booz Allen shares (NYSE: BAH) climbed on news of the contract. Its stock has gained more than 50 percent in the past 12 months.

By Debbie Gregory.

The dog days of summer can often be a slower time for small businesses, unless you’re in a travel-related or back-to-school related business. Not every small business has an audience that can use its products and services year-round. But slow times are a great opportunity to catch up and revisit your long-term marketing goals or revive some unfinished marketing projects.

The slow season is also a good time to take a look at the big picture of your marketing and sales process, and make corrections and improvements. Evaluate what part of your business you think needs the most work and allocate a majority of your time to enhancing it.

Here are a few proven strategies that can be done during slow times that will serve you well year round:

• Review your website and purge outdated information and broken links.
• Make sure your website has plenty of calls-to-action (CTAs) for people to stay in touch with you by subscribing to an email list or a blog. If you haven’t hopped on the blogging bandwagon for your business’s marketing, don’t worry, it’s never too late to get started.
• Make sure your contact information is up-to-date.
• Make sure your marketing materials both print and digital, are not only up-to date, but also consistent.
• Keep an eye on your analytics to fine-tune your online marketing, landing pages, and calls to action.
• If you have good customer relationships in place, the slow season is also a good time to follow up with your existing customers to see how they’re doing and ask for referrals, remembering to reward them accordingly.
• Tell customer stories and get testimonials that are detailed and personal, and use the person’s full name if possible.
• Create compelling content that will speak to your target audience.
• Stay in touch via your website, email and social media.

By Debbie Gregory.

When considering small business marketing ideas, the first thing you should think about is your audience. Who are they? What do they do? How can you help them do it better? Having adequate knowledge of your target audience helps make your marketing more effective and cost-efficient.

Establishing a buyer/user “persona” is vital to understanding your current customers and identifying potential future customers. This information allows you to produce what you need to meet the specific needs of your audience, be it products, services or content. Clickbait and countless sales pitches aren’t the way to gain trust from your network. Instead, make it your goal to reach your audience on a more personal level. Show them you understand them and care about their wants and needs.

To develop a good idea of who your customers/users are, you need to conduct market research. The best place to start is with your existing customers/users, and can be garnered from surveys, questionnaires and interviews. If you’re sending these requests out by email, make sure your emails are coming from a recognizable sender name, make sure the subject line tells the reader what’s in the email, and make sure the content is visually appealing with a clear call to action.

You can also utilize social media and in-person interviews. Offering a coupon or discount for their participation is a good incentive.

Be sure to analyze the data you collect to understand your ideal customer/user so that you’re in a better position to target your advertising campaigns effectively.

Additionally, use your website analytics to see where your visitors come from, the keywords they are using to find you, and what they’re doing on the site. This will give you further insights into your buyer/user persona.

Knowing your customer/user persona enables you to communicate with them more effectively, which should help you to grow your customer/user base, which in turn will grow your business.