Mikhail Kokorich On Doing $2 Billion In Revenues With His First Company, Taking His Second Public, And Now Changing Your Travel Experience

Mikhail Kokorich has created some incredible companies, against great odds. From retail to space, to hydrogen fueled transportation, he has been breaking ground all over the earth, and beyond. His startup, Destinus, has raised funding from top-tier investors like Liquid 2 Ventures, Cornelius Boersch, Quiet Capital, and Cathexis Ventures.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Navigating visa issues are an immigrant entrepreneur
• Hydrogen as the next-generation fuel
• The future of transportation and airports
• The ideal age to launch your first startup

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About Mikhail Kokorich:

Mikhail Kokorich is the CEO and founder of Destinus and is known for being a serial entrepreneur in the tech industry. He was born in Siberia in a small Mongolian village not far from where Gengis Khan began his conquests.

Born into a home without sanitation and limited electricity, he pursued his education using the light of a kerosene lamp.

Despite these challenges, Kokorich excelled in science and mathematics, winning several awards in Russian physics competitions, which led to his admission to the physics department at Russia’s most prominent scientific center.

Kokorich’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to start his first company at the age of 19, which provided a variety of services to other organizations.

This venture grew rapidly, and he eventually built a large chain of home merchandise stores across Russia, expanding from one outlet to hundreds, with revenues reaching billions of dollars and a team of over 10,000 employees.

He eventually sold his retail company to pursue his dream of aviation and physics by building rockets.

Mikhail Kokorich founded Destinus in 2021, which is at the forefront of aviation technology. Their concept involves the creation of a new hybrid aircraft called a “hyperplane”, which combines the benefits of a plane with those of a rocket.

The hyperplane will take off and fly at subsonic levels before reaching higher altitudes, where it will then achieve supersonic speeds. This innovative approach to air travel aims to reduce noise pollution while providing the rapid travel speeds associated with rockets.

Connect with Mikhail Kokorich:

• Crunchbase
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Bloomberg

Read the Full Transcription of the Interview:

Alejandro Cremades: Alrighty hello everyone and welcome to the deal maker show. So today. We have a very exciting founder. Oh my god he’s done It’s so many times that I was getting diy from counting all the different companies that he’s built you know building scaling financing and exiting and also doing it in different geographic locations. So. Without further ado. Let’s welcome our guest today Mikhail Kokoric welcome to the show.

Mikhail Kokorich: Hello Lejara Ah, nice, nice to meet you nice to meet for everybody who is listening us.

Alejandro Cremades: So originally born in Siberia and Mikail I’m sure he was a little bit cold there give us a little of a walk through memory lane. How was life growing up.

Mikhail Kokorich: And yeah I I grown up in a small village not half a mongolian border in a place where actually ginghishan started his conquest eight hundred years ago and at that time actually climate was colder. So ah, quite often. The temperature was c so I was walking to my school 30 minutes was a minus forty and then it was like a now maybe working in Dubai or Arizona you know it was very very hot, very cold.

Alejandro Cremades: Yeah, no kidding no kidding no kidding now now. Obviously you know for you, you got into physics you know, quite early on So what? what the develop but got you into that.

Mikhail Kokorich: I Several reasons first I didn’t have internet and nobody had internet internet that moment we didn’t have too many things to do because it was not like a big town and also I was grown up by my grandmother a grandfather they both teachers and my grandmother was Physicslix teacher Mosmaticrics. And since childhood food I’ve been very excited with the physics with astronomy with everything that create our world and they was big. Fun of this I was in a communication for for physics many times. So I Love it.

Alejandro Cremades: Now in your case you know like it actually instead of like pursuing physics or what you’re doing now with aerospace. You know you wanted to retail and wholesale. You know what? Ah what? And there’s interesting shift there you know, given your passion.

Mikhail Kokorich: So you know I started in the beginning of 90 s if you remember the sexual Soviet Union collapsed and at once the country didn’t need like ah physicists or mathematicians ah because it was actually a hard time and it was not too much. Ah, to eat like it was a big use for the for the for the for the shops. It was difficult to get any money and when I studied it was ah it was a big choice either. You go abroad and study and continue to work abroad or you stay in Russia and doing something else in physics. Yeah, or you go to the physics version basically have. Not enough money to support your family. This is the reason why initially I become an entrepreneur basically just to feed myself into.

