 Now I'd like to introduce our next speaker. I'm very excited about you can all know that I'm like a space nut So her next feeder is Peter Beck from rocket lab So he's CEO and technical director of rocket lab, which is New Zealand's rocket technology company, which he founded back in 2006 so in 2009 Peter led rocket lab to accomplish its first major goal of building and launching Its first rocket a tier one to reach space if you haven't seen the video of this on YouTube Please go watch it because it's freaking awesome like literally the excitement I was there and you do the countdown right now. I was down. It was just so excited and you realize that we've just made this huge amazing rocket go to space from from something Peter just you know what seemed to be made in his backyard now Rocket lab has advanced a lot since then obviously and this year and rocket lab has announced electron the 18 meter 10 ton Carbon composite launch vehicle which will allow the launch of satellite constellations at a fraction of the cost Before forming rocket lab Peter's already prestigious career included working with IRL are my favorite levitating material high-temperature superconductors and Peter has been awarded the Royal Society Cooper medal for the best single account of research in physics and engineering as well as the meritorious medal from the Royal Aeronautical Society of Services of an exceptional nature leading to major advances in New Zealand aviation So Peter was one of these kids who grew up in a techie family surrounded by engineers and workshops He was a kid apparently who just had lots of tools and bash stuff and apparently nothing's changed since then Apart from he went to get an advanced trade in precision engineering giving him the practical foundation needed to develop rocket labs unique propulsion technology Peter is known throughout New Zealand as rocket men and when asked what he would tell his youngest start-up self He said don't mess around with a small fry. Just go straight for the big fish and with that I'd like to introduce Peter Beck Thanks very much Michelle. I think you've pretty much taken over about half my talk there, so So just kind of briefly New Zealand's not known for its some space prowess and Really how I started rocket lab is I was in America and I was visiting all the companies that I'd been corresponding with the years and years It sort of realized that actually I don't want to be a tiny gear and a giant machine of Lockheed Martin or one of those big space contractors and really even if I made a big time in in those contractors They're really not going to do what I want to do and make a real a real difference So pretty much Michelle said everything that needs to be said there but apart from the fact that You know, we've done a done a lot with organizations like DARPA and ultimately Lockheed Martin and various other space companies in the US last year We we knuckled down and decided we were going to do The electron launch vehicle and so we went over to Silicon Valley and and raised our first a-round And for me it was really important to get the the right kind of capital We probably could have raised the a-round in New Zealand but what we're looking to do is basically hit control of delete on the space industry and If you're going to do that you you know, you have the potential to piss a lot of people off So we really wanted to make sure we had the right sort of capital behind us and the right sort of horsepower to go and actually Execute on doing what we want to do So just really quickly just to sort of give you some context to why the electron launch vehicle is important What we're trying to do is is important is Some fun facts last year America went to space 19 times the average cost of the mission was 132 million So if you're a startup with a small satellite and looking to do something pretty significant in space or anything in space for that matter It's a massive barrier to that to the market and the way I kind of liken it is if you imagine a freight train Going across America 12 times a year at an enormously expensive cost then it's the whole country grinds to a whole and then along comes FedEx and Things start to move along so we're kind of FedEx to space and a lot of respects and That comes down to the two main things that actually we need to change with space to to really open that market up And that is cost but not necessarily cost per kilogram but how much capital do I need to go and raise to get my asset into into orbit to generate revenue and Launch frequency actually a service that goes there more than a dozen times a year so we created the electron launch vehicle and Set of hundred thirty two million and it's four point nine million and we left a hundred kilogram Satellite to a five hundred kilometers unsynchronous orbit, which is if you're a space geek It's like a skybox class satellite But the real different I guess the real the real difference here is we started off with a clean sheet of paper and we said okay, we want to open space up how are we going to do that and The first thing we did is we looked at our launch sites and we pulled out 20 years of weather and we said okay, okay These are the weather conditions that that we're going to have to deal with because we want to launch at least once a week Instead of once a month or a few times at least once a week, so we pulled out that 20 years of weather and That's what drove the design of the vehicle. That's what size the vehicle That's what size of structural margins is being able to launch at least once a week and any weather condition just about and The other thing