Building a Hotel on the Moon: The Next Trillion-Dollar Wedge

The bottleneck for space isn't rockets anymore, it’s real estate. In this episode, we sit down with Skyler, the founder of GRU Space (YC W26), the company building the first hotel on the moon. We dive deep into why the "hotel" is actually a strategic wedge for lunar infrastructure, how they plan to manufacture bricks using moon dust (Regolith), and why NASA is pivoting its $20B budget toward off-world habitation. What you’ll learn: Why "In-Situ Resource Utilization" (ISRU) is the key to a space-faring civilization.The YC interview strategy that won over a skeptical partner.How to engineer $0 PR and generate billions of impressions.The "SpaceX Parallel": How to work backward from a massive goal.Why brands like Coca-Cola and Nike are eyeing lunar naming rights. 📌 Watch now and subscribe for more smart, fast, founder-first interviews. Chapters:  00:00 Next Bottleneck Habitats 00:26 YC Roaster Sponsor Break 01:16 Meet GRU Space 02:43 Moon Bricks From Regolith 03:30 Skyler Origin Story 05:56 Why Humans Not Just Robots 07:44 Moon Hotel As Economic Wedge 10:43 Mars City Backwards Plan 13:03 NASA Funding Lunar Rush 15:54 Reservations Timeline 2032 16:42 Handling Haters And Noise 18:52 Ignore the Haters 19:47 YC Interview Story 23:21 Engineering Virality 27:18 Why It Went Global 29:00 Pricing and Founder Lessons 30:42 Branding on Moon Bricks 33:44 Souvenirs and Sign Off 🎧 Listen on the go:  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1u1JyRKH8JYFjhBkvTUOAP  Apple: https://apple.co/4cZ8RMm  My other YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lobstercap This Lobster Talks episode is brought to you by YC Roaster, a free tool helping founders improve their YC applications.  🔗 https://ycroaster.com