Alejandro Cremades: You know kidding so and quite successfully so so tell us what were you doing there. What were what were those companies that you built you know while while this incredible growth to of the economy was happening. So.

Mikhail Kokorich: Yeah I actually was in a university when one of the guys from a mining company came and say hey ah to to my professor hey we need to explode like several thousand prophet tons of team t but need to do it. So don’t destroy the syrian he yeah you should go to my student on this micro He’s like a cool guy 19 years old so the guys came to me and said hey can you help us I said no problem I didn’t know shit how to do this but I see the over night make a computer program criulate. What should be the delays when you explode this like several thousands of tons of Tt and I bring them in a week like a basic plan what they need to do and the guy. So. Ah, there was serious guys. You know like that for mining company names in Russia you know they human come with us and see I was gone so I come to them like and then we exploded this thousand tons of clean tea I will see oh my god if something go wrong. They put me under the under the ground immediately in the same place. Everything was good. So the guys basically took thirty thousand bucks you know the cash and told me hey thank you? So this was my starting capital. Yeah, then I started this. My first company was building and providing services for explosives ah for mining and for the construction and I was developing this company for 5 years before I sold it. I.

Alejandro Cremades: I Mean hey you know like not not about outcome. You know I guess that they being able to sell the business. You know give you also visibility into what the journey of building scaling you know and and reaching the finish line looks like you know how how was that visibility for you.

Mikhail Kokorich: Yeah, you know then I read this book ah of st walton how it created Walmart in the beginnings Two Thousand Twenty years ago I was like 25 years old boy and I i. So yeah I want to do this and that mark at that time. Actually the retail market in Russia was not yet developed. So. Ah, except maybe for the food the most of the items like ah electronics or you know the the furniture niche or the apparels or many many different stuff. You actually need to buy on open open markets and you can imagine with a russian climate house uncomfortable to go to buy an open markets. And I said the key I want to to do something here and actually I started like a retail company. Yeah, it was journey for e years when they built retail company basically from 1 store to hundreds of stores from 0 revenue to more a billion revenue for to 10000 people and that was like exciting times we call auroring. Thousands like an aor in twins in us when the market was growing with a double-digit numbers every year when the whole country was built.

Alejandro Cremades: And then you know why why how? how do you end up because you went through different transactions there I mean pretty substantial the company that you guys had built but then all of a sudden 1 thing let leads to the next and. And there were some mergers some acquisitions they are going on so what cast through that too.

Mikhail Kokorich: So yeah I mean ah for sure with the retail. We actually mered and acquired several times on the process I like a bought couple companies same like mer was as a company and finally in 8 years we build ah 1 of the largest retail don’t fu the curator of our show is basically um. Ah, close to $2000000000 in revenue with 10000 people over the russia and and build it without any equity almost without any equity investments. It was all bets and at that moment the interest rate was not like now it was 25% 25 annual now we say hey it’s like this. Ah. The rate. Ah the rate is to high 3% 4% 5% was 25% retail and we’ve been like ah still successful and doing this stuff. So then I after I’ve been able to sell it and pay my debts and finally first time in my life at that moment I had mo debts.

Mikhail Kokorich: And some money not huge, but you know good enough to make different funs. Actually I hit my middle age treasures. What are you going to do? Yeah, so you are just 35 years old guy you build like a company 10000 people. You worked like a hell for 10 years You didn’t see anything you basically like a. Um, I started to fly with business class when I was 30 when I already had like millions of dollars you know so I really didn’t know what to do with money. But at that moment and instead of like ah like maybe going to himalay with you know some yoga or doing some stuff inside the kid I want to come back I want to come back to something that for what I was doing. But yeah for for something for my childhood dreams and I decided to build the the first privatemate terror space company back in between 2010 at that time make sure not so many people knew about this head so the all this like a space. Ah boom started much later and when a first time. Ah, make a meeting of the former eto the russian space agent with masksque nobody knew the mask. Yeah I was translating him for 3 hours before the first time Reagan was docked to the iss nobody knew like you only only like people in businessly knew him.

