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Kuang Han-Ke’s Journey: A Masterclass of Persistence
The space industry is saturated with big primes and billionaires. But Kuang-Han Ke came from the tiny island of Taiwan without any of that - only a dream of the stars. He started with USD$ 60,000 and 9 years later sold 3 IPOs in the semiconductor and medical businesses to procure just the first basic production facility. Despite the "feast and famine" of the space industry, as he jokes, Gran Systems became among the first Taiwanese companies to send a payload to space. It took several more years to secure their first lunar mission. Today, they offer an array of solutions to space problems, from CubeSat buses and space sustainability solutions.
We sat down to talk with him about his experiences in the industry, particularly through the lens of his Asian background.
What motivated you to enter the space industry?
I started learning about aerospace engineering in school and wanted to do it when I was younger. Even though my first businesses initially took me away, I was always thinking about it and knew that I wanted to be able to come back and do it eventually.
What were the biggest challenges of entering the space industry?
The biggest challenge is that there’s no role models at all…not to mention successful role models. There are many more forces that will cause our business to die than live.
Nearing bankruptcy 1 time is potentially considered a failure. How about nearing bankruptcy 3 times a year, more than nearing 60 times in 17 years? And somehow miraculously you are still up and running?
What if everyone you would like to work for you left, because they are smarter than you, and how do you maintain the organization and keep it going?
What if no resources are available to you whatsoever and you need to create resources yourself?
Why do you think fewer Asian Americans go into the space industry?
Space science is hard. Running a space company is even harder! There were just not a lot of space companies 8 years ago…so of course, there weren't a lot of Asian founders. Can you imagine founding a company competing with Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed, and the like!? Just go work there, right!? Everyone would tell you that you must be crazy in Asian culture. The pressure to fail is too high! Most Asian Americans are too smart to start up new space industry companies.
Tell us about Gran Systems: what have you accomplished through it?
Gran Systems covers precision space parts, assembly of subsystems, and cubesat bus. With our first lunar contract, we handled mission hardware design and manufacturing for a lunar lander payload mission. We were the first new space company in Taiwan, then added Texas HQ!
What are valuable skills you have learned through your leadership as Chairman?
We need to realize valuable skills grow up one at a time. You need to learn the basics, climb the ladders...you will need to deliver when people ask you to! Then taking initiative to start something new and giving up what you already have!