Joshua Todd and the Word Astronaut
I recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Joshua Todd, the founder and CEO of The Word Astronaut, a technical communications and marketing company. Joshua has had a lot of high level experience in his industry, and has been working on developing and building The Word Astronaut since the beginning of this year. While interviewing him, I got to ask Joshua about the work that he does, the inspiration behind founding his own company, his passion and connection to space, and the advice that he would give to aspiring entrepreneurs. His answers and our amazing conversation is detailed in the following sections.
Joshua started by going into detail on the work he does at The Word Astronaut and their many different avenues of business. He explained how the work is split into “three different swim lanes.” Their services and capabilities have to do with technical communication, digital engineering, marketing, operation excellence, creative services, and brand identity. While people don’t always associate these together, they all interchange and work within the same areas, connecting through different avenues. Joshua works to make sure that brands are set up for success when taking their services or products to production, ensuring everything is streamlined and as efficient as possible.
Joshua then took the time to explain the company’s second and third swim lanes, both falling into what he considers “community outreach.” Joshua said the company’s second line of work deals with leading educational events for K-12 schools in his local area. At these events, he talks about STEAM related programs, relating it back to the growing space industry. His main goal is to tell our growing youth that anyone can be involved and a key part of the space industry, not just scientists and astronauts. He described that, when he talks to middle schoolers, he explains to the kids that even the software developers responsible for Fortnite and its complicated mechanics have skills that are easily transferable to work in the space industry. Finally, The Word Astronaut’s last swim lane has to do with working with military personnel across the Department of Defense both state and federal. Joshua often gets questions on how he ended up where he did and gained the knowledge he has after serving in the military as a heavy weapon machine gunner for a recon unit as an infantryman, so he wants to be able to share the lessons he learned. He is currently working with a team on “resilience training and the militant transition to the civilian workforce.” Individuals coming out of the military often get lowballed in the job market despite having done amazing things and having experiences that no one else does, so Joshua is working to prevent this by helping them transition their military skill sets into commercial ones.
After hearing about Joshua’s work, I was curious to know what inspired him to found and run his own company. He explained that before The Word Astronaut, he was working as a senior lead in the technical communications and marketing space at Blue Origin. He was invited to take this position after Jeff Bezos stepped down from Amazon, where he was working before. While working at Blue Origin, he helped to “build out their technical communications” and was a key player in streamlining several top level initiatives to the overall successes of Blue Origins capabilities. However, while Blue Origin was going through a change in leadership with a new CEO, Joshua found himself in the middle of unpredicted company layoffs. This occurred while he and his family were in the process of relocating to Seattle as he had been promoted into a new office space poised for quick results with top leaders. While taking him by surprise, this pushed him to start The Word Astronaut, allowing him to apply his impressive skill sets somewhere where he can get better value out of it. Since founding the company he has worked on a contract with the state of Tennessee and several startups. He was recently fully approved for federal contracting as a service disabled veteran owned business, so he is looking to obtain Department of Defense contracts while keeping a focus on space and operations excellence.
I then asked Joshua about the origins of his passion and interest in space. He explained that he’s “had a love for space” since he was a kid. His dad served in the Air Force and had an expertise in the space industry, exposing Joshua to space while he was growing up. Being around the industry and seeing the growing capabilities within it has always been very interesting for Joshua. While his early career didn’t have a focus on the space industry, after working for Blue Origin he realized that even with his work he can be a key part of the sector. This empowered him to alter and apply his skill set to the space industry, allowing him to launch The Word Astronaut and be an integral part of the industry he has always loved.
After Joshua explained his passion for space, I asked him to go more in depth on The Word Astronaut’s connection to the space industry. He described that, with the development of space has come the increased privatization of the industry. Because of this, companies are aiming to increase their competitiveness, so The Word Astronaut comes in and provides a holistic review for the production and manufacturing of whatever the company is trying to push out. They go to these companies and discover where their pain points and problems are located. Joshua explained that a lot of companies have all the resources and people they need, but “systemic issues keep them from producing at a high, efficient rate.” The Word Astronaut then provides proposals and suggestions for the company to streamline their processes, pointing out the different approaches they can use to mitigate their pain points. Joshua does this with a hands-on approach with key leaders having top government clearances which separates him and The Word Astronaut from other companies who push powerpoints rather than driven results. This streamlining helps companies to excel and continue to push for operational excellence. This also allows companies to better meet contracts and milestones, ultimately expanding the space industry to more and more private companies as the government will continue to invest in the growing, streamlined industry.
Since Joshua is a new founder with a fresh experience, I took this chance to ask him what some of the key skills he is using in running his own company. He told me that one of his key skills is “just being a people person.” He likes to be organic in his conversations with his personnel, partners, clients, and anyone else he interacts with—something which was obvious from this interview alone. He takes the chance of meeting them in person whenever he can, finding it much more meaningful and organic than an online video meeting. Joshua is always transparent with what he can do and his capabilities upfront, aiming to accurately represent himself and his company. Joshua summed up this skill by saying he aims to have a “human aspect” in his company and he wants to “take away the super corporate stuff.” Joshua then went into depth on the second key skill he uses—education. The world of technical communication is becoming a new thing, and many universities are just now introducing degrees for it, so Joshua does his best to put out education on what he really does. Partly because of this, Joshua recently took The Word Astronaut website through a redesign, where he displays informational videos about his work and what they do at The Word Astronaut.
