The Burnout That Built Spain's First Space Rentry Capsule

Francesco Cacciatore, a space engineer who spent 20 years designing missions to Mars, Mercury, and comets at companies like Deimos and Sener, co-founded Orbital Paradigm in 2023. When most thought reentry was a closed market dominated by established players, his team did the unthinkable: they built Spain's first reentry capsule in 11 months—working nights and weekends while still employed—and got it flight-qualified. Today, Orbital Paradigm is the only payload that survived the catastrophic PSLV failure in January 2025, with their capsule enduring 35Gs (more than double design limits) and transmitting data all the way down.In this episode, Francesco shares the unfiltered journey of building Europe's newest reentry company: how a personal health crisis made him stop "watching life from the bench" and finally start something, how they qualified flight hardware faster than anyone expected by over-engineering for the wrong mission profile, and why European founders need to stop chasing manager titles and feeling guilty about wanting to get rich.-----------------------------------------------Chapters:00:00 Introduction01:40 What Orbital Paradigm Actually Does28:05 The Health Crisis That Pushed Me to Quit35:02 Why MBAs Are Useless for Space Founders45:39 First Weeks: Building While Working Full-Time50:50 The Pivot: From In-Space Robotics to Reentry Capsules01:09:24 Build vs Buy: Being Cleverly Integrated01:14:16 Finding Your First Customers: Pulling the Thread01:19:35 Fundraising Mistakes: Stop Leading with Step One01:28:24 Launch Day: When the Rocket Failed Mid-Flight01:33:20 How KID Survived 33Gs (When It Should Have Died)01:44:16 The Biggest Lie Investors Tell Founders01:48:03 Final Message: Why It's Worth It-----------------------------------------------You will learn:- What's the biggest mistake engineers make with investors and how to fix it- Why European founders need to stop chasing titles- Why to design for customers, not capabilities- Why "vertical integration" myth is bullsh*t- What kills most of the deep tech companies-----------------------------------------------Follow Martin Majercin on X:https://www.x.com/monsfrostFollow Martin Majercin on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/monsfrost/Follow Francesco Cacciatore LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/francescocacciatore/Follow Orbital Paradigm on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbital-paradigm