The Space Economy

CHAPTER 8Navigating Space Careers: Seizing the Opportunity of a Lifetime

Learning how markets form at Oxford's Saïd Business School taught me to see the potential in the Space Economy. It didn't take long before I was hooked on the idea of joining this exciting new world. Though I was actively following industry developments in the news, I was still just an interested bystander. From the outside looking in, I wondered whether there was even a place in the Space Economy for someone lacking a technical background as I did.

Without an obvious career path or role model, I knew I would need creativity to get my foot in the door. Where would I even begin? At the time, nontechnical opportunities in the Space Economy were essentially nonexistent. From my vantage point in 2012, there wasn't a way into the industry for a finance, economics, and business guy whose professional experience was in entrepreneurship and banking.

One of the nice things about being a student—even an adult MBA student—is that pros are more likely to spend time answering your questions. In search of an insider's perspective and wielding my student credentials like a press pass, I reached out for informational interviews with people across the budding Space Economy. To my surprise, I received an open and enthusiastic welcome. The resounding response from the pros was that, yes, the industry was full of technical folks, but it needed more business people to efficiently, effectively, and responsibly manage its growth. ...