Finally, I wanted to take the opportunity to ask Joshua for advice that he would give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start something on their own. The first piece of advice he gave was, no matter what you do, you have to follow through with it and continue to “put your best foot forward and start moving from there.” He suggests putting everything that needs to be done in one list and then sitting down and creating a roadmap based on what you can do. This helped him to continue pushing forward through the development of his company because it was important for him to set milestones for himself and determine when he wanted to do certain things. Joshua also said that entrepreneurs need to surround themselves with people who have the same ambitions and aspirations. These people will help to push you forward, allowing you to continuously get better at what you do. By continuing to learn and better yourself, you will gain experience and propel yourself further into your career.
Finally, Joshua explained that entrepreneurs need to “take mental breaks.” It’s very important to step away from your work every once in a while and do something you enjoy. Whether it’s sports, hobbies, or working out, Joshua believes that you need to have some form of energy output other than your work. You won’t always be putting out your best output everyday, but taking breaks and time for yourself will help to recharge you and keep you from burnout.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to sit down and talk with Joshua about his experiences and stories from the technical communications industry. I learned a lot from our conversations, and I am looking forward to staying in touch and watching The Word Astronaut continue to grow.
Jim Class, his Career Path, and Advice
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with and interview Jim Class, a managing director at Corporate Finance Associates (CFA). Jim has had a multi-decades long career providing capex financing and sale management in a variety of industries. I took this opportunity to ask Jim about his current and past work, his advice for entrepreneurs at different stages, and what he looks for in businesses as an investor. Our conversation and his answers to my questions will be outlined in the following sections.
Jim began by explaining his current work with CFA, a privately held institutional investment bank with offices in Asia, Europe, Mexico, and around the world. Jim explained that his role is mainly as a generalist—if a company has a need for capital to acquire assets “from A to Z,” he is there to help them. He described that a majority of his work deals with helping companies raise money for fixed assets; such as corporate aircraft, equipment, vehicles and working capital. He also assists entrepreneurs to make an acquisition and/or sell a business. Jim found himself in this role after taking a year off and then reigniting his interest in corporate financing and institutional investment banking. He joined CFA after completing the appropriate FINRA exams to become a licensed institutional banker.
I then asked Jim what led him down the career path he took into private investment banking. He told me that it “wasn’t something he thought about in college.” He started off working for a full service truck leasing business that his friend was working for and introduced him to. Working for this company eventually led him to the financial side of it, which then eventually led to banking. The steps of his career all kind of linked together, progressing in a very natural way as he found himself working his way into his current position.
Then, I asked Jim what some of the key skills he has used throughout his career are. He explained that there have been a couple that have applied to anything he has done in his life. The first one is having good time management and using your time productively every day. You have to plan for interruptions, because they will likely come up throughout the day. With time management also comes the discipline to stay focused on the task at hand. You will often find yourself in roles that are lonely and hard, but being able to push through and get your work done is important in every position. Finally, Jim explained that you need to be selective with who you work with. It is important to surround yourself with the right people, as doing so can help accelerate your success.
Jim then provided some advice to entrepreneurs looking to start their own business. He said that the first thing you need to do is clarify what you are thinking by using online resources like the Small Business Administration and their business plan templates. He then explained that, after going through this step and determining the needs of your business, you need to double the dollar amount you think you need and triple the time you think it will take. There are many unforeseen circumstances that will slow you down and hold you back, and many entrepreneurs don’t know what they don’t know about small businesses. Finally, Jim gave the advice of truly learning more about what the people in your network do as you continue to meet new people. This will help you to make connections and introductions that will help both your connections and yourself in the long run.
Following up on his advice, I asked Jim what advice he would give to entrepreneurs looking to grow their already established business. His main piece of advice was to “try and find mentors.” There are many programs and ways to find mentors for your business, and one that Jim recommends is C12. This organization allows you to create your own board of advisors. By meeting with them periodically, you can explain your company’s issues and challenges and get advice and connections on ways forward. Jim also said that it is important for entrepreneurs to remember that “every problem has a solution.” Many entrepreneurs will get discouraged when trying to figure something out, but with hard work and perseverance they will eventually find the solution to their problems.
Finally, to end the interview, I asked Jim what he looks for in a company and its leaders before making an investment. The first thing Jim does is try and “perceive the character of the individuals involved in the company.” This is very important for him as he wants to know that his investment is going to the right people that he can trust. Next, Jim looks to see if they have experience in the field they are attempting to get into. He likes when entrepreneurs can match up their experience with their future plans. Finally, Jim looks to see what they have been through in both their business and professional life. The struggles entrepreneurs face help to shape their futures, and Jim wants to know if they are able to “fail forward” and use it as a positive steppingstone.
The opportunity to sit down with and interview Jim was a great one. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations, and I came away learning a lot from him. I am looking forward to staying connected and keeping up with Jim’s work in the future. Jim Class may be reached at jclass@cfaw.com or directly at 210-573-5548.
