Building and launching a satellite only partially involves rocket science, but developing and operating a device orbiting the Earth is nevertheless extremely complex.

From design and engineering to funding and partnerships, getting a satellite company off the ground takes effort from founders with bold ideas, engineers with experience and skill, and funders with deep pockets and sizable ambitions.

The first stage of building a satellite company doesn’t involve specs, design, or funding—it’s simply an idea. Satellite companies like Lynk, which connects satellites to smartphones, and hyperspectral imaging startup Orbital Sidekick spent their early days not poring over blueprints, but working to develop a business case for the market, searching for what Dan Katz, the CEO and co-founder of Orbital Sidekick, told Tech Brew should be a company’s “North Star.”

“It’s not about building a piece of hardware and putting it in space; it’s about building a business solving a customer’s problem,” Charles Miller, co-founder and CEO of Lynk, told Tech Brew. “A lot of space entrepreneurs spend so much time thinking about, ‘Well, I could build X, Y, and Z.’ And they spend a ton of time figuring out the technology and what they can do, but then they fail to find a customer who really cares.”

Keep reading here.—JM

About 100k knee replacements fail every year, and Dr. Doug Unis had a hunch why. Standard surgical practices for knee replacements have remained largely unchanged for 40 years, with the continued use of hand saws, metal hammers, and jigs.

He saw potential in the robotics world, so he and R&D leader Benjamin Sexson teamed up to give the knee replacement industry a modern glow-up.

Together, the two created Monogram, a cutting-edge orthopedic startup that is developing precise robotic surgical assistants that will give patients personalized knee implants with minimally invasive surgery.

Get this: Monogram intends to list on Nasdaq, and they’re looking for investors. Over 1.7m knee replacements occur every year (that’s a $19.4b market). To date, Monogram has raised over $38m from ~17k investors in previous rounds.

Invest before the current funding round closes on May 10.

Snapchat is arming retail brands with new shopping capabilities—powered by augmented reality and AI—for both online and brick-and-mortar experiences.

Snap first announced its new software-as-a-service business for retailers in late March, unveiling a “Shopping Suite” that includes features like a 3D viewer, augmented-reality try-on, and an AI fit finder. (Early clients included Goodr, Princess Polly, and Gobi Cashmere.)

AR Enterprise Services (ARES) enables retailers to bring Snap’s technologies in-house to their own websites, apps, and stores.

At the annual Snap Partner Summit on April 19, head of AR enterprise solutions Jill Popelka announced a hardware addition to the offerings: Snap AR Mirrors for virtual try-ons in store.

“AR Mirrors showcase our technology, designed specifically for physical screens,” Popelka said. “With our Mirrors, customers can virtually try on products without having to haul a pile of clothes to wait in line.”

Keep reading here.—MA

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Emerging Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

My dad very much does not work in tech, and when I told him I got the job as editor of Tech Brew and sent him the website, he responded with, “The technologies that will shape the future!” Because that tagline resonated, I suppose that’s a good launching pad to describe what I do: I edit news stories about the tech that’s going to change the way businesses operate and the way individuals live.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about? Least? And why?

I’m super optimistic about climate tech, especially after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in the US. We’ve lagged behind the EU in terms of legislation to help protect the planet, and hopefully, the incentives in the law will be a boon for climate tech startups and consumers alike. I’m least optimistic about cryptocurrencies, especially given that they require so much energy to produce.

What’s the best piece of tech-related media you’ve read/watched/listened to?

I subscribe to approximately 3 million email newsletters, but two tech-adjacent ones I always open are Charlie Warzel’s Galaxy Brain and Rusty Foster’s Today in Tabs.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?

I love to sew. I’m currently working on a pretty loud quilt for my son’s bed because he’s very into rainbows at the moment.

What do you think about when you’re not thinking about tech?

Definitely food. Before I got into tech journalism, I worked in food media for a bit, and it held my interest in the same way tech does. I’m always thinking about what I’m going to eat for my next meal and tabbing ambitious recipes.

Stat: 4.1%. That’s how much more homes with rooftop solar installations sold for. Adding solar panels to your house comes with plenty of perks (lower electric bills, tax credits, a slimmer carbon footprint), but it can also increase the value of your property. CNET cited a 2019 Zillow report that “properties with rooftop solar installations sold for 4.1% more than comparable residences without them. For a median-valued home, that’s equal to about $9,300.”

Quote: “It’s not news that big tech is imperious, monocultural, and boring…This kind of tokenism and condescension is endless, and endlessly discouraging.”—ethnomusicologist and MacArthur Fellow Steven Feld, to Wired about what’s included (and what’s left out) in Apple Music Classical

Read: Disaster alert accounts are preparing for a world after Twitter (The Verge)

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Catch up on the top Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Hyperspectral imaging startups bet the best way to observe the ground is from space
• Why Databricks tapped its entire workforce to write training data for a ChatGPT rival
• Survey: Executives are bullish on generative AI, data transparency, supercomputing