Here we are in 2018, and the startup world has never been more intriguing. Early stage startups raised more money in 2017 in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) than venture funding, and seed investment rounds have fallen for the third straight year off 2014's highs. While business formation is down, fast-growing startups are in high gear. Businesses specializing in fields like cybersecurity, big data, artificial intelligence, and frontier tech are filling up the funding news wire -- and for good reason. These core technologies make up future operating systems from which thousands of new startups will spawn.

One such frontier technology is the topic for today's conversation -- space.

Analytical Space Co-Founders Dan Nevius and Justin Oliveira made their way through the startup world, NASA, and the White House before meeting up at Harvard Business School. With mutual intentions to launch a SpaceTech startup, they wasted no time in getting Analytical Space off the ground.

While they may not have the deep pockets of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, and Elon Musk's SpaceX, they have given their company the best shot at success through a path that includes MassChallenge, Harvard's iLab, Space Angels, and MIT's The Engine Venture Fund.

Taking advantage of the exploding small satellite market, in particular CubeSats, Analytical Space provides satellite data relays to get more of the data being generated by satellite sensors to the ground faster and for less cost. I was fascinated by their personal journeys in the space world, decision on where to grow their startup, view on where the value will be unlocked in NewSpace, and why they make sure to do every task required at Analytical Space at least once -- including reviewing and negotiating the legal documents for their first major funding round.

Enjoy my discussion with Justin and Dan.