Adel Haddoud is the CEO and co-founder of Infinite Orbits, a space servicing startup that has raised €12 million in Series A funding.

In this episode of Rockets and Radars, Adel shares his journey from aerospace engineer and serial entrepreneur to building the world's first commercial nanosatellite in geostationary orbit. From surviving month-to-month during the pandemic to landing contracts with major players like Intelsat and the US Air Force, Adel explains how persistence and customer focus helped them achieve what many called impossible - repairing and servicing satellites in space.

Want to get hired in Infinite Orbits? https://tally.so/r/w2gzAe

Want to invest in Infinite Orbits? https://tally.so/r/3xLEDd

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:06) From Investor to Founder to CEO

(08:31) Finding First Customer

(22:06) Surviving the Early Years: Month-to-Month Funding

(29:37) Winning EIC Accelerator

(36:37) Building Step-by-Step: Product Evolution Strategy

(42:23) Fundraising Reality: Why We Are Always Raising

(47:12) Hiring for Personality Over Process

(50:11) Going Global While Staying European

(51:37) Fire Round: Rejections, Competition & Founder Advice

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Takeaways:

1) Follow customers, not personal preferences

"We are quite commercially driven. So we follow where our customers are." Infinite Orbits moved from Singapore to Europe because that's where their technology suppliers, talent, and major customers were located, not for personal convenience.

2) Adapt your product to what customers actually want

"We adapted to what customer wanted... They convinced us that it's good to go step by step." Instead of trying to do full satellite life extension immediately, they built simpler stepping-stone products that customers were willing to pay for and risk.

3) Persistence beats perfection in early sales

"A lot of people say, yeah, this is great, but this is so difficult." Adel's team kept explaining their vision-based rendezvous technology until people understood its potential, despite initial skepticism.

4) Never allow yourself to think you might fail

"I never thought we will not make it... Once you do, then it goes downhill. It's like a domino effect."

5)Target the biggest market, not the easiest one

"90 billion dollar was worth of assets in GEO orbit and less than 10 billion dollar worth of assets in LEO... it made sense to do servicing to something that costs 300 million euros."

6) EIC Accelerator is a game-changer for European startups

"That literally took us from one league to another league... That puts you on stage, really, that attracts investors." Winning EIC with only 4-6% success rate provided credibility and matching investment that unlocked their Series A.

7) Hire for personality and natural motivation first

"We are hiring for the personality most of the time... If a person is not naturally motivated by space and by our technology and by being part of the team, we don't hire them." Cultural fit and genuine passion matter more than perfect credentials.

8) "Never take NO for an answer" in fundraising

"The natural answer for a VC is like, oh, I'm not sure. Let's wait... So you just need to keep pushing and understand why you're pushing." Treat fundraising like sales - analyze why investors say no and work to convert them.

9) Every space startup should stop pretending being great

"Do not pretend. Get the truth from customers. Don't lie to yourself... Only a customer tells you if it's great or not." Adel's core philosophy: customer validation is the only truth that matters, not internal assumptions.

10) Collaboration beats going alone in European space

"Space is too big too difficult for everybody... if you're smart enough to collaborate, then you're open enough to collaborate." Their willingness to partner with companies across 17 European countries helped them win grants and build supply chains.