Alejandro Cremades: I mean being also the first one there you know I’m sure it was say a tough to to be um, a new you know, kind of like opening a new category there. How how was how was how what kind of challenges did that bring to you.

Mikhail Kokorich: Yeah space. Ah, in general was not easy. Market. Yeah for for many reasons just you know I have this concept of like ah the stopups that eat 1 miracle or 2 miracles. Yeah, ah, even to make 1 miracle. it’s hard like it’s either the market miracle when you basically bet on some market or some product market fit or technological miracle in space. He usually its much harder because you in many cases need 2 miracles you need to make technological miracle because almost anything that we are doing. That’s extremely hard from techn technology standpoint but also need market miracle because. When we started the total size of ierospace market of space market was around $300000000000 but out of the $300000000000 150 was for very traditional Tv broadcasting. Yeah, it’s like boring old business. Around $100000000000 for the government programs that defends the piloting. So for all private actually was several couple dozen million and a couple doesn couple dozen billion dollars like for the market. For example, image engineer where people say yeah, it’s like imageaging we need to mitiate entire world like the market was two billion dollarss. Yeah for this. All launch market to space you see this is a bunch of the small companies which build this like you know the small launchers though. All launch your business space is like 5 to 7000000000 Annually ah um most

Mikhail Kokorich: Part of these markets is like taken by by by Spacex and all the chinese they have for China and but this is a market small and market of the tosters in us. Yeah, and people bet that this market will become big one time so in perhaps second miracle and this is a main problem for space in space in the most segments. The market is small, technological challenges are extremely high in order to build something successful need to be very very and we see that actually over this like many years we see ah very few examples of relatively successful companies.

Mikhail Kokorich: Most of the companies. It’s ah it’s ah it’s a constant pain. Yeah, it’s supreme. Ah, it’s like the people who do companies for years and years and years they cannot like build something substantial, but but we believe it one day some concepts can finally scale up and market is growing them. But we’re still wait in this time. Still waiting in this ah gold rush. We still waiting and when it will be this like a biguplication that can make this trillion dollars you know internet or something like this which won ask this believe but what other will be application. So and I think so fundamentally what we see is after the so launch of the starship probably will will be quite close to. Some of the new applications which can finally ah open this like pandora box and make this market like.

Alejandro Cremades: I Mean in this case only you would not only like dealing with building something from the grownup but then also the the government you know was not very welcoming. You know the instability the insecurity uncertainty you know I’m sure that that was painful to deal with because not only you’re dealing with the uncertainty of building a company from nothing.

Mikhail Kokorich: Oh.

Alejandro Cremades: And dealing with that. But then now you have to deal with what’s going on in the political environment. So how was that too for you.

Mikhail Kokorich: So yeah, this was a crazy you know like ah I before my current companies before my current company thist I built like wasnt both heavily in the 4 companies in space in space here double would aerospace failureos wire.

Mikhail Kokorich: Ah, astro digital and meous for companies I would say um, almost all companies from the business standpoint from technology standpoint from the microsstone standpoint was like a not bet you know I would say um so three of them survived clo out actually like a work create and. And making us a business. ah ah daudia was close in Russia when they left Russia for obvious reason. But but what I what I see that out of these 4 companies. The only company where we had like a non-prolymatic exit and operating was Hillos wire because it was registered. In Canada the dawa aerospace which was in in Russia and the astro digital and momentous which was in us they all had like for me the problem. So the russian government basically kicked me out of crush because we support the position and finally I did’t have like a much more welcoming from the us. So. Um, nobody like ah really nearly welcomed. You know so campaigning with what I’m doing now in Europe was hard. It was hard and this was actually a big lesson that when you are working in ah such a let’s say strategically important business. Yeah like iospace.

