Why Every Satellite Needs Earth | Northwood CEO on a16z
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Every satellite requires a connection point back to Earth. If you don't have it, you don't have a space mission. It literally is just like a rock in space.
You just won a $50,000,000 contract with Space Force to help modernize.
At Northwood, we wanna take space missions missions further faster. We're looking for a categorical outcome, not just an incremental outcome.
Today, we're talking about one of the most overlooked bottlenecks in the space economy, ground infrastructure. My guest is Bridget Mentler, cofounder and CEO of Northwood, a company building the systems that connect satellites back to Earth. If launch gets things into space, ground is what actually makes those missions useful. In this episode, we cover Bridget's unconventional path into space, why ground has lagged behind the rest of the industry, and how a more modern vertically integrated approach could unlock the next wave of innovation in space.
Bridget, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you.
So we're here to talk about Northwood. We're here to talk about space. But first, wanna talk about how you got here. Unconventional career path, some may say. When you look at the arc of your career, what are the threads that tie together? How do you make sense of your path?
Following curiosity. I think curiosity becomes the most organic motivator Yeah. For people. And that's definitely the case for me. I think my home environment growing up was really cultivating that curiosity. And my parents also really encouraged excellence, which I think is great. So if you're curious about something, it's not just something you dabble in. It's something you try to take to, like, the nth degree and really try to understand what excellence looks like in that domain.
Yeah.
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