Wyvern wraps up Y Combinator, prepares to launch satellites
After pitching to an investor audience as part of Y Combinator this week, the founders of space-data startup Wyvern are preparing to charge forward with what they've learned from the technology accelerator since January.
"We're gearing up for the launch of our first satellites, just planning out exactly how we're going to get the first images down later this year," said co-founder and COO Callie Lissinna. "I think the next half a year is going to be a lot about expanding our technical capacity in Edmonton through improving our facilities, our lab, and bringing on more people who are talented at building spacecraft."
Although the first satellites won't launch until sometime between October and December, Lissinna said Wyvern needs to start gearing up to launch its second batch of satellites now. As Lissinna and her fellow co-founders Chris Robson, Kristen Cote, and Kurtis Broda work towards that goal, their experience in Y Combinator and its $500,000 injection of capital will help grow the company at the same time.
"The four of us definitely have engineer and physicist brains that are really excited about tech. (Y Combinator) got us back into the mindset of focusing on what metrics are going to show that Wyvern is successful," she explained.
During the program, the team focused on sales and demonstrating that they have mitigated the market risk even though the company's Earth imaging isn't yet commercially available. They were able to do that by working closely alongside the few other aerospace companies in the batch, sharing tactics needed to solve problems.
Changing the startup's approach to fundraising and pitching overall was a key takeaway for Lissinna that has now "forever changed (Wyvern) for the better."
"There's one thing that can take any pitch from mediocre to great: showing real, quantified traction," she wrote on LinkedIn. "It's almost comically simple. Show the evidence that you're really onto something and let it speak for itself; worry less about the slide design, the slick script, the tactics."
As Wyvern's CEO, Robson had a chance to practice those skills during the company's 60-second pitch on March 29. Investors heard more than 400 pitches over two days, and Lissinna said Wyvern has already been inundated with interest.
"Being a space company is great because you're automatically exciting. Among the 414 pitches, we already have a bit of a leg up ... we're shiny," she added.
