What We Can Learn from SpaceX About Acquiring New Capabilities
When it comes to rapidly acquiring new capabilities, few organisations have been as successful or as bold as SpaceX. In just over two decades, they’ve gone from a scrappy startup to a global leader in spaceflight, revolutionizing rocket technology, satellite communications, and even the vision for interplanetary colonization.
But SpaceX’s success isn’t just about engineering. It’s about mindset. Their approach to developing new capabilities whether it’s landing rockets, building the Starship system, or launching the world’s most powerful rocket offers lessons for anyone trying to push the limits of what’s possible.
1. Failure is a Feature, Not a Flaw
Most organizations avoid failure like the plague. SpaceX embraces it. Their early rocket launches failed spectacularly. Their Starship prototypes exploded on landing. But each failure was treated as a learning opportunity, not a disaster.
By rapidly iterating, testing, and improving, they shortened their learning cycles. Instead of spending years perfecting a design on paper, they built, tested, failed, and improved in real life. This approach fail fast, learn faster allowed them to develop reusable rocket technology years ahead of competitors.
Lesson: If you want to acquire a new capability, expect failure. Make it part of the process, not something to be avoided. Each failure gets you closer to success.
2. Move Fast and Break Barriers
Traditional aerospace companies take decades to bring new technology to market. SpaceX does it in years, sometimes months. How? By challenging bureaucratic inertia, taking calculated risks, and embracing a startup mentality.
The Falcon 1 was built from scratch in just four years. Falcon 9, with reusable boosters, was developed in less than a decade. Starship is undergoing continuous iteration at a pace unheard of in spaceflight.
Lesson: Speed matters. If you wait for the perfect plan, you’ll never execute. Move fast, accept uncertainty, and refine as you go.
3. Question Everything
SpaceX doesn’t just improve existing technology they rethink it from first principles. Instead of using the same expensive supply chains as NASA, they build components in-house. Instead of disposable rockets, they asked, Why can’t we land and reuse them? Instead of launching satellites the old-fashioned way, they created Starlink, a global satellite network.
Lesson: Don’t assume the old way is the best way. Break problems down to their fundamentals and rebuild from the ground up.
4. Do It Yourself
Many companies outsource complex engineering to suppliers, losing control over cost, quality, and innovation. SpaceX brings as much as possible in-house. They build their own engines, software, and even manufacturing processes. This gives them speed, flexibility, and control.
Lesson: To truly master a capability, get hands-on. The more you understand and control the process, the more you can innovate.
5. Think Big, Start Small
SpaceX’s ultimate goal is colonizing Mars. But they didn’t start there. They began with small rockets, then Falcon 9, then Falcon Heavy, and now Starship. Each step builds on the last.
Lesson: Set audacious goals, but break them down into manageable steps. Start small, prove what works, and scale up.
Final Thoughts
SpaceX’s approach to acquiring new capabilities is radical but it works. Their willingness to fail, move fast, question assumptions, take control, and build step-by-step has allowed them to leapfrog traditional aerospace giants.
Whether you’re in tech, business, bushcraft, or any other field, these lessons apply. If you want to master a new skill, don’t wait. Experiment, fail fast, learn faster, and keep pushing forward. The sky isn’t the limit’s just the beginning.
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