Event 3/15: Global Data Broadcasting with Outernet

Join us for a discussion with Syed Karim about Outernet, which provides a a groundbreaking innovation in broadcasting, marrying satellite broadcasting with file delivery, transcending the format and time limitations of traditional radio or TV broadcasting.  Filecasting differentiates itself from a traditional broadcast by sending information as data files, so content is no longer limited to video and audio.  Receivers automatically cache these files locally, so users can enjoy flexible, on-demand access to content.  With the global…

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Event 2/9: Your Industry is Space-Scalable

The past few years have seen the commercial space industry growing at a rapid pace, and not merely in launch services. Space is a place, and requires collaboration from a wide array of industries, including yours, to enable thriving communities and businesses off planet. Joel Vinas will cover how various companies are gaining value from the space industry, and how your industry is actually space-scalable. Joel Vinas is the Executive Director of The Center for…

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Event 11/17: How Are You Going to Get to Space?

Capt. David C. Koch will share a little-known chapter in the history of commercial spaceflight, and his vision of how you’re going to get to space. Capt. Koch has been a commercial-spaceflight activist since the 1970s. While a pilot for United Airlines in the 1970s and 1980s, he also served as the Founding National Chairman of the American Society of Aerospace Pilots. He was the first, and only, airline pilot to learn to fly the…

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Event 10/6: Finance and Business Trends in the NewSpace Economy

A look under the hood of the NewSpace economy from funding and investing to where the industry is going.  How do startup companies make it in what is an increasingly competitive industry, and what are investors looking for?  Steven Jorgenson shares his observations and experiences as an active NewSpace investor and entrepreneur. Steven is the current Portfolio Manager of two hedge funds, Woodridge Capital and Viridian Fund, and is an Investment Advisor Representative for Fifth…

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Event 9/1: Overcoming the Top 5 Mistakes Made by Space Entrepreneurs

They say “Space is hard.”  But building a space venture is even harder.  Make your job as a space entrepreneur easier and learn from the mistakes of others.  Joel Vinas will discuss the top five mistakes made by space start-ups and how to overcome them. Joel Vinas is the Director of Operations for the NewSpace Business Plan Competition which has awarded over $300,000 in cash prizes to promising startups in the space sector.  The NewSpace…

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Event 6/30: Why is it difficult to finance a space start-up?

Numerous companies in the NewSpace community are building orbital launch systems of one kind or another.  Chicago-based Universal Transport Systems is one of them.  David Summers, CEO of Universal Transport Systems, will discuss some of the challenges and pitfalls involved in financing a company that is building a space launch system. David Summers has started many companies, and is still starting them.  He received an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, and has  Electrical…

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Event 5/31: Space is Open For Business

Business Opportunities on the High Frontier Business is booming in outer space.  The space economy is growing at an unprecedented rate.  Technological innovation and new business models are being followed by significant venture investment, enabling the growth of an entirely new industry, known as NewSpace.  The question is no longer how are we going to get to space.  Today the question is what are we going to do once we’re there and how are we…

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Space is Open For Business: Business Opportunities on the High Frontier

David Hurst, organizer of NewSpace Chicago and CEO of Orbital Transports, will be presenting to the Chicago Society for Space Studies on the recent growth in the commercial space industry and the rise of NewSpace companies as well as how new technologies and new ways of doing business in space are rapidly changing the marketscape and opening up new opportunities for space-related and space-scalable businesses.  Can your business idea be used in space? Maybe the…

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NewSpace Chicago Business Plan Competition

We regret to announce that due to a lack of qualified contestants at this time, we must cancel the NewSpace Chicago Business Plan competition this March.  We are evaluating possible alternatives for rescheduling the event for later this year.  Please stay tuned for further announcements. (Updated 3/4/2016) We are very pleased to announce the NewSpace Chicago Business Plan Competition for space-related and space-scalable business start-ups, to be held on Wednesday, March 16, beginning at 9am.…

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What is a Space-Scalable Business Plan?

Join us for beers and an open discussion about what is a “space-scalable” business plan.  With this edition of NewSpace Chicago, we are changing our venue to Jak’s Tap in the West Loop and our format to be more focused on group discussion. In anticipation of next month’s NewSpace Chicago Business Plan Competition, we will share tips for taking a business plan developed primarily for a terrestrial product or service and scaling it to solve…

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