With OKAPI:Orbits, co-founder and Managing Director Kristina Nikolaus is developing sustainable solutions for space: with space traffic management software that avoids satellite collisions. With the support of startup.niedersachsen, she and her co-founders are reaching for the stars. For example, OKAPI:Orbits won the 2020 DurchSTARTer Award.
From universitydirectly into universe
Four founders – one mission: to make space more sustainable and safer. Status? Mission in full swing! The OKAPI:Orbits software is the result of more than 14 years of research. The four founders found each other on the notice board at TU Braunschweig. A notice with a request for partners changed everything. Together, they researched and developed the software further until it was ready for the market.
OKAPI:Orbits now has a number of international customers in its portfolio: from satellite operators and space agencies to micro-launchers. This is because NewSpace, commercial space travel, is growing – and with it the risk of potential collisions. If a crash were to occur, a lot of space debris would be created that would orbit the earth uncontrollably. The OKAPI:Orbits software prevents such collisions and thus the creation of tons of additional space debris.
3 questions?3 answers!
What do you wish you had known about starting a business before you founded it?
Many people told me before I founded the company that a startup is doomed to fail one way or another and that 9 out of 10 startups fail. So failure was omnipresent in my mind. But during my time as a founder, I realized that you learn so much in this process – you can only win. Even if you end up “losing” and the startup doesn’t turn into anything. If I had internalized that earlier, I would have saved myself a lot of stress.
Describe your startup period in 3 words
Educational. Fun. Rollercoaster.
Your tip for anyone who wants to start their own business?
Be self-confident! Don’t make yourself smaller than you are. The fact that you may be younger or less experienced doesn’t change the fact that your idea is great. Be honest with yourself and your idea.
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