A company that comes to my mind is Kestrel Aviation. They had a great plan up front, founder pedigree, and experience. But they got distracted by hubris and stopped executing.
Launching a new general aviation company is massively capital intensive. They raised a bunch but failed to do anything that resembled shipping. They could have made individual parts, they could have sold kits. Any number of things.
Sometimes you have to start with the small pieces, or do services engagements. These things generate revenue, attract staff, and enable you to build the kind of organization necessary to do something capital intensive.
Trying to go to Mars as step one won’t typically work. Try to find business models for the components and assemble over time. My guess is that Elon Musk’s portfolio follows this model.
Launching a new general aviation company is massively capital intensive. They raised a bunch but failed to do anything that resembled shipping. They could have made individual parts, they could have sold kits. Any number of things.
Sometimes you have to start with the small pieces, or do services engagements. These things generate revenue, attract staff, and enable you to build the kind of organization necessary to do something capital intensive.
Trying to go to Mars as step one won’t typically work. Try to find business models for the components and assemble over time. My guess is that Elon Musk’s portfolio follows this model.