Featured Founder: Venus Aerospace’s Sassie and Andrew Duggleby

Prime Movers Lab recently sat down with Venus Aerospace Co-founders Andrew and Sassie Duggleby to talk about the new space race, scaling their team from 3 to 50 people, and Top Gun: Maverick. Here is an excerpt from that conversation.

Tell us a bit about your background?

Sassie : I am the CEO and co-founder of Venus Aerospace. Prior to launching Venus, I was Launch Systems Engineering and Mission Management Consultant at Virgin Orbit, where I developed & tested launch software and telemetry systems, managed launch systems engineering requirements, and helped with Mission Management and Business Development. I’ve spent my career growing multiple high-tech startup businesses including fiber-optic test, biotech, and hazardous trailer manufacturing. I started my career with National Instruments as an applications engineer before getting my MBA focused on entrepreneurship. I have a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University (graduated summa cum laude) and an MBA from Virginia Tech. I’m a proud mom of 2 daughters, a barn cat, and a goofy labradoodle. I’m a huge advocate for women working in aerospace.

Andrew: I am CTO and Co-Founder of Venus. Prior to starting Venus, I was Head of Launch Operations at Virgin Orbit. I led operational planning, mission control, telemetry, ground equipment, launch infrastructure, and payload operation teams. Prior to that role, I was Head of Propulsion Research and Development. I have a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Physics from Texas A&M University, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from U. Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. Post Ph.D., I was a Mechanical Engineering Asst. Professor (Virginia Tech and Texas A&M) and I have over two-dozen peer reviewed journal and conference papers. As a third-generation professor, I thought academia was where you go to change the world…until I started my first company while a professor at A&M — turns out entrepreneurship is what changes the world. I love both operations and figuring new things out, so I constantly wish I could get more Ph.D.’s while actually moving the needle. Currently, I’m working on another degree at M.I.T. I’m also an officer in the US Navy Reserve, where I’m in command of a shipyard support unit. Oh, and I’m a father of 2.

What inspired you to start Venus?

Sassie and Andrew: We were deployed in Japan and were frustrated with the travel time and the fact that we couldn’t get home for my 93-year old grandma’s birthday. We thought, at the time, “there just has to be a better way to travel.” We launched Venus in June 2020, at the beginning of the global pandemic.

Explain the impact that 1-hour global travel could have on diplomacy, business travel, and other sectors?

Sassie and Andrew: How does the world change if you can fly across the globe and still be home for dinner? Imagine what you could do. What factory is down that can get a part in an hour? What about global organ transplant? Think about diplomacy and face-to-face meetings and conflict resolution. Consider things like extracting Seal Teams from danger. Think “global door dash” or consider having lunch in Paris. The options and possibilities are endless. Every time there has been an increase in travel speed (train, automobile, plane), it’s caused an increase in commerce and in peace.

Besides Top Gun: Maverick, why is there so much excitement in hypersonics right now?

Sassie and Andrew: Well, we’re at war. Short answer. Long answer: we’re behind. Other countries have similar technology. If we don’t develop quickly, we’ll be decades behind. There’s a race for new space and America has to win.

What was the least expected challenge you’ve overcome to reach this point?

Sassie and Andrew: The science is easy. The people are hard. Growing and scaling a company this fast is the real challenge. Going from 3 in a basement to 50 plus and a few dozen remote over a year and a half… It’s a lot! By the time our leaders figure out their duties and day job, it’s time to let go of those legos and let your new hires take over and run that aspect. The company is constantly changing and growing…the minute we have it figured out…it’s changed again.

Your headquarters is at the Houston Spaceport. Can you explain the importance of spaceports for space and aviation innovation?

Sassie and Andrew: When we started Venus, we knew we needed a place where we could test rocket engines, fly drones, fly experimental aircraft, and still have our employees home for dinner. We looked around the US and found the Houston Spaceport fit all our needs for testing and development. Spaceports, in general, provide infrastructure for launching and receiving spacecraft — not much different than an airport — as they’ll have hangars, runways, fuel storage, etc, but they can specifically handle fuel and environmental hazards associated with space related vehicles.

Who inspires you?

Sassie: I have a group of women who have become dear friends to me that are fellow female founders of startup companies. We meet monthly and these women greatly inspire me. They are moms. They are leaders. We are open and honest with each other in our struggles trying to juggle it all…we are all trying to build world-changing companies while also raising kids and having families. They have been deeply inspiring to me, and I’m so very grateful for them!

Andrew: People who can cover the entire spectrum of deep science through concepts, designs, development, production, and operations. Dr. Robert Oppenhiemer, Cal Berkeley Prof turned founder of Los Alamos National Lab and builder of nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project, is my favorite.

Have you read anything lately that inspired you?

Andrew: Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management by Bent Flyvbjerg and Technology Innovation in Legacy Sectors by Bonvillian and Weiss.

Sassie: Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World — by Melinda Gates

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.

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