Mikhail Kokorich: So if you are not if you are not let’s say um, many generationally ah local guy. Ah this big imperial countries has hard countries to do this. You know the the Russia. Us probably China also so by actually operating in a smaller countries with ah less this geopolitical ambitions. But there’s more business ambitions for now trading in Swizerland Spain France and Netherland it’s much easier. Because they’re much more pragmatic. You can easily go to the gama. It don’t easily show why why you’re important. They really see what you are doing. They really have a desire to understand that you are very ah beneficial for industry for community that like in Spain several grants in all way spin a governmentment. Gave us money to develop our technologies. Um, bring got like a world of support in sweezer and getting in France. It’s ah, easy to be noticed and in case if somebody have suspicions. It’s easy to unreal these suspicions? Yeah and big countries throughou us new. We did this. Most of them still’t care.

Alejandro Cremades: Yeah, no I hear you now now in your case too. You know obviously 1 thing led to the next you know like you were going then you know in between Europe you went to the us ah, you know you ended up you know launching to elios you know which is the one that you were alluding to that you got registered in Canada whichwa which had a really nice. Exit you know, Twenty five million bucks but that led to you know what ended up becoming a pretty big success story for you and that was with momento space. So with momento space. You know. Also 1 thing that you did there that I thought it was very interesting is that you joined y combinator I mean at this point you know you had the. You know, tons and tons of experience. I mean you had built even a company to 2000000000 in revenue which is absolutely remarkable. So why did you find the need to join an accelerator program. At this point.

Mikhail Kokorich: You know, ah, it’s a good question. Yeah, because you give to wi a minute of 7% of the equity and so likeone is small stuff that me to go but we’ve been you for this investor community in us and even like I already lived.

Mikhail Kokorich: Like 5 years maybe like 6 years by the time when I ah with a ma supply where it can benier actually I was not because how you how you they if you like study in local university if you know the local people if you are full life. It’s. Not easy. It’s pretty close community. So I can beneath them definitely allowed us to open the doors. It was not easy to get there because like ah the I think the usually the ratio of the accepted and appliced companies. It’s 10 times worse than you’re fall to the government Harvard. It’s like a one out of final.

Alejandro Cremades: Yeah, yeah.

Mikhail Kokorich: 5000 companies only accepted so but for some reason they accepting me I had a good recommendations from companies and industry. So I’ve been accepted and um, ah, we’ve been pretty successful in fundraising this was on hundred minute very fast and but I think in momentous we did the. To not ah fundamental thing that not that that actually like I was important for for 1 industry and I think that what my mentors still now doing even without me long-term its will have a lot of influence for the industry. First we come with it first because it’s like a business model new business model because before momentos. Before we started to promote this in 2017 and all delivery to space was mentally people did it as a single mode delivering so you basically go from one point to another point you deliver like with ah one means of the transport which never happened on earth you never like ah deliver. Ah, the parcel from Europe to us was ah was the same like a one min of transportation you are not getting the plane which fly from the small town in Europe somewhere the small town us. No no, it’s come through a several mos a full multimode transportation it’s multimodel transportation and in space it was not like this you need to buy the whole oret the fight tool so orbit and this is reason why it was so many like ah projects of building the stupid small rockets. Yeah, ah, kind of crazy projects. Hey let’s build small rockets able lose a friend and so small. It’s like extremely expensive ah look at the cost of the start of falcon nine even which is like a.

Mikhail Kokorich: And then artificially high course because civil master is monopolist. Yeah, they charge him 3 to $4000 per kilogram starship technically can be less than $500 pergram if you go to small look at like a um for example, um. Thetivity space or Rocket Labbs or rocket labs then the courses 50000 blocks perlogra 50000 from orlocks. Yeah, so it’s much more expensive because I can fly to businessja. Yeah, ah, yeah, and but you’re not trying this business it all the time youre flying with connected fights. So this was idea moment to say hey we need actually to use a bigainst and then we need to build something that can. Fly in space and basically use this inpa ve to make a second more transportation that time was crazy idea and just didn content us. So why need this like have small rockets and now we see now. It’s like ah hundreds of companies trying to do the same so we basically ah opened like the mental this like ah the people realize realize okay, you can do this. And now everybody like doing this like ah what we call space tax in space delivery but actually first we actually started and propose a whole business model and build a company around the business like you’ve been us second and we also realize that you need to do the different technology for the propulsion because. Traditional propulsion doesn’t work. You cannot usedgen in propulsion in space for a long time because it’s like it’s difficult to store hygieic fuel liquid with oxygen or methane and the electrical propulsion extremely slow if you use like electrical propulsion. You can only change little bit orbits but flying to the like a big change for bits very long. It can spend.

