Month: March 2023

On Executives Unpacked we get to know the people in leadership across the Connectivity, Satellite & NewSpace, Cyber Security and Content & Media industries. On Episode 20 we were joined by Michał Zachara, the COO at KP Labs, a Polish NewSpace company that develops advanced solutions such as processing units, software edge processing, and small to medium satellites. Michał has been interested in technology from a very young age, and has a love for adventure. Read on to learn more about this dynamic and innovative executive!

What is the biggest lesson that you’ve learned during your career?

Technologies change all the time, and the business environment is changing very rapidly. People are the most important factor in our lives, so it’s important that you are surrounded by the right people. I’m trying to work with the best people in my career, and I’m trying to choose the people in my surroundings wisely. All the issues that I had in the past with clients and projects were all about communication. Even if you are doing the best job ever, if you cannot communicate it properly to your teammates or to your clients, you won’t be successful. 

What do you wish that you’d been told earlier in your career?

I wasn’t told that being a grown up would be such a tough thing. I wish someone would have told me that real life is a little bit scary. 

What is the best bit of advice you have been given?

The people that you’re working with are the key. If you’re not working with the right people, you will not be able to progress. Try to choose wisely, try to work hard and get the best from all the people that are around you. It’s very easy in corporate life to lose the people that aren’t working well, but it’s very hard to help someone flourish inside of the company. I learned that from my first mentor. 

What type of things keep you constantly awake at night?

I’m a dreamer, and when I’m setting up some new topics for the company, I’m already two steps ahead and trying to think about the next future. Because of that, we are developing very rapidly. We grew from 3 people to 80 in four years, which comes with its own challenges. When you are a team of 10 or 20 people, you can discuss every problem with a cup of coffee in the kitchen. When you’ve got 80 or 100 people, you have to introduce processes very fast. The biggest challenge is how to scale faster and introduce processes that will not kill us and still give us a lot of fun in our work. The corporation has to be as agile as possible with the number of people they have. 

Is there a single thread that’s run through your career that led to success?

I think it’s a mix of determination, luck and experience. I started my career as a quality assurance engineer, and a large part of that is finding bugs in our applications and the mistakes of other developers. You quickly learn how to deal with quality. I was told by my first leader that the quality of the work is not only the application, but the overall wealth that you’re delivering. I’m trying to move this focus on quality to every aspect of my life. That totally different experience has helped me to shape the everyday aspects of my work.

What’s the advice that you would give to others coming into the industry?

I’m giving this piece of advice to students in Poland who are studying space-related topics; be brave. People at the universities are saying that space is too hard, and it’s not for you because only the best have the chance to build a career in the space industry. Just try anyway. This rate of interest is developing really fast, and the NewSpace movement is making it much more open for new people to come in. You have to at least try to enter the market, because it’s a great adventure, and it’s a lot of fun. 

To learn more about Michał’s work, listen to the Executives Unpacked Podcast here. 

On Executives Unpacked we ask our guests the secret to their success. On Episode 19 we had the pleasure of sitting down with Guy De Carafel, who told us that learning new things is the secret to career progression. Guy is the Founder and CEO of Cognitive Space, where they disrupt the space sector with intelligent infrastructure. Guy’s career has taken him from mechanical engineering to aerospace, giving him a wealth of knowledge about the industry. Read on to hear his insights!

What is the biggest lesson that you’ve learned during your career?

Don’t be limited by what’s right in front of you. Be curious. There’s always a solution or a different way of doing things for you to explore. Don’t let others set your path; find your own way.

What do you wish that you’d been told earlier in your career? 

Be patient. Build relationships, and make sure you’ve got a strong network, because it’ll follow you throughout your career and life. Building those relationships is critical for success.

What constantly keeps you awake at night?

When you’re growing a team, it’s essential to make sure everyone’s on the same page and rowing in the same direction. Building up your product as fast as you can, addressing the right problems for our customers, and sharing the value that we’re bringing to them is my biggest concern. It’s down to us to make a difference and move the industry forwards by completing our mission, which is to empower the use of space. We’re doing that by making better use of space and the satellites through AI.

Can you identify a single thread through your career that’s led to your success?

