I recently joined Susan Wise on Stars Launchpod to talk about something I've been watching play out across the space industry: brilliant founders, world-changing technology, and a marketing gap that quietly costs them deals they never know they lost.
Here's what came up in that conversation, and what I think every early-stage space company needs to hear.
The pattern I keep seeing
There's a cycle I describe to almost every founder I work with. I call it the launch hype, the quiet void, and the SOS.
It goes like this: a company hits a big moment, a funding round, a contract win, a product milestone. There's a flurry of activity. They're at conferences. They're posting on LinkedIn. There might even be a little earned media. And then it all goes quiet.
A few months later, the internal panic sets in. The pipeline isn't where it needs to be. And somewhere out in the market, a potential buyer is wondering: are they still around? I haven't heard from them in months.
This is expensive. Especially in space, where sales cycles run 12 to 24 months and only about 5% of your potential buyers are actively in market at any given time. The other 95% are watching you quietly, on their own timeline, deciding whether to trust you.
Why marketing feels like a luxury, and why that's the wrong frame
Most early-stage founders are heads-down building. They want the product to be more developed, the team to be bigger, the pitch to be more polished before they start talking publicly. That instinct is understandable. It's also costly.
Marketing in space isn't just about promotion. It's infrastructure. It's how you show up consistently before anyone has heard of you. It's the trust you build before you ever schedule a call.
And in many emerging space sectors, there's an added layer: the market doesn't yet know it has the problem you solve. Someone building debris mitigation technology or in-space servicing capabilities isn't just competing for attention. They're also educating an entire industry on why the problem matters and why it matters now. That takes time. You can't compress it. Which is exactly why you have to start early.
What I learned from oil and gas (and why it applies to space)
Before I focused on space, I spent 15-plus years in B2B technology, including a significant stretch in oil and gas. When I started talking to space founders, I was struck by how familiar it all felt.
Long sales cycles. Deeply technical products. Buyers who are slow to trust and slow to pull the trigger. High-stakes decisions backed by major capital commitments.
The marketing challenges weren't so different. What works in those environments, consistency, credibility-building, helping buyers understand the problem before you pitch the solution, translates directly.
The companies that build real momentum in space are the ones that start telling their stories early. Not when everything is polished. Not when the deck is perfect. Early. Even when they think no one is listening.
What "starting early" actually looks like
You don't need a marketing agency or an in-house hire to start. In the early days, founder-led content is one of the most powerful tools available.
Share your perspective on the problem you're solving. Educate the market on why it matters. Show your thinking on LinkedIn, where the space community is genuinely active and engaged. You don't need a brand guide to do this. You need a point of view that’s easy to understand (skip the jargon please) and the discipline to share it consistently.
If you do bring in support, whether that's a fractional marketing partner like Wanderstar or an in-house hire, the foundation you've built matters. It helps keep momentum going.
The first step is simpler than most founders think: start talking about the problem, not just the product. Help the market understand what you see that they don't yet. And keep going, even when it feels like no one is paying attention.
Because in a 12 to 24 month sales cycle, someone always is.