Mikhail Kokorich: Years to do this and the we come with idea hey let’s use something between like a thermal prop proportion when we hit the the liquid or the gas to high temperature and basically create like a with ah with ah with a solar energy but use like from chemicalate. We exposed to the muzz and you can use like water as ah, ah so as a fuel here. And water is everywhere in space. Finally, you can get the water from the from moon from a steroids because to get one Kilogram of mass from earth to the gestationian orbit. You need to start with one hundred kilograms so only 1% can be deliver because we are living on the bottom of the huge gravity. Well the earth’s gravity is so strong. But only 1% of the initial mass can be delivered out. Can you imagine if actually the earth would be 10 20% bigger than the chemicalus will be able to fly out of yours. So the space age would be probably delayed for several hundred years and so people will build I know some nuclear rocks? yeah. But from the moon when you deliver something from the moon. You actually start with just double mass so you deliver like one Kilogram you start with two kilograms not 100 kis and moon have like many ah billion tos of of water. So finally, moon’s a huge ah future. The oil station. Yeah, this oil well where the humanic in the future will be getting this like with water and and because this is a currency you need to do this? Yeah and this was two things that mementos did and I think that’s still not appreciated. This’s like a 2 changing on mentality. Don’t stick with a propellant that was used for those applications if you want to have industrial.

Mikhail Kokorich: Revolution space your propellants should be industrial. You cannot do with like Cnc nor you know with ah with ah with argoon but it be water and second it seemed to be also multimodel logistics almost every.

Alejandro Cremades: And you know in this case with Momentus too. I mean you raise quite a bit of money you raised 250,000,000 but it sounds like going public presented all types of issues. You know for you and in fact, you know this ended up a you know, kind of like giving you the the path you know to exit. So what. What happened there.

Mikhail Kokorich: So so ah, you asking why I ended momentus.

Alejandro Cremades: Yeah I mean what happened with the whole ipo thing I mean that was quite a quite um, messy situation. You know and and also for you. You know something that was not comfortable to experience.

Mikhail Kokorich: Hey I mean it was definitely not the best experience in my life. Yeah, so um, ah, by this time if you remember in 2020 just coronavirus started. Yeah, ah. And and initially the first like a first like a part of this coronavirus was actually a hard time because everybody stopped investing. It was like the real problem. Yeah, so everybody was was scared that basically life is stopped life is stopped. And then like that people see the opportunity to raise finance source as like a really spark which instrument for some reason become popular because many people sit at home get all of government money and but you know there is a stock stock market and the first actually space company which made apo was gir. Yeah with ah. Ah, ah was like ah the the branson butnson and we we we we supposed to be the second picture like a filed in Summer Twenty Twenty and we we plan to become public by November Twenty Twenty and so it was how scheduled to become public but ah, um, the the problem was that for. All these years. It was not easy for me to ah to be in the us in terms of the like of my let’s say the my relationhios government. Yeah so I come with ah own visa like ah it’s called Engstein Visa Einstein Visa so now you can call Melanu Trump visa

Mikhail Kokorich: And because she also that is the same visa but it’s actually supposedly food for the invest like inventors scientists like for engineers and entrepreneurs. But now everybody called milllaia tra business. So I come with a ci and then like ah after 3 years in us I decided okay and I probably need to stay here and probably want to stay here.

Alejandro Cremades: Ah.

Alejandro Cremades: Yeah.

Mikhail Kokorich: So we applied for the green cardt in 2014 and in two weeks we got a role as so extraordinary and as individual is extraordinary ability e b one and then basically normal process. You need to make this the change of the start cification. So after ah, ah. And then it’s like startwi up, you take like 1 year yeah this a changes up to so like some q if you’ not opinion indian if you indian you can wait in for 20 years or for russians pretty fast because not so many indians so but it’s like a take what failure? Yeah, so but for me, it was like take one year two years years and then 4 years and then finally in 2018 we got the. Letter from ah Ucis saying hey and we change fucking our opinion and we see that you are not anymore qualified to be extraordinary again after launching dozens of satellites after you know, building companies hiring hundreds of people doing new a sort of staff file dozens of patentency. Hey. You know, look like not modern than just going to say this visa is given to the people hiking fucking photographers. That’s all you know so like it’s plenty of people getting this like so and or we we have like a ah you know appeal come so actually finally I won this legal case only after 5 years ah, with ah through the federal court. Yeah so last year I got the the decision from federal court ah of California and California the federal court that told that this decision was arbitrily capricious illegal answer but I already left Usa Really don’t want to to to come back.

