Virgin Galactic

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2020

⏱️ 106 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Live from the 2020 ASCEND Space Conference, Acquired covers the full story behind the most "out there" technology story of the past few years: Virgin Galactic. How did this space tourism company grow out of the winning X Prize team, and catch the eyes and fancy of billionaires like Paul Allen, Sir Richard Branson, and, most recently, company chairman Chamath Palihapitiya who took it public via the first "modern" technology SPAC transaction in history? Tune in to find out!!

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Sponsors:
Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta

Statsig: bit.ly/statsigacquired
Modern Treasury: https://bit.ly/acquiredmoderntreasury

Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/virgin-galactic

Links:

Virgin Galactic's "One Small Step" reservation program: https://www.virgingalactic.com/smallstep/
The November 2020 launch delay: https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-adjusts-test-flight-schedule-in-response-to-new-state-government-covid-19-restrictions/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Should we put in a little bit of fake reverb in post so that it sounds like we were actually live?
0:05.2	Like at an auditorium?
0:07.2	That'd be awesome.
0:08.2	Live from the cavernous, Ascend, Auditorium.
0:12.4	Live from Space Port America. Welcome to Season 7 episode 6 of acquired the
0:29.4	podcast about great technology companies and the stories and playbooks behind them.
0:34.3	I'm Ben Gilbert and I'm the co-founder of Pioneer Square Labs, a startup studio and venture capital
0:39.3	firm in Seattle.
0:40.8	And I'm David Rosenthal.
0:42.1	I'm an angel investor, an independent advisor to startups based in San Francisco.
0:47.0	And we are your hosts. Today we are coming to you live from Ascend, the event defining the future of space.
0:55.0	Over the next hour, we will tell the fascinating story
0:58.0	of Virgin Galactic and the swirling cocktail of the billionaires,
1:02.0	Richard Branson, Paul Allen, and Chamath Polyhapatilla, and the aerospace
1:06.6	pioneers including Bert Ritan and Peter Diamondis behind it.
1:11.2	We also thought it would be very timely because in the next week Virgin Galactic
1:16.5	expected to make their first flight from Spaceport America in New Mexico, followed by next year in early 2021, Sir Richard Branson himself
1:25.8	flying on their first commercial trip.
1:27.8	However, the news did break this morning that, and this probably won't surprise,
1:31.4	longtime followers of the company, they
1:33.2	announced that this flight is delayed indefinitely and we'll put a link in the
1:37.5	show notes to read that press release. But for you regular acquired listeners,
	...

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