Sierra Nevada Memo Announcing New Company “Sierra Space”
President John F. Kennedy once said that change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. Today we have some exciting news about our future!
As most of you know, Fatih and I have long believed that SNC’s successful growth over the years in meeting our customers’ needs has been tied to our amazing acquisitions – 20 of them!
We learn about new technologies and how they can work with ours, and the synergies end up yielding 10x their prior revenue once a part of SNC’s innovative, advanced technology portfolio. This week we are once again recognized as a Deloitte Best Managed Company – such an honor! We often say and still believe: our growth strategy at SNC makes 1+1=11.
Our space business is a unique example of our growth strategy. What started as a $40M acquisition has grown its revenue by 10x to $400M today, and will reach $4B within 5-10 years.
To achieve this growth and even greater impact more quickly, today we are announcing our space business area will transition to become an independent, commercial space company – Sierra Space. Our teams and technologies are uniquely positioned to realize this significant current market opportunity to build the new space economy. Sierra Space will remain part of the SNC family as a subsidiary and continue deep cooperation and synergy across customers, technologies, and many shared activities.
A few factors are setting us up for historic growth. In ways Fatih and I saw coming 15 years ago, the commercial space market is booming. Demand is soaring for experienced, cutting-edge technologies like ours, and the high barrier to entry gives us an important competitive advantage. We have the right team and the right tech at the right time, and our customers expect even more great things from us in the future. Among them:
– We are building the future of space transportation, destinations and infrastructure; this will enable an ecosystem for a prosperous and secure space economy, including LEO commercialization, that benefits all humanity;
– We envision a vibrant low-Earth orbit economy with fleets of Dream Chaser spaceplanes, a commercial space station, expandable LIFE habitats that can travel to the moon and Mars, and critical infrastructure like power generation, propulsion, and environmental systems;
– No one does this work better than we do.
The SNC family expands its family of companies. For those of you in IAS and MST, we will continue to serve our critical national security customers with our proven innovative advanced technologies, aircraft modification and integration. We will also be expanding into exciting new areas, advancing cutting-edge technologies built for the mission.
You will be learning more in the coming weeks and months about the steps being taken to transition our space business. To set proper expectations, it will take several months for the new company to operate truly independently. The process is being managed in a thoughtful, systematic manner designed to keep our teams focused on our customers. There will inevitably be a need to invent new solutions along the way; we will be counting on your creative adaptability through the process.
What Fatih and I have learned about SNC’s success: it’s not acquisitions per se that have fueled SNC’s growth, it’s tenacity and a growth mindset. Tenacity and a growth mindset free us from past patterns, and allow us to do the new thing that the circumstances warrant. In launching Sierra Space, we will help to herald this magnificent new space age. We are learning and adapting, ever inspired by your commitment to dream, innovate, inspire and empower the next generation to transform humanity through technology and imagination.
Forward. Onward. Upward!
(signed)
Eren Ozmen, Chairwoman & President
