Matt recently joined Astra as VP of Business Operations, where he will lead Spaceport Services and Real Estate Services to ensure our customers have flexible and affordable launch options and Astra has the assets necessary to make daily space delivery possible.
Matt’s career has focused on energy, starting in traditional oil & gas before moving to climate change focused work. He spent the last nine years starting and growing a cleantech company where he helped make it easy and profitable for real estate companies to stop climate change.
What brought you to Astra?
Astra was not actually on my radar at first. My background has always been focused on energy principally because energy is so foundational to every part of the economy. Indeed, the human story of the 19th and 20th centuries is arguably an engineering story about energy, and that became the connection for me. I believe Astra has this incredible opportunity to be the enablement piece for both a new economy but also a new human experience. So,the chance to be part of the backbone of transformative change was simply too hard to resist.
The mission was also important for me. I spent nearly the past decade focused on climate change solutions because it is an existential challenge that needs to be solved. I think Astra offers an opportunity to help us not only understand and manage the impacts of climate change, but also improve our energy system.
What role do spaceports play in helping Astra reach its goals?
We want to make it easy and affordable for our customers to reach anywhere in space, anytime. We also want to grow the industry generally and enable more satellite providers to enter the space economy. Spaceport services helps in both cases, with the additional benefit of making space available to more countries. Because we have a highly mobile and responsive launch system, we can credibly do it at a fundamentally new speed and scale that can drive down cost, offer flexibility, and generally increase access to space.
Do you need a background in space to be successful?
For nearly the past decade, I helped build a company focused on delivering profitable climate solutions to commercial real estate. We faced not only engineering and technology challenges, but also a very conservative and risk-averse industry. I quickly learned that success was less about clever solutions but more about becoming enthusiastic about the challenges that our customers faced and being willing to be versatile as a company.
From the moment I arrived at Astra, I appreciated the humility and willingness to do things differently if it was the right call. I appreciated the customer centricity. And I appreciated that the merit of ideas was more important than the historical baseline.
Although a background in space is certainly an asset, I think more than anything Astra needs folks who are excited to be adaptive problem solver’s and find ways to get things done.
How do you feel about Astra’s opportunity?
I am upbeat. Pan American Airlines was a massive success in part because it was a technological innovator. It solved critical engineering challenges and made commercial flight a global reality. The torch was later passed to American Airlines because American was a business innovator. I think Astra has a growth mindset in both areas. The ability to reach orbit with a low-cost solution is an incredible milestone by itself. Coupling that with a customer centric business model reduces risk and offers a very real chance at changing the space economy. Our quickly growing sales pipeline is testament to that confidence.
Interested in being a part of our mission? Join us.