Hardware Podcasts

Solange Massa (CEO/Founder, Ecoatoms)

Just Gonna Send It · 7 Jan 2026 · 54m · Episode 10

What this episode covers

Solange Massa, CEO and founder of EcoAtoms, explains her unconventional journey from professional opera singer to medical researcher and space payload builder. She details how a PhD struggle with sensor coating led to a NASA grant, resulting in four successful microgravity missions and the development of redundant, twin-payload designs. Massa discusses the high costs of space access, the technical challenges of thermal management for lunar missions, and her strategy of bootstrapping while seeking strategic venture capital to scale operations.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
EcoAtoms, NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin
Products
Starship, Falcon 9, New Glenn, Organs on a Chip

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • How I Built This · 1h 00m

    Planet: Will Marshall and Robbie Schingler

    Will Marshall and Robbie Schingler, co-founders of Planet, explain how they left NASA to build small, inexpensive Earth-observation satellites, starting with prototypes in a garage and launching the first Dove satellites in 2013. They detail the strategic decision to leverage consumer electronics and accept higher failure rates to achieve daily global imaging, eventually scaling to a fleet of over 400 satellites. The company recently went public on the NYSE, raising nearly $600 million, while maintaining an ethics committee to manage the dual-use nature of their data for both humanitarian and security applications.

    Starting a product companyMechanical engineering
    8 chapters

  • How I Built This · 37m

    Shooting for the moon with Steve Altemus of Intuitive Machines

    Steve Altemus, co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Machines, explains how he left NASA in 2013 to build a commercial space company focused on lunar exploration. He details the development of the NovaC-1 lander, the company's business model of selling payload delivery services for roughly $1 million per kilogram, and their partnership with SpaceX using Falcon 9 rockets. Altemus discusses the technical challenges of landing on the moon's rugged terrain, the legal framework of the Artemis Accords, and his strategy of accepting failure as a necessary part of iterating toward reliable lunar infrastructure.

    Starting a product companyPricing, margins & unit economics
    8 chapters

  • Hardware to Save a Planet · 37m

    Solving the Hydrogen Storage and Transport Challenge with Natasha Kostenuk, Founder and CEO of Ayrton Energy

    Natasha Kostenuk, Founder and CEO of Ayrton Energy, explains how her company solves the hydrogen storage and transport challenge using Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHCs). She details the technical limitations of compressed and liquefied hydrogen, the electrochemical reactor design that operates at low temperatures, and the business model targeting data centers and industrial decarbonization. Kostenuk also discusses her transition from a 19-year career in oil and gas to founding a climate tech startup, highlighting the importance of team scaling and modular hardware design.

    Materials & manufacturing processesEnergy & climate tech
    7 chapters

  • How I Built This · 52m

    KiwiCo: Sandra Oh Lin

    Sandra Oh Lin, founder of KiwiCo, explains how she transitioned from a high-level career at eBay and PayPal to launching a subscription box company for kids' science and craft projects. She details the early challenges of prototyping in her garage, securing seed funding despite being a 'mompreneur' in Silicon Valley, and the critical pivot to expanding product lines (Tinker Crate, Doodle Crate, Quala Crate) to achieve profitability. Oh Lin highlights the operational evolution from domestic sourcing and internal kitting to overseas manufacturing, resulting in over 50 million crates shipped and a self-sustaining business model.

    Starting a product companyValidation & product-market fit
    10 chapters

  • The Builder Circle · 11m

    The Pilot: Unveiling the Blueprint of "The Builder Circle"

    Sera Evcimen, host of The Builder Circle, explains her motivation for launching the podcast after mentoring startups at Techstars Paris and working on technologies like CubeSats and ion thrusters. She outlines the show's format, which includes case studies with founders like Bridget Hunter Jones and expert discussions with industry veterans such as Scott Miller. The episode details the podcast's unique value proposition, including 50-minute episodes with TL;DL summaries and a focus on actionable advice and failure analysis rather than just success stories.

    Starting a product companyValidation & product-market fit
    5 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Just Gonna Send It. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.