Alejandro Cremades: Wow.

Mikhail Kokorich: But at that time would have no other reason that the play just was silent. Yeah, and because I’ve been in a let’s say a position to put and since begin to thousands and and the reason why I left Russia in 2012 was actually that it needs ah the my differentable position I free file for political asylum. And basically was waiting this political asylum then like you go and say hey, ah you know this asylum guy. We don’t know he’s like a russian maybe his be and finally they basically start to ah how we say that put sticks in our wheels. Yeah, ah, didn’t allow us to fly and get delay with our licenses and finally they. Or wrote this letter to a security commission set. Yeah and this like the ipu with this guy c se will possess risk commercial security because he is russian he come from Russia if he like ah in Russia had a company with russian visto which is like strange because he has had the company with russian business. Sure. So and the. But so even worse his company was in school but it was in a time of Midia when Conto was also bok sister Ibm and other companies you ah the russian silicon valley it was everybody there and the the basic Torino was bad because he was in ah in a school club but everybody was in school. So um, at this moment basically ah me and the board decided that we need to solve this problem I need to leave the company. So I left ussu so board member and finally I sold my shias for kind of small fraction of the.

Mikhail Kokorich: The money that at that moment company wo and the finery company hired like under secretary of defense who both of the defense people and finally become public already was outping after half here. So this was my story. Yeah, it was. It was like an.

Alejandro Cremades: Wow there it ispointing but then you know at the end of the day is’ like what they say you know one door closes another one opens and the next time that open for you is say what you’re up to now which it brings you to my to my country to Spain. So Destin is so what are you guys doing with destiners. And they you know, walk us through what’s the business model there how you guys making money.

Mikhail Kokorich: I yeah, so I you know, um I was so after I left like ah mementos and I spent some time like thinking what I should do after I was like ah um I tried to do this a second. And the more was rigorous exercise I look for the different markets try to understand like ah which market have lot opportunity. Not get developed so you have chances for the people who not get like expert in this like a markets a way I could have some competitive advantages. Yeah, so for example, I cannot probably come to some Ai stuff because I’m not like this young geep you also I cannot compete in this stuff here. So the more something real and with deo idea come as a pretty simple because you see a finally finally name. Um, so. If you’re thinking about transportation. Ultimately, it’s everything about the speed. Yeah ultimately everything about speed and and look at the last seventy years of the progress in transportation systems for example in trains. Yeah, in trains we start using seventy kilometers per hour and now if you’re. Talking about tgv. It’s already four hundred kilometers per hour like spanish trains can refer you know like three hundred four hundred or if’re looking about japanese like it’s an even faster or mag left. It’s like a 500 you know six hundred kims per hour so it’s ah it’s improved by by order of monument. Yeah.

Mikhail Kokorich: Neation those aviation changed since the golden age of aviation planes become thousand times more reliable like 10 times more fuel efficient you know, less noisy but speed didn’t change except for the short time of the concord. It didn’t change. No and the reason. And this was like quite obvious yeah, the concord was a short range tool out too. Inefficient. You know Jogie so was like a lot of problems and and the only way to overcome this. It was logical. You need to actually fly higher. Yeah because when you fly higher. But to fly faster. You have less density and let’s actually reduce exponentially and then when you fly faster you have less gravity losss. Yeah, you have less aynamic forces. So actually you can achieve much more efficient overall energy of transportation. This reason why for example in Musk. Talking about even suburbbital sites. Yeah point-to-point transportation I’m not sure like this is a solution for for for all cases because you know you need to have like a spaceport and still using the air force to use the planes but this is always idea we we want to build very fast planes which eventually. Ah, we’ll use hydrogen because this is an ah amazing fuel this is the fuel the future for high speed transport. It. It set like an extremely high heat capacity so you can actually use a hydrogen to cool everything that is hot in your Vehiclego like ke you cannot use it for this.

