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.