we did is is designed it for manufacture So every decision we take there is is design is about how we can we mass produce this? How can we reduce cost and increase manufacturability which in the space industry is generally nine or ten down the priority list? But I guess the the biggest the biggest thing for us is actually launching this out in New Zealand and It might might sound kind of strange We know why why do this in New Zealand in the first place? Surely America or Europe is a place to go to actually go and change the space industry But it's kind of an interesting little thing so we went over to America and spoke to all the launch ranges over there and said okay, we want to launch once a week and As much as they'd like to do that. They all kind of laughed at us Because there's just so much stuff there. There's so much aircraft so many aircraft movement so much shipping movement So many people that even though they wanted to there was just no way of launching more than once a month Really, I mean to launch multiple times in a week was just an absurd proposition so along comes a little New Zealand here, we're a small island nation in the mill and nowhere and Basically, I've got nothing to hit until chilly, so good to go and There's no aircraft movements really and there's no marine shipping And we can go sun synchronous right out to a 46 degree space station or but out of the one side So it's really really the ideal place to to do this and you know We all speak English and we're not corrupt and we get on with the US. It's it's all perfect so That that's kind of the the background there But I'll just go through some some real quick lessons that I've learned along along my journey So the first one is get on a plane And that sort of goes goes back to the previous comment about talking to your customers intimately and you know I think Kiwi's sometimes a little bit afraid to just get on a plane and get over there Get over to a miracle wherever your market is a mercer self in it and and just just go and talk to your customers And go and really understand it your industry Don't mess around a small fry I think that's probably that the one thing that I've learned from from you know, seven years of rocket lab is Don't bother with the little companies if you're trying to do strategic partnerships Just go straight for the big stuff and and that's the same for our capital raise as well It's not mess around with small tears Let's go to the tier one the big guys and the deep pockets and just go Only talk to the deciders So if you're going over to the valley or Or anywhere for that matter or any part of your business only talk to the deciders and the way I kind of do this And it works particularly well in America is if I'm going to go and talk to someone say within Lockheed Martin, I'll just go straight to the chief scientist and Sometimes you've got to bluff your way in there But the ironic thing is there's there's much more of a sort of a protocol or diplomatic protocol in America I've found you know, you don't it's not kind of that right to just go and approach The chief scientist usually you would approach, you know his juniors and work your way up But you can use that to advantage because if you approach that chief scientist He kind of thinks that you've already gone through the process of going up through all your juniors But but you haven't but you go straight to him. He assumes that you have you have good discussions with him You've got to have something really good to sell you can't just you know Ask him what the weather is doing it's got to be you've got to have something really really good And if you've got something really really good Then it's it just takes care of itself from there onwards because now the chief scientist likes what you're doing and everyone below him assumes that You know the chief scientist wants this so it must happen So it perpetuates, you know sort of a top-down approach and that that works that works really well, especially I think for Kiwis Don't disclose who you're talking to With with with investors, especially make sure you've got as best you can everybody Segregated and just don't don't disclose who you're talking to if you want your job is to leverage your valuation So you don't want people talking and coercing and trying to try to do deals alongside you have hardware If you're a software company Still have hardware. I believe you need something physical that somebody can touch and it can't just be Rotten hardware has to be just beautiful work of art hardware. That's what that's what you have to have with you and That that makes you know I found that makes a huge difference and and I travel to America with a rocket engine And a stack of paperwork this high But nevertheless to America with a rocket engine and there's there's nothing to get someone more excited than just putting a rocket engine on The table and having a discussion. It works really well Use deadlines and this is this is great for Kiwis Especially once again a few if you're raising capital or doing anything in America or anywhere else in the world for example Have deadlines and use them because you know things can people get excited, but excited is not a deal You've got to you've got to progress things and use deadlines to make things happen And it's really easy when you're a Kiwi up in the US You're up there and look I'm only here for a week You don't sort of disclose that you could easily stay another week But you're only here for the week and people will move schedules to talk to you So you really use that one to your advantage and A pitch a pitch when you're