Talent Retention and Culture

The single metric that’s the greatest predictor of success

Talent retention is the most important leading indicator of an outlier startup.

Here’s an anecdote, with data from our portfolio courtesy of the Live Data Technologies team.

LDT looked at engineers leaving SpaceX to join hard tech startups. The interactive graphic is FASCINATING (photo below).

Since 2020, 48 people have joined our portfolio companies directly from SpaceX. That excludes SpaceX alums who joined after a stopover elsewhere.

The number of people that ended up going BACK to SpaceX?

ONE!

Truly amazing, and a testament to the cultures being built at places like Northwood, AnySignal, Varda Space, K2 Space, and Radiant.

Link to interactive chart here.