Today we go where few men and women have gone before, and talk about the future of gig economy work… in space! We are joined by Tom Cooke, founder of Spacely, the open-talent marketplace platform designed for anyone who wants to leverage their talents for the future of space. Tom started as career military flying planes in the Air Force, and then transitioning to space engineering. He then watched the entrepreneurial journey play out real time as he helped his wife build her kickboxing studio in Denver and caught the bug himself a few short years later. Now his vision is to connect people with opportunities and help anyone who loves space use their talents to advance humanity’s race to the heavens.

Tom talks about how he came up with Spacely and gives us some tips about how to find a cool idea if you want to become an entrepreneur. (Hint: Do what you know!) He also debunks some myths about the gig economy, what objections he hears from companies about working with contractors versus full-timers, and how he answers those objections to everyone’s benefit. Tom also shares his views on the theory that entrepreneurship requires everything you have to give and then some, and he gives us all hope that having a life while being an entrepreneur is not only possible, but it’s how things are supposed to be.

We then dive into a question that Tom has found himself asking a ton lately: do platforms need people or do people need platforms? And how do you strike the balance between people and platforms that accomplishes everyone’s goals and raises everyone’s boats? Tom talks about how the pace of technological change is the motivator for historically staid economies to continue to promote new ways of accomplishing the work we all want to get done.

He loves space (and wants to go there someday!), but Tom is anything but spacey. He’s funny, insightful, and has a ton of ideas that will have your head in the clouds.

Check out Tom’s recommended resources:

“The Ivy Podcast” (https://ivypodcast.com/)

Jon Younger’s articles on “freelancers” for Forbes (https://www.google.com/search?q=jon+younger+forbes+freelancer&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjYp6XSqpL2AhWZHTQIHduwCJcQBSgAegQIARAy&biw=1587&bih=1209&dpr=1)

Get involved with Tom and start your own space race at Spacely.work (https://www.spacely.work/).

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