pitching to try and raise capital You know really it really needs to tell a story. It's really it's really got to be You know very passionate and I kind of liken it to theater almost I mean you're trying to tell your your story. You're trying to get across your your You know your idea or what's what's going to change the world and why it's important to you and everybody everybody else if you put up a You know a pitch deck where the whole lot of details and graphs and and bargain to details and numbers Which may be exciting to you as an engineer or or or whatever you're doing really You know the venture capital guys just just not interested and they want to they want to hear the story about about everything So really really focus on that The other one I want to talk about is why base your business in New Zealand and You know, there's a lot of New Zealand startups and you know the community sort of starting to grow and all the rest of it But I take it's kind of a different approach to this And it might not be particularly popular, but Really only base your business in New Zealand if there's a good geographical advantage If you're a software company, that's that's going to do something that you know bolts right up into Apple Then you need to be in the valley Just don't bother trying to do it in New Zealand Just get on a plane and go to where you need to go to get the job done This is about you know your idea you building your business you doing something for humanity It's not it's not about I want to live in Auckland. It's it's much bigger than that So, you know only stay in New Zealand. It's a great geographic advantage If you make it big you come in home with loads of cash, so it's all good The other thing I want to talk about is a billion-dollar company in in in New Zealand and For me when I started Rocket Lab I Wasn't interested in building a hundred million dollar company I wasn't interested in in you know building a medium or large Small to medium company. I'm in I'm in this to build a big billion-dollar company. I'm in it to change the space industry That's the prime driver, but I'm also in it to build we're gonna do it You know, let's do it properly and let's build a billion-dollar company and the thing that I've found is that Kiwis generally don't sit there and aim to build a billion-dollar company They want to build an idea and and you know build a little company and end up with a batch in a boat and a BMW and the three B's But they don't really think they're well, how can I take this global? How can I make this a billion-dollar company or multi-billion-dollar company? How can this be as big as Apple? So I think that's something that Kiwis really need to work on because in my experience the ideas are billion-dollar ideas Some of the people I've bumped into in America, you know a lot of them in high levels are often Kiwis and they're doing great things, but New Zealand needs to build billion-dollar companies if we we want to want to really grow as a country and Go after the really big problems. I mean we're trying to change the space industry That's that's a decent enough problem, but there's other other problems there That are really big that New Zealand can can go after and solve so That's kind of my advice in that one and Then if you've got a big idea and you're looking to build a billion-dollar capital billion billion-dollar company Then go after the big capital Don't mess around with the little the little you know mom and dad and best is just get on a plane Get over the valley or wherever you got to go and go big And that's kind of the last point is Go big or go home. I mean you're gonna slog your you know Slug your life away for the next five or ten years building a startup It may as well be a billion-dollar one You may as well aim to have a billion-dollar one and a roadmap to get to a billion-dollar one than a hundred million-dollar one So the last thing I want to try is is just this little experiment now I don't generally do a lot of these kind of talks, but I like to do Try and find time to do it to this these kind of communities communities because I think it's really important But generally what I try and do is get people to put their hands up, but that never works because the Kiwis are too shy So I want everybody to start by putting their hands up this time. We're gonna try something different right very good So I want everyone to put their hands down who is and best or currently runs a company Anybody currently runs a company who's invest okay? Cool. I want people to put their hands down if If they're not contemplating creating a startup So in theory here, we should only have people's hands up who are looking at creating a startup Very good, right So I want you to put your hands down if you're on your deathbed and you're sitting there and you're thinking Right out. I've had a good life. I've got a lovely wife. I've had good children. I've got a nice car I've built a nice company and Everything's been great So put your hands down if you would be happy to die like that Wow So Scott and Sam the from founders fun and various These are the people that you should be investing in because I guarantee if you ask these people You know, why is your hand still up the answer is probably well, that's actually not good enough for me I want to actually make a difference in the world. I want to do something significant with my life and You know, you get one chance on planet Earth. You get one right around. So, you know, you really need to make it count So don't take note who's got their hands up guys and don't talk to those guys. So that's me. Thanks very much