Rocket Companies
Why I’m building a rocket company
By now I hope you realize I’m not actually building physical rockets…that would be insane.
But I came up with a framework to further define the vision for what I’m trying to build.
Sometimes, struggling to articulate your vision to others can be the thing holding you back from getting their help.
By showing you how I think about my long-term vision, it may help you better frame yours.
First, what does a rocket company do? It makes rockets, fuels them up, and launches them into space.
Here’s how I think about each component:
🏭 | Rocket company = my hold co
🚀 | Rockets = various businesses
⛽️ | Rocket fuel = cash
🛣️ | Launch pad = customers
My ultimate goal is to build a company that can launch and grow multiple businesses (e.g., a hold co).
So to build a rocket company, there’s 3 places you can start:
🚀 | Build the rockets: You could start by building the first business (rocket) without any cash or customers. Imo, this is the hardest place to start, because every business needs customers and if you don’t have them, you’ll need cash to acquire them. This is where I’ve started in the past. Didn’t work
⛽️ | Make/earn the fuel: You could also start by accumulating cash (via savings, investments, cash-flowing assets, etc.). All rockets need fuel, so accumulating it before you start making the rockets is logical. But I’ve tried this too. Took cash with no customers and tried to launch a business. What ends up happening is that you have a bunch of cash and no idea how to actually get customers, so you waste your cash building rockets with no pad to launch them from. A rocket full of fuel with no way to launch is just an expensive paperweight
🛣️ | Build the launch pad: The third option is to start by building the launch pad. Rockets come in all shapes and sizes, but they all launch off the same platform (in my example). Build once, launch many. So while we’re going to also need fuel to launch any rocket, the launch pad is the most critical. Fuel can be easily bought or traded for. It’s much harder to buy an authentic launch pad (aka customer base). Launch pad = customers
So given this frame, I started by making a launch pad (building an audience).
My goal is to build an audience of potential customers that can help launch any of the rockets I choose to build. A launch pad that can handle many different launches.
But here’s where things get interesting…
Launch pads are not designed to be a cash source…that’s what the fuel (cash) is for.
But weirdly, launch pads (audiences) are so valuable that you could rent access to them in exchange for cash.
There are other rocket companies that don’t have their own launch pads and need a way to launch their rockets. These are businesses without audiences.
The business equivalent to renting access to your launch pad is doing brand deals with other companies where you’re trading access to your audience for cash.
This cash helps you start to build up your fuel reserves.
Now, to continue the metaphor, you don’t want your launch pad to be solely used for cash generation.
Because if you rent out all of the slots to other companies, you’ll never be able to launch your own rockets. The equivalent to this is doing so many brand deals that your audience fatigues and doesn’t see you as an authentic source of value.
So what you need to build is some other engine that generates cash which will build up your fuel reserves.
This could be something like a services business (agency), digital products (courses), or software products (SaaS tools).
There are a variety of ways to build up fuel (cash) reserves, and you’ll need at least one of them working.
I’m still trying to figure out what this cash source is for me.
To finish the metaphor, once you have the launch pad built (audience) and a consistent fuel production (reliable cash source), you’ll be able to start launching rockets (businesses).
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