I think it was a lot of different things. I’ve always been curious. And I’m not shy of trying new things, even if I have zero knowledge of the domain. Coming out of college, I didn’t really know how to do programming, but I ended up doing programming and software development for NASA, and winning awards for that. I’ve always been interested in starting my own effort and making an impact in the industry. That’s how space became my mission, because I saw that the industry as a whole could mature in a big way. I leveraged the latest in machine learning technology, and moved away from the legacy approaches of managing satellites to create a disruptive solution.

Starting a company is not for the faint of heart, especially with a newborn child like I did. You need to learn every day – new skills, new mistakes, new ways of doing things – and you have to wear every single hat there is. Despite that, if you’re up to the challenge, it’s a really rewarding effort.

What’s one bit of advice you’d give to somebody coming into the industry, what would that be?

Focus on the mission. Focus on what you’re bringing to the industry. Start with your why, and be stubborn about it. That’s how it will come to fruition. I’m a firm believer that space has a lot to offer, and will be drastically different in as little as 10 years from now. I would encourage anyone that’s looking to move to come into this industry and move space forward.

To hear more about Guy’s work in the space sector, tune into the Executives Unpacked podcast here. 

On Episode 18 of Executives Unpacked we got to know John Beckner, the founder and CEO of Horizon Technologies. John told us about his career in the aerospace sector, where he has worked for over 30 years. He’s worked in and out of government, including working with Ronald Reagan in 1980. Thanks to his expertise, Horizon Technologies has transitioned from an innovative startup to a groundbreaking company who are providing systems to the aircraft industry. Read on to find his best advice for others who are entering the aeronautical industry. 

What is the biggest lesson that you’ve learned during your career?

You learn more from failures than you do from victories. I’ve always asked myself, “What do you learn from winning a programme? Why did you lose it? What were the pitfalls?” I look back at what happened, then see what we can do better next time. We lost a satellite recently, so as we go forward and build the next one, what are the lessons I can take forward? Always learn from your setbacks and defeats.

What do you wish that you’d been told earlier?

That 1 in 10 launches fails. It’s risky. My glass is half full, so I always thought “This is going to work”. The reality is, the numbers are there, and it is a roll of the dice. We’re going to step up with help from the UK government and our partners. We’ll get back into space. We just have to take it one step at a time.

What is the best bit of advice that you’ve ever been given?

Learn from your elders, mentors and people who have been there before. When I look back at my career, I could look to older members and understand they’d been in my shoes before. Get knowledge and advice from people who’ve worked in your position before. There’s a tendency, especially in today’s environment, for young people to think they’re the first ones to do things, but that’s not often true. Look to the older generation and learn from them, because they’re the ones who get us to where we are. 

What keeps you awake at night? 

The challenges we’ve had in the last year are really about the global supply chain. The component business affects the satellite payloads as well. We’re not first in line, which has been a big problem for us in the last year. We’re not done with the ramifications of COVID, which is a concern for my company. I don’t like to spend weekends talking to companies in Hong Kong asking for a specific semiconductor, but sometimes that’s what it takes. COVID’s also had a knock-on effect on sales. We can’t sell our avionics business commercially so we need to go to trade shows, but they’ve not been happening. If there’s no trade shows, there are no orders. Flights are full again and life goes on, but we’re still catching up. 

Is there a single thread that’s run through your career that led to your continued success?

For me there are two. Number one; you gotta be quick. Respond quickly, turn things around, be mean and lean. Number two is determination. You can’t give up if you want to keep that pace up. It’s hard work. Lean and mean turnarounds are what will keep your customers happy, and in order to achieve that you have to be persistent.

What one bit of advice do you always give others?

Don’t give up. Don’t let setbacks throw you off. Don’t walk away from the game. There are two sides to that though. There is not always a way forward, so I’m not telling you to keep butting your head against the tree. There has to be a balance. Our motto at the University of Southern California is “Fight on”, which I still hold to, but you have to pick your battles too. Be wise enough to say, “There is no more fighting on here”. Sometimes it’s better to devote your energy somewhere else. 

To hear more about John’s work in the aeronautical industry, tune into the Executives Unpacked podcast here.