Tell us your background and about Epsilon3

I have a Bachelor’s in Astronautical Engineering and a Master’s in Systems Architecture from the University of Southern California.

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I've been passionate about sending humans into space since I was eight years old, so becoming a Mission Operations Engineer at SpaceX was a lifetime achievement for me. My motivation for joining Northrop and SpaceX was to take on more risks and challenges, but also wanting to contribute to the future of human spaceflight.

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Being one of the initial members of the operations team for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, I was also on console for the first Dragon mission in 2010, the first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2012, and part of the commercial crew that delivered astronauts to the ISS in 2020.

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"I've been passionate about sending humans into space since I was eight years old, so becoming a Mission Operations Engineer at SpaceX was a lifetime achievement for me."

Me and my team were responsible for crew and ground operator flight training, flight software test, CONOPs development and simulator design. Over the years, I authored, tested and executed hundreds of procedures for both the ground operations teams and the crew onboard Dragon.

Epsilon3 is a SaaS platform for companies to write, edit, run, and then have records of all of their operations. So you can think of it as an electronic procedure system that you can integrate your command and telemetry, requirements, tests, part numbers, and more. You can integrate all of that into Epsilon3, so you have all of the information in one place. It's going to help you communicate better across your team and reduce costly mistakes in the future. We’ve named each of our products to make it clear which operations they were designed to support:

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PLAN: Organize and schedule operations, workflows, and events.
BUILD: Track engineering, manufacturing, assembly, parts, and inventory.
EXECUTE: Create and run procedures, tasks, and work instructions.
TEST: Build test plans with custom requirements and conditions.
ANALYZE: Collect and learn from telemetry, test, and time-series data.
DISCOVER: Automate reporting to quickly uncover insights and trends.

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We are a staff of 24 working fully remote across the United States. Epsilon3 closed our Series A in June of 2022, raising $15M, which brought our total funding to $18.8M.

How did the idea for Epsilon3 come about and what was it like getting started?

Epsilon3 was founded based on a number of challenges I saw during my career in space. I worked at a very large company, Northrop Grumman, and then subsequently at a ‘startup’ (yes, in 2009 it was considered a startup at 700 employees), SpaceX, which most people don’t consider a startup anymore. I saw how really good operational tools could help push people faster and help teams re-engineer systems and vehicles.

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After leaving SpaceX, I talked to a number of people who all said the same thing; that they don't have really good operational tools or that they use Excel or Python scripts.

I wanted to empower the industry. Epsilon3 is the result of that. It came from a desire to solve these problems for all the people I know in the space industry, not necessarily a desire to start a company.

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"We are a staff of 24 working fully remote across the United States."

How did you initially fund the company?

We originally wanted to bootstrap the business, but with the meetings we set and the timelines we were up against, it was clear we needed to move fast and build a team. In 2021, we were lucky to receive a lot of generous investor support very quickly. Through our own networks, we quickly secured initial key angel commitments and several early-stage institutions wanted to join thereafter. Pre-Seed, we raised $1M from MaC Venture Capital, Stage Venture Partners, and assorted strategic angels. We completed the round in about 3 weeks.

Why is the problem you are solving important and how does it help human space exploration?

I’m so excited for the future of the space industry and can’t wait to see how it flourishes in the next few years. I'd like to see commercial astronaut flights becoming routine, commercial space stations orbiting our earth, and more international space exploration partnerships. Epsilon3 can help make all of that a reality.

Epsilon3 arms operators with the best possible tools throughout an entire project lifecycle. Most software tools in the space industry are legacy systems or proprietary internal tools that only solve one problem. We are building a full suite of software that integrates with mission-critical data and workflows. Epsilon3 was designed to help engineers and operators do their job more efficiently—with significantly less room for human error.

What are some achievements you're proud of?

I’m super proud of the team we’ve built and the way we’ve been able to help our customers improve their operations. With an incredibly talented and mission-driven engineering team, we’ve been able to quickly deliver new products, features and software updates that have a massive impact on the way our customers get their work done. Helping our customers engineer, build, test and operate spacecraft is something we’re all very proud of.

What have been some of your biggest challenges? How did you overcome them?

Early on at Epsilon3, we considered bootstrapping the business. The bootstrapping idea came because our three founders started talking to tons of people and thought, "Well, we need to build something quickly and get people on board sooner rather than later." Over time it became clear that we needed to add a couple more people to the team and the route to venture was an easy decision when we realized we needed to hire people. Obviously, I can't hire people and not pay them, so bootstrapping went out the window as soon as we looked to add people to the team.

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"I'd like to see commercial astronaut flights becoming routine, commercial space stations orbiting our earth, and more international space exploration partnerships."

What are exciting milestones coming up for Epsilon3?

We recently launched a Test Management solution that helps our customers streamline Flight Testing and Quality Assurance (QA) procedures. Today, we’re in the process of collecting feedback and making exciting improvements to that new tool. We’re also developing a few new products and integrations that are going to help our customers replace even more outdated, manual systems.

What advice do you have for aspiring space entrepreneurs?

The thing that I think about a lot when looking at the various space startups out there is that you have to solve a problem. Then, you have to look at the problem and question if it is a big enough problem that people are going to pay money for. Lastly, ask yourself if you are the right person to solve this problem and if not, find that person and utilize both of your unique skills to solve it.

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Looking at those things and comparing what you're building to the competition is really the next important step. So first, have a problem, and second, be the unique person that is qualified to build the solution. Lastly, take risks, work hard, and have some fun with your team!

How can the public support you with your mission?

Sign up for our newsletter; and if you have any friends in space, aerospace or aviation, let them know Epsilon3 wants to help them drive mission success!

"Have a problem, and second, be the unique person that is qualified to build the solution."

Lastly, where can people find out more about Epsilon3 and follow along?

You can find us on our website, follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn.