In These ‘Uncertain Times’ a Little Satellite Goes a Long Way
by Lou Zacharilla
New York, NY, March 2, 2021-- How many presentations, emails, articles and Zoom webinars start with the phrase, “In these uncertain times…”? I did a quick search: 549,000. Occam’s Razor applies here. The simplest explanation is usually true. And in March 2021 the simple explanation is that we are in uncertain times because of COVID. Now can we please move on?
Isn’t it refreshing, in these uncertain times, that when you come across something close to certain that the flux seems not only manageable but inspiring? This explains the persistence of the entrepreneur and why we embrace them.
In a world that appears to be in a worse state of flux than Notre Dame’s defense against Alabama’s offense (!), entrepreneurs in the satellite industry offer inspiring certainty. Change and risk are not new. Philosophers like Frank White and science fiction writers before him said embracing this is thee only way we would get to space. (https://www.sspi.org/articles/better-satellite-world-podcast-mind-the-gap-a-conversation-with-author-and-space-philosopher-frank-white)
Commercial space is where the action is, along with low earth orbit and the next generation of network design that maximizes spectral value.
These are each necessary for us to get our house in order HERE so that we can build another home “THERE.”
The world of RF expertise has had a special, narrow place in the world communications. Kind of like a Woody Allen movie to Hollywood. But now it is a deep source of opportunity for new businesses in data analytics that range across vertical industries and drive the growth of start-ups. Satellites are relevant and RF expertise is a commodity that is hard to find.
But when you combine the engineering challenges and opportunities of the RF proposition with entrepreneurship you get something special.
Entrepreneurs Cannot Help Themselves
They are, to paraphrase the old Merrill Lynch commercial, “a breed apart.” Popular ones like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have an iconic shine. But “local” ones like Adam Maher of Ursa Space and Prateep Basu of India’s SatSure, as well as some of the men and women (mainly women) in the SSPI 20 under 35 cohort (https://www.sspi.org/cpages/20-under-35) prove that the breed is thriving. It also proves, decisively, that talent is distributed unevenly.
While youth is no longer wasted on the young in this industry it is not confined to the under-35 crowd. A start-up in Long Island, New York, STS Global (www.stsglobal.com) is led by a Hall of Fame inductee in his sixth decade as an entrepreneur in the business!
It has never gotten old for 83 year-old CEO David Hershberg. The man who sold Globecomm for a reported US$ 340 million has made a little satellite go a long way. During this uncertain period, he is on his second company named “STS,” having founded Satellite Transmission Systems in 1976.
Currently in the fifth year of his new venture--a dynamic satellite communications system integration company--the man who built the Hotline between Moscow and Washington after the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) is busy rolling out services for 5G, IoT and the power generation markets. The company’s pipeline is filled and swelling. The self-funded STS Global reached profitability in 2020. Marquee name customers like SES get the highest performance and integration for the RF part of their network design and implementation from STSG.
The consummate entrepreneur is having a good time in 2021 along with his experienced engineering team from past decades. His philosophy of business has not changed.
“When my first company was bought, my new employer accused me of paying more attention to my employees than to stockholders.” He shrugged. “They went bankrupt after we left them. We are still in business.”
I have watched him for 25 years and believe he is graced with the skill to create successful companies. This cannot be inherited or taught.
But he was pointed in the right direction thanks to a “D” in college.
“I had been an amateur ham radio operator from age 11 and when I graduated from college to go into my father’s engineering firm he saw that I got my only D in mechanical drawing. I was a sloppy map-maker. So he gave me some advice, ‘Dave, go into communications.’”
He did. The rest is history. His newest creation is seeking funding to scale, bring in more and youthful talent and do the work that keeps piling in. He is open to a strategic acquisition and has a solid idea for making the power generation industry more secure, the result of yet another patent and work being done for a Western USA utility that sees “the RF option” as a potential game-changer.
Like those other entrepreneurs that continue to pop-up in this industry, Hershberg is not affected by the phrase, “In these uncertain times.” For over 60 years he has been certain of one thing and makes his living knowing it: a little satellite goes a long way!
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Lou Zacharilla is the Director of Innovation and Development of the Space and Satellite Professionals International (SSPI). He can be reached at: LZacharilla@sspi.org
