Introduction To Guest

Gary Gattis is the CEO of Hypergiant Galactic Systems, a revolutionary orbital systems and constellations enterprise that combines Artificial Intelligence with proprietary hardware and the latest advancements in space access. Gary graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in sculpture design and a minor in consumer science, a nice mix of creativity and tech. Prior to working at Hypergiant, Gary was the Senior Producer at SONY Entertainment building video games, which included the highly sought out Star Wars Galaxies. His time at SONY led him to finding his co-founders and opening his own company called SpaceTime Studios. Here he had the opportunity to work hand in hand with Apple launching Pocket Legends, a game compatible with the iPad. While Gary’s prior endeavors were super successful, it wasn’t until he completely pivoted industries where he found his passion for both Space and AI.

Call To Action

Feeling a bit stagnated in his role at SpaceTime Studios, and looking for a new industry to dive into, Gary made the decision to embark on a new path. Unsure of what was in store for his future, Gary started by making a list of 100 of his contacts, scheduling lunch/coffee meetings with (almost) every one of them. After six months and 85 meetups later, Gary sat down with one of his connections, Ben, not realizing at the time that this was the start of his new career. During this meeting, Ben informed Gary that the coolest thing at the moment was space. And with Gary’s background, Ben formed an interest in his skill sets and talents. A few meetings with the founders of Hypergiant later, Gary set off on his new career path as the General Manager in Residence for Hypergiant.

Through his past experiences, Gary learned more about his talents and specific skill sets. Working in production and leading teams, operations and management came easy to Gary. He also works very well with people, and truly thrives as a leader. Gary deeply cares for the wellbeing of his employees, and has everyones’ interests at heart. This compassion comes out of the desire to make a positive impact in the universe. Through Gary’s expertise, vulnerability, and passion to work in space, he soon became the CEO of one the company’s subsidiaries, Hypergiant Galactic Systems.

Idea

At Hypergiant, the focus is building, launching, and deploying AI-powered satellites into LEO, then operating them with their next generation intelligent ground control. This is done all while utilizing space-derived data to provide actionable information for critical decision support. Hypergiant is made of many subsidiaries underneath the company.

The Team

As the CEO for Hypergiant Galactic Systems, Gary’s team is distributed, which proved to be an asset throughout COVID. During the recruitment process, Gary usually selects talent from a sister subsidiary company at Hypergiant. He also has reached out to past employees and personal colleagues. HyperGiant Galactic does not find recruiting hard, as working in space and advancing humanity is of top interest to most people, not to mention, super fun. From here, Gary is able to select top talent from a bunch of different backgrounds, uniting a plethora of people to form a unique team.

Gary divides his team into two parts. Part one being 40% “old school aerospace”, those who have worked in the space industry their entire lives. Part two is the 60% of “new people” in the industry, those who work in AI, or as video game developers, for example. He views his team as an exciting mix of people, all merged together to work on new and innovative projects.

Testing The Product & Validating The Market

Satellites need to be tasked, telling it what to do. He explains there usually is a lag in satellites, since you need the satellite to pass over the ground station. Instead, HyperGiant team is scraping social media and looking for spikes in particular terms, such as COVID, Earthquake, etc. When a spike indicates something interesting happening in a particular region,they can task a satellite to see what’s going on in that specific region. This whole process is about 48 hours a head of human capabilities.

At the moment, Gary’s’ three main focuses are:

1. Hardware focused efforts, building a constellation of services businesses
2. Ground control
3. Experimental imaging technology

With Hypergiant Galactic Systems’ contract with the Air Force, Gary and his team work with Space Force to assist in making his global dreams a reality.

With so many opportunities in the space industry swirling around at all times, it can be difficult to choose a task and stay focused moving forward. As the CEO, Gary is focused on eliminating distractions and keeping the team focused.

Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs to be in the center of AI and Space

Gary learned that it’s possible to find an ideal job. Make sure you put out an intent to the universe: “I want to find the coolest thing to work on”. You should try to find something that you love, that’s worth putting your effort into. Make sure you’re passionate and you work well with others. Being a true team player is key. You must be collaborative and cooperative.

Make sure to follow your heart and your passions, don’t be afraid to put in the work inorder to broaden your horizons. There are truly no limitations on what you can do.