How CisLunar discovered its real product while building a power supply for internal use only | Gary Calnan

CisLunar Industries builds the power electronics that run everything on a satellite, taking raw power and converting it into what a spacecraft's systems actually need, similar to how a laptop's charging block converts wall power into something the machine can use. The company was founded in 2017 with a different mission, aiming to become the steel mills of space by manufacturing usable materials from what's mined in the solar system. That early work led the team to build its own power supply for an experimental foundry, and the flexibility of that system turned into the company's real business: power processing units that run electric propulsion systems on satellites. In a recent episode of BUILDERS, we sat down with Gary Calnan, CEO of CisLunar Industries and a returning guest, to learn how the company pivoted from space manufacturing to power electronics, what it takes to win government contracts as an unknown startup, and the near death experience that nearly ended the company right before Thanksgiving. Topics Discussed: CisLunar's original thesis as the "steel mills of space," built to manufacture materials mined off-world

How an internally built power supply for an experimental foundry became the company's actual product

The EPIC-PPU-1000, the dual mode power processing unit that runs both a Hall Effect Thruster and an ArcJet thruster off one system

Using a smaller, paid partner role on an SBIR proposal to borrow credibility as an unknown startup

Resubmitting the same proposal multiple times, adding named suppliers each round until it won

The near death stretch that cost the team a commercial customer and a government contract at once

Using an externally imposed grant deadline to force undecided investors to commit

The plan to scale from single digit units a month to over 100 a month within two years

GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Pay a name-brand player to co-sign your first proposal: With no track record, Gary paid NanoRacks roughly $5,000 to take a small role on CisLunar's phase one SBIR. NanoRacks's existing standing with NASA Marshall functioned as an implicit endorsement of an unproven team. The mechanism: a small paid role, not a free favor, gets a bigger name to formally attach itself to your submission.

Resubmit with new suppliers attached, not new copy: The EPIC-PPU-1000 proposal was rejected two or three times with the same core idea. It won only after Lockheed Martin and Safran Space joined as thruster suppliers.

Shape the proposal before you write it, not after rejection: program officers stake personal credibility on their picks, per Gary.

Use a real deadline as investor leverage: When CisLunar's only commercial customer and its Space Force contract lapsed simultaneously, the team went to partial pay. A matching NASA grant with a fixed deadline forced fence-sitting investors to decide, and converted into the round's eventual lead.

Let your core architecture define your second market: CisLunar's power supply used a hybrid digital-analog design to auto-adjust as metal resistance shifts during induction heating.

// Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM