New satellite companies often face challenges as they establish themselves alongside legacy players in the sector. To help us understand this turbulent business landscape, we spoke with Martina Löfqvist, the Head of Strategy & Partnerships at Picterra, on Episode 48 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, about her experiences and advice surrounding startup and scale-up companies. Read on for her insights. 

“Building stuff for space that you actually fly into space is very complex because there are a lot of regulations around it. Even though it’s become cheaper and easier to launch, there are still a lot of regulations around what you can launch and how you can launch it. If you want to build a novel piece of technology, it takes time to innovate on that. 

When it comes to software, that is a little bit easier to develop. When you have some new technologies and developments, such as machine learning, it’s quite complex. We’re seeing right now that there’s a lot of hype around AI, which is also great for us because more people understand what it actually means now, but it’s still a challenge to develop a really solid solution and end product. 

In terms of the space industry in general, there’s still a link missing between what the space industry creates and what appears on the commercial market. There’s still a challenge in terms of commercialization. Of course, you have some b2b sales within the space industry, which I think is easier because you would be selling to companies that understand what you’re doing. When you go out into other industries, there’s still an education piece that needs to be done. 

For example, when it comes to Earth Observation in the agriculture sector, a lot of farmers don’t understand why you need satellite data. I heard someone at a conference recently say that they had talked to a farmer, and they explained all the amazing things that you can do with Earth Observation and analytics, and the farmer said, “Well, I have a window. I could just look out and see how my crops are doing.” So there’s a communication aspect where we need to make sure we’re offering clients added value. 

To achieve that, we need more marketing people, salespeople and strategists into the industry because they can bring our products to life. To do that, smaller companies need to have a strong culture. One of the reasons I joined Pixar was because of its culture. Of course, its technology is really amazing, too, and I have a personal connection to that, coming from a software and AI background to the product that we have. But I do believe the saying, ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’. Throughout history, there are many great examples of how humans have been able to accomplish amazing things by having a very strong team. Having a collaborative culture at the core of a team allows you to innovate. 

Hiring the right people and making sure that the team feels safe, heard and appreciated is important because if you have that, you’ll also express that outward. You’ll also have more ideas flourishing within the company, and people will feel safe enough to express their concerns, admit their mistakes, and engage in more creativity. When we’re hiring at the Picterra, something that we really look for is emotional intelligence. It’s vital for us that our people have an understanding of themselves and how they relate to other people. Compassion is important too. 

To hear more from Martina, tune into Episode 48 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here.

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