Fresh off of a $95M Series B funding round, this week we bring back Ian Cinnamon, CEO of Apex, on to the show. Ian, along with his co-founder Max Benassi, started Apex to address the bottleneck in satellite bus manufacturing. Apex is revolutionizing the small satellite bus market with its productized approach and rapid manufacturing capabilities.

Our conversation explores Ian’s journey from concept to scaling production, including:

The Series B funding round and its implications
Apex's mission to become the leading supplier of satellite buses
Challenges and strategies in scaling production
Importance of maintaining a product-focused model
Insights into the evolving satellite bus market
The future vision for Apex

And much more...

• Chapters •

00:00 - Intro & 100th episode!

02:42 - Apex origin story

03:59 - Changes between funding rounds

05:12 - Key factors in raising $95m

06:40 - Financing needs of Apex

07:35 - Current fundraising environment

09:07 - Market opportunity of satellite buses

10:55 - Is there serious demand for buses if you take out Starlink?

16:05 - Winning niche for contracts

17:53 - How Apex separates itself from competitors

19:27 - SpaceX's bus building capabilities

21:04 - Plans beyond LEO

22:06 - Apex naming scheme

23:49 - Mission 1

28:23 - First expectations for Mission 1

30:10 - Mission 1 timeline

32:24 - Combatting the unreliability of the current state of launch

37:03 - Balancing Apex's needs and the government's

40:42 - Impending government contract win?

41:53 - Why Apex built an e-commerce workflow

44:22 - Scaling

48:09 - Team size and expansion goals at Apex

49:34 - What kind of capital would Apex need to be self-sustainable

51:56 - Advice for prospective founders

53:15 - Long-term vision, 10 years out

55:53 - Who is playing Ian in the movie about Apex?

• Show notes •

Apex’s website — https://www.apexspace.com/

Apex’s socials — https://twitter.com/ApexSpacecraft

Ian’s socials — https://twitter.com/IanCinnamon

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace

Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes

• About us •

Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 19,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world.

Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers. Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing five media properties across multiple platforms:

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Grand Design, with Ian Cinnamon (Apex)

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