One of the many strengths of the EIC Scaling Club is the vast array of expertise it consolidates via its mentors. We gather the best professionals eager to share their knowledge to support the Club’s scale-ups in their growth journeys and beyond. One such prominent mentor is Candace Johnson, a truly stellar leader who’s been actively building space innovations for 40+ years. 

“I always tell people I never dream, I have visions. Dreams tend not to be realised, but visions do. And I have always wanted to use space to help life and people on Earth,” says Ms Johnson, and adds a fun fact about herself – she has never wanted to go into space. 

“I've never really thought about going to space. I've always thought about what we could use space for to improve our lives on Earth.” 

Mentoring with purpose

Ms Johnson has mentored young entrepreneurs for 20 years: “Every Saturday, I do three mentoring sessions of one hour each, most commonly with space entrepreneurs.” She adds that the urge to become a mentor and share her knowledge comes from being born into a supportive and loving family and realising that not everyone is that fortunate. 

After being contacted by one of EIC Scaling Club Council members, Victoria Hernandez Valcarcel, also a dear friend of Ms Johnson’s, she agreed to become a mentor for the Club. Here, she sticks to her one-hour mentoring sessions policy. “I don’t mentor somebody for a long time as I can bring all of my experience into one hour,” Ms Johnson says, adding that she asks companies to send information ahead of time so she can prepare. 

“I take this mentoring very seriously. And I expect the companies to take it very seriously, too.” 

Ms Johnson compares mentoring to a fun puzzle: “Every time I do a mentoring session, I think – what's the problem? How can I help them? What do they need to do? Plus, you learn so much. You receive so much if you’re open to mentoring these young companies. It’s a lovely two-way street.”

Being an industry professional with a vast experience, Ms Johnson already knew plenty of the Scaling Club’s companies: “I know them from 10-15 years ago, and it’s exciting to see how they’ve progressed.” Asked to share her observations about the scale-ups, she mentions that technological progress often overrules the ambition to make a lasting impact. 

“When I had an idea for a new company or service, I never thought of making money. I thought of the problem that needs to be solved, and then I would find the technology to solve it. Unfortunately, many people are technology driven instead of purpose or market driven,” Ms Johnson explains.

Besides aiming to be purpose-driven rather than focusing on technology alone, she shares her observations regarding using business plans. For many, a business plan is a mere checkbox in the entrepreneurial journey. Ms Johnson views it as a crucial self-assessment tool. "For me, a business plan is for myself," she explains, emphasising that it's a rigorous exercise in honesty. This involves meticulously detailing whether the technology exists, pinpointing specific clients by name, projecting their payment amounts and schedules month by month, calculating costs and revenues, and defining profit margins.

“Just about every single entrepreneur that comes to me says they need help in fundraising, but they need help with their business plan. I always say that sales are the best fundraising. You don’t need third-party investment if you can grow your company.”

Leadership and legacy

Asked to share a message with the Scaling Club, Ms Johnson starts by saying that scaling up is the most challenging thing. “It’s easy to start something, but getting traction is challenging,” she says, adding that in some cases, the founding entrepreneurs are not the best ones for the job. “For instance, when I started my companies, I always tried to get a COO as quickly as I could, and then a CEO, because I don’t like to manage,” she elaborates.

“Recognising when you need to bring somebody in who knows how to put together teams to execute on the vision is crucial.”

Besides being an EIC Scaling Club mentor, Ms Johnson played a pivotal role in the early days of the EIC, driven by a belief in the importance of leadership from experienced practitioners. She feels this was her "gift to Europe," establishing a crucial precedent for merit-based funding and setting a tone for accountability.

Ms Johnson's vision for innovation goes beyond mere disruption – a term she dislikes for its connotation of breakage. Instead, she prefers to speak of creating something new or sparking a revolution, emphasising the positive change and impact that true innovation can bring. “It’s imperative that everybody can aspire to bring about a change, and when that happens, it's so exciting.”
 

Beyond dreams: Candace Johnson's visions for space

Candace Johnson is the co-founder of SES ASTRA and the chief architect of SES Global, who has helped create some of the first commercial satellite television and radio distribution networks in the United States. Beyond that, she has developed and contributed to a long list of space ventures – Loral Teleport Europe, Europe Online, Iridium, and ILS. 

Ms Johnson is also Chair of the Advisory Board, Partner and Chair of the Investment Advisory Committee of the world’s largest space tech venture fund, Seraphim Space, a Founding Vice Chair of NorthStar Earth and Space, Non-Executive Director and Chair ESG/Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Board of SES-imagotag – to name only a few of her affiliations within the global space industry. Hence, if you’re looking for an inspiring serial entrepreneur and investor in the space sector, look no further.

Ms Johnson’s career began with her family. She shares her story: “My father created the first satellites for the United States government, and also the first private satellite systems for the world.” She was five when she received a toy Sputnik with Santa Claus inside as a Christmas tree decoration. “I was so inspired. I thought all good things came from space, and I still do. I always tell other parents to be careful with the toys they give their children,” she adds.

Thus, since early childhood, Ms Johnson has been fascinated by connectivity and communications. “Some people say that I helped shape the space industry, and that’s a little bit true,” she says and adds that she’s always been amazed by the vast possibilities satellites offer – both for space and Earth. 

“For the first part of my life, I used space and satellites to provide universal access – satellite television, satellite communications, satellite internet. And now I’m using space to access the universe.”

About the EIC Scaling Club

The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.

The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.

The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.

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