Mikhail Kokorich: And you can fly from madrid to New York in hour and a half you know so this will go.

Alejandro Cremades: Wow I will love to jump on that thing on that fly. That’s for sure you know we definitely shorten things by a mile and for the company for Destin is how much capital have you guys raised to date mihel.

Mikhail Kokorich: Yeah, so we Raisedd like a fifty millions fans yeah because we are legally and south headquarter and sweet zone withwis fans. One was the same like Euro I think 10% more than dollars. Yeah, we have 140 people so we built and flew. 2 of our prototypes already. We are presenting in lare. Um, and those who will be in labor perer show in the second part of June of this year in Paris please welcome to our tar market will be in front of Airbus and de so where we present 2 our planes which been fine and 1 supersonnic plane which will be the first supersonic plane in Europe and it will be the first supersonic plane powered by hydrogen in the history ofation. It’s huge.

Alejandro Cremades: That’s amazing that is that is huge now talking about huge things. Let’s say you were to go to sleep tonight and you wake up in a world where the vision of destinance is finally realized what does that world look like.

Mikhail Kokorich: Um, this would be wonderful world First by this time the hydrogen will become the main carrier of energy which will be produced by any other means with ah fusion fision with ah solar wind or.

Mikhail Kokorich: Ah, with ah with all this like a aothermal energy and then we’ll be transported and stored in the form of the hydrogen the most a obligviation will move to the hydrogen because it’s ah the the only the most efficient finally the fuel which which ah will reduce the hybo emission to 0 basically yeah because the only initial from the hydrogens water and the the planes will be connecting the these big mega airports which will be probably next generation bigger airports like it foer from the big cities. Ah this we actually saw this process. For example. If you go to the Dc Washington Dc you see like in center of the city of the selione airport. Yeah small one. It’s fine only the local like and us flight there are some europeans but not too many then they build like a bigger air for ballasia which the bigger ledger and in the future it will be even like more was airports. Why because the planes will become again more louder that take off supersuing hypersonic planes orbital. They will be loud. Yeah, so then instead of flying from basically santamonica in l a you will fly from moha go to mohay with a hyperloop or he speed train for halfanana yeah, and then from Mojave you can have. Kianways with a supersonic hypersonic flights with a landing through rockets and basically be connected with any point of the world everywhere and then the world can be that you wake up in in basically in New York and you and you have a meeting like ah this afternoon with your friend in buenos airres you sit down on the plane.

Mikhail Kokorich: You go to this high-s speeded train or high- speeded hypererloop to the airport in 1 hour you are already in a plane flying to buenos airrus 1 hour and a halfco and buenos airs caval lunch beautiful argenian stak fly back to New York and sleep at your house and it’s like a dim.

Alejandro Cremades: I love it that is that is absolutely unbelievable now now hey we’re talking about the future here. Let’s talk about the past but doing it with a lens of reflection. Let’s say I was to bring you back in time you know maybe I bring you back in time to you know that moment where you are you know? still you know in in Russia.

Mikhail Kokorich: But it will be.

Alejandro Cremades: And you’re thinking about you know launching a company of your own and at that moment you know you have the opportunity of having a chat with your younger self and you’re able to give your younger self one piece of advice before launching a business. What would that be and why given what you know now.

Mikhail Kokorich: I ah so um, just I will tell to my younger 1 learn languages.

