The Start-up of Space Marketplaces

In this episode, we talk about the rise of Space Marketplaces and how the Satsearch Product Knowledge Graph helps solve problems for marketplace users. We ask, what kind of Acquisition Loops work in the space sector, how does their Experiment Framework look like, and should space marketplaces scale vertically or horizontally? We talk about unit economics, defensibility, and how Satsearch bootstrapped its way forward with the support of the ESA Business Incubation Center.

Our guest is Narayan Prasad, co-founder, and COO of Satsearch, a global marketplace for the space industry, incubated by the European Space Agency. Narayan is a multiple degrees academic in space-related sciences, a vivid member of the Indian space community - an Indian in Germany living space entrepreneur.

CONTENT
00:01:25 Intro
00:09:18 Bootstrapping
00:12:47 Getting the Supply-side
00:16:09 Investment Thesis | Problem to solve
00:24:53 Experimentation Framework
00:27:34 Cold Start Problem | Two-sided Network Effects
00:34:12 Entry Barriers & Pricing
00:35:54 Marketplace Liquidity
00:38:17 Helping suppliers to find Product-Market-Fit
00:39:19 Acquisition Loops | Buying Traffic
00:47:02 ESA BIC Support
00:49:17 The Rise of Marketplaces
00:51:51 Small Niche Market becomes big
00:57:44 Clean Space Initiatives
01:01:42 Vertical vs Horizontal Integration
01:04:46 Product Knowledge Graph
01:08:10 Defensibility | Moats
01:12:35 Most Striking Learnings
01:17:32 India Space Program
01:22:21 Unfair Advantages
01:25:46 Why Space and Why Now?

SHOWNOTES
[1] Narayan Prasad https://www.linkedin.com/in/narayanprasadn/
[2] Personal Website http://www.narayanprasad.com/
[3] Satsearch https://satsearch.co/
[4] Satsearch Knowledge Graph https://blog.satsearch.co/2018-05-22-artificial-intelligence-for-space-applications
[5] Satsearch Knowledge Graph API https://api.satsearch.co/
[6] NewSpace India Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/1RkXBOS3OguGX3EjAodDZW