Daniel Pérez Grande is the CEO of Ienai Space, a Spanish space propulsion startup that evolved from university research into a company pioneering electric mobility for satellites. Beginning with winning the Young Visionaries Award at the International Electric Propulsion Conference in 2017, he built a team that would secure €10 million in funding and put the first European ElectroSpray thruster in orbit.

In this episode, Daniel reveals how he transformed plasma physics research into a thriving space mobility company while surviving on just €12,000 salary and working from a garage. With no initial funding and competitors raising 10X more capital, he shares the dramatic story of nearly closing the business in 2020 before receiving a life-saving grant that same day. Daniel offers critical insights on deep tech fundraising and explains his controversial take on why "space is hard, but propulsion is harder."RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.

Want to get hired at Ienai? https://tally.so/r/m64v6J

Want to get invest in Ienai? https://tally.so/r/wbgr1Z

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Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction

04:10 - "Space is hard, propulsion is harder"

08:38 - Winning the Young Visionaries Award

13:30 - From research to commercial venture

18:24 - Navigating the difficult early years

24:25 - Market research and space industry insights

31:36 - First million in funding journey

38:37 - Doing more with less funding

43:47 - Flight heritage and technical milestones

51:47 - Commercial delivery and dual approach

55:26 - Building a passionate expert team

01:00:34 - The future of Ienai Space

01:05:45 - Quick-fire insights for founders

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Takeaways:

1) Partner with Friends Who Share Your Values

- Daniel and his co-founders were friends from their PhD program who worked well together

- "The fact that we were friends, the fact that we had a personal relationship... I think it's helped with the difficult moments"

2) Expect Near-Death Business Moments

- Ienai Space nearly closed down in early 2020 before receiving critical funding

3) Do More with Dramatically Less Capital

- "We've been able to be on the same level than other companies that have raised five times, 10 times more than we have"

4) Build a Favor Economy in Deep Tech

- Limited resources forced them to get creative with partnerships and borrowing

- "We asked for a lot of favors... had people manufacture things for us for free... had access to facilities for very little money"

5) Master the Non-Dilutive Funding Landscape

- Public funding provided nearly half of their total capital

- "We've raised about €5 MILLION in public funding... Spain has a lot of it"

6) Own Your Critical Technology Components

- Keep high-value components in-house to protect margins

- "Electronics are 50% of the value... if you outsource that technology, it will cut away from your margins crazily"

7) Generate Software Revenue Before Hardware is Ready

- Software tools create cash flow and build trust with future hardware customers

- "If we have software, software is going to be easier and quicker to develop. We can start to generate revenues"

8) Understand Convertible Note Mechanics

- The cap on convertible notes influences your next valuation

- "That cap is going to be used as a reference point for the valuation in your next round"

9) Hire for Hunger Over Experience

- Look for people willing to take on challenges outside their expertise

- "Why do you want to work for a startup instead of Airbus? You could earn probably double what we're paying you"

10) Prepare for Long Fundraising Timelines

- Raising capital takes much longer than most founders expect

- "Never underestimate the amount of time that you're going to take to raise a round... the first round took us a year of negotiations"