Mikhail Kokorich: Yeah, because you know usually if you are talking to mosmetics and physics. Um, ah you will be taught to masmanic physics if you’re not talking in merai physics. You will not be even if you spendt 10 times more time fuck not I mean this is like either with a qui with your genes. Yeah, so somebody good to hear somebody good. There. we’ all different. It’s okay, if like I want good and physics. Somebody born not within in physics. Even they spendt hundred times per time you will not be good at physics. Yeah, the same if I cannot paint I will not be able to paint it even and spent like hundred years to do this? Yeah but language everybody should know because this is the way how I’m interacting with Ai it still will be so spent time with language. It was actually big subject subject for me because I didn’t speak english hey didn’t speak languages. I spent like 10 years actually to ah to to fish so I can start like my international business. So first second ah get a good boss. They get a good boss. You know you should not the company boss in in every human life in every like professional life. And someone of your life. It was somebody who actually was the role for you for whom you can the cop your old monkey. You know we cook and others if you have like good boss with whom you worked like 105 years and you can sometimes imitate and mimic this guy and work with him. This is ah incredibly important. Don’t start to so start to start your own company on. Not fucking so Kiber you’re not fucking like these guys. it’s ah it’s exceptional so the best age to start your company is forty five years forty years before it’s only like ah this ah what we call this selection bias you see these guys because they are successful. But for these guys. It’s thousands of people millions of people who was unsuccessful.

Mikhail Kokorich: Very painful. They most of the time they lost likely they never been able to get the experience. They become like a look ah Sicon Valley the half of these people. Actually it’s miserable. Life. Don’t try to start company early on get a good boss work for somebody work for somebody for whom you can teach for whom you can learn and then when you know when you know all the stuff. Then you can start your company when then you understand the start and then in 30 years you should start to think about this twenty years you can start to do it if you want to do it or maybe by the time already run um, ah as a company. Yeah and and when you start entrepreneur this is several scene that is very very important like I would say so first. Um, um, the incredibly more important to have like a value of the people you need to because finally company reflection of yourself and your values this is like will be the all this you you hire people you hire people. Then you pick people whom you like and then it will be a reflection of your you know you don’t need to afraid to fire if people is not good if some reason people don’t like. It should be easy. It should be easier to fire it and firere people afraid to fire. They shouldn’t be afraid to fire. Let people go if not people have like ah still make my my in my memories and my one of the first company had a guy um question was playing the computer games all the time kind of no. And basically told him yeah his name waserga no not brilliant. It was exciting said sate. You know I think it’s like what you are doing so for you, you should do some else just like you know you should like go and find some sort. So I basic fightd and he become founder of the second largest game company in Russia that time was month till multi $100000000 company.

Mikhail Kokorich: Extremely successful guy and then you this me said no this was the right decision you fired me and actually this is the one when I started my my and my company when I started to because I had this passion was the games I started to do it by myself and then for many years I finally built do the big So very famous company. Everybody play I would make.

Alejandro Cremades: Wow.

Mikhail Kokorich: Ah, wouldn’t say the name of this company but many people know this company. Yeah and don’t don’t afraid to fire and also the second be careful who is your equity? Yeah, um, if you give equity too early with a too low ovalluation to some investors you know someone you will lose your.

Alejandro Cremades: That’s how.

Mikhail Kokorich: Um, ah you lose like your motivation because when you ah, especially because you ah you don’t know how fast you find your product market feed be careful with equity if you can do something without raising money do without raising money if raise mining raises at high evaluation. Ah. Don’t listen on the people saying it erae from good and there so’s fucking Bullshit. The good thing that this can do give money go away. This is a good thing doesn’t matter money doesn’t smell you know, get a good variation. Do your Stuff. You know the investors will never help you. They can only Miss. It’s like people also never say you see or this that’s very important because they can know it’s It’s no true.. The only thing that this report on them to bring another money to get introduction. This is good but in many cases most of the cases and just to start to influence the business. It means that there are some problem for yeah, there are some problem in the business. So.

Alejandro Cremades: Yeah, absolutely absolutely so Mihail those are incredible nuggets. They’re very profound I guess for the people that are listening that will love to reach out and say hi. What is the best way for them to do so.

Mikhail Kokorich: Link to me Linkin Linkin I’m not promising the tension fast but you know for sure if it’s something that it makes sense for both of us I usually answer pretty fast. Yeah, so Linkin is a good way to to listen to me. Yeah, or. Follow also like on ah on a Twitter addition on Twitter now like and Twitter soon it will be like also almost like telegram. You can exchange with a 1 mask doing a kindable job for The Photoed Twitter should be good for for a very small.

Alejandro Cremades: Amazing. Well hey me hail thank you so much for being on the deal maker show today. It has been an on earth to have you with us.

Mikhail Kokorich: Thank hundred and thank everybody. Thank.

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