Advisory

Advisory for founders building in space.

We work with ISAM, space and deep-tech founders on the decisions that turn a working technology into a business: who buys it, what to build next, how to sell it and how to get ready to raise.

Where we help

Four problems between a breakthrough and a business.

They show up most sharply in space, and in any company where the technology is hard, the buyers are complex and the timelines are long.

Finding the market

The technology works. The open question is who needs it badly enough to pay, and when.

  • Commercial, civil government or defense: which customer first
  • Mapping the capability to concrete customer problems
  • Market and competitive research
  • Business model and pricing on long timelines
  • Positioning and the company narrative

Building the product and the company

Turning a core capability into a product, and deciding what the team and cost structure need to look like.

  • Product strategy built around a core technology
  • The software, data and AI layer around the hardware
  • Roadmap, cost and runway decisions
  • Team and operating structure, including distributed teams
  • New products and business lines

Selling into complex buyers

Enterprise and government customers buy through committees. Someone has to map who decides, who blocks and who champions.

  • Buying committees, champions and decision-makers
  • Go-to-market motion and sales strategy
  • Partnerships, primes and channels
  • Customer segmentation and verticalization
  • Pricing and packaging decisions

Raising and diligence

A raise, partnership or acquisition is coming, and the story has to hold up under scrutiny.

  • A fundraising narrative for investors new to the sector
  • Series A and B preparation
  • What investors and acquirers examine in diligence
  • Regulatory and risk questions that shape the plan
  • Transaction readiness
Sonia Sarao

Sonia Sarao

Co-founder, Advisory

Commercialization, product, go-to-market and fundraising

Sonia on LinkedIn

Sonia has spent more than 20 years in enterprise software and financial-market infrastructure, including a decade at NYSE. She was the first product hire at Fluxx and rose to VP of Product and Engineering as recurring revenue grew roughly tenfold, then led product at Groove through its acquisition by Clari. Along the way she helped win multimillion-dollar enterprise deals, developed new product lines and vertical strategies, and supported Series A and B fundraising and acquisition diligence.

She has built and led technical teams across the US, India, Kenya, Canada and Europe, and holds degrees in computer science and software engineering. Today she leads the firm's advisory work, with a focus on space and in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), and builds the firm's own products.

Her strength is translation: between engineers, customers, executives and investors. She works from first principles to find the underlying problem and how the parts of a business fit together.

  • 20+ years in enterprise software and financial-market infrastructure
  • A decade at NYSE
  • VP of Product at Groove, through its acquisition by Clari
  • First product hire at Fluxx, later VP of Product and Engineering
  • Supported Series A and B fundraising and three M&A diligence processes
  • Built and led technical teams across the US, India, Kenya, Canada and Europe
  • Degrees in computer science and software engineering

She brings software, product and commercial experience to space companies, not aerospace engineering. You know the physics. She helps with who buys it and how.

Investing questions go to Cammie Clay, who leads our investing. How we invest

How engagements work

Decisions, carried through.

Engagements are shaped around the company’s priorities and evolve as decisions are made and new constraints emerge.

  • A company-level perspective across market, product, go-to-market and fundraising
  • Regular working sessions focused on the decisions in motion
  • Direct access as questions surface between sessions
  • Continuity from decision through execution
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