SpaceX vs Blue Origin: The Uncharted Workforce Multiverse

In the venture capital and hedge fund space you need only scratch the surface and what you’ll find is opportunity. The deal market was sizzling last year, as global M&A topped $5 trillion for the first time ever. This continues to leave the playing field wide open for fresh investments within the technology sector. Most VCs are looking to fuel their core business portfolios with all-new strength and vigor, while keeping human capital in their crosshairs.

However, before we dive headfirst into workforce analytics and key data points that can help leverage your business strategy, let’s gaze up at the sky, where an epic space war between billionaires is raging. That’s right, regardless of looming recessionary consequences, industry titans SpaceX and Blue Origin remain undistracted.

The Clash of “Space Titans”

Giants SpaceX and Blue Origin are heavily engaged in an ongoing battle that is happening on two fronts. One is that their companies compete against each other in a current space race, and the other is the battle between the two company leaders who are incidentally among the richest and most talked-about individuals on the planet.

After over half a century, humans are again going to the Moon. NASA’s “Artemis” program is an international human spaceflight program that will return humans to the Moon, specifically the lunar south pole, by 2025. Eventually, they went with SpaceX as NASA awarded them $2.89 billion to make this happen, further fueling the SpaceX and Blue Origin rivalry and moving the needle for SpaceX as the current leader.

Although Blue Origin is an older company, SpaceX is currently leading the commercial spaceflight game. Indeed, the two companies are taking slightly different paths, as SpaceX was mostly focusing on the exploration game, while Blue Origin tapped the space tourism market.

From Rockets, to Swipes and Tweets

Even the shaky, post-COVID global economy and its potential volatility doesn’t seem to hinder key industry players from looking to the stars, and conquering social media of course. Elon Musk’s recent purchase of social media service Twitter has put him in the spotlight even more so. It must also be said that he remains an avid user of the platform. With over 85.1 million followers, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is frequently caught on the radar of mainstream media after tweeting or RT something provocative or controversial. Now that he has officially made a bid to acquired Twitter for $44 billion, the eccentric billionaire also becomes a target for prominent liberals, who are actively condemning this move by deleting their own Twitter accounts.

Blue Origin CEO, Jeff Bezos, has already taken a swipe at Musk by labeling the business move as giving ‘leverage’ to China. But that may be a story for another occasion (to be continued…).

A True “Space Titan” is Only as Good as the People Behind It

Social media wars aside, both companies are achieving their main goals. But when it comes to getting humans into space and returning them safely back to the ground — which is the one metric that counts the most in the space program market — SpaceX is winning by leaps and bounds. Taking a look at their workforces, SpaceX seems much more sturdy and versatile in this department. After all, they have more than twice as many employees when compared to Blue Origin.

As the data from Osterus clearly shows us, Blue Origin prefers to hire engineers from Boeing. When it comes to SpaceX, the same thing goes without saying, of course. Following an exodus of employees from Boeing. Nonetheless, while SpaceX continues to welcome engineers from Boeing, Blue Origin unveils a slightly different strategy.

Blue Origin

Blue Origin workforce

Interestingly enough, quite a substantial number of employees from SpaceX have been hired by Blue Origin. Conversely, SpaceX rarely hires engineers or indeed other personnel from Blue Origin. Even when it does, employees from at least 20 other companies have priority over Blue Origin. What this tells us is that quite possibly SpaceX prefers not to refurbish their ranks with people from one of its chief market competitors.

Check out the data below:

US Navy and US Marine Corps take lead, but Blue Origin is nowhere to be seen.

Furthermore, a majority of recruited engineers at SpaceX were previously employed at the US Navy and US Marine Corps.

Defining the Workforce Through Experience

Another interesting aspect of both companies is the work background and experience of employees. While SpaceX has a larger workforce, it seems that the engineers at Blue Origin have slightly more experience than those at SpaceX.

Diving into the Pool of Higher Education

Going one layer deeper, we can examine the education of the workforces from both companies. While university education is, naturally, a big deal for both companies, Blue Origin (on the right) seems determined on hiring folks that were educated at the University of Washington (a.k.a. U-Dub).

SpaceX Blue Origin

SpaceX (on the left) appears to have a higher percentage of people educated from different universities.

Unlock Thumb-stopping Actionable Data

Who knows what else can be found if we look at these massive companies more closely? The current M&A scene shows a majority of investors banking future financial performance on the people side of businesses. Osterus helps you focus on the hidden traits of human capital, and even individual CVs, not to mention in-depth comparison of two companies (big or small).

By utilizing the data as the turn-key solution, M&A professionals, VCs and hedge funds can easily pinpoint the real value in companies by unlocking powerful workforce data insights. Digging into workforce structures, and employee data, and detect prolific Merger and Acquisition opportunities or to improve your HR and recruitment processes.

If you are eager to tap into the growing market of workforce analysis, reach out to Osterus, and we’ll schedule a demo.