Interview With Oluseun Taiwo, Founder and CEO, Solideon

In this edition of the founder spotlight interview, we feature a prominent entrepreneur and a dynamic leader in aerospace innovation, Oluseun Taiwo, Founder and CEO of Solideon. Solideon’s mission is to deliver aerospace components 70% faster than traditional methods, addressing critical supply chain challenges in the industry. Oluseun has been acknowledged for his innovative approach and leadership within the industry, earning a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for his work with Solideon. Let’s hear from Olusen about Solideon’s plans in the aerospace industry.

What inspired you to start Solideon, and how do you see the company transforming the aerospace industry?

In college, I joined a research lab at Northern Illinois University, where I worked with the first metal 3D printers. After graduating, I was obsessed with finding a job in this space. I was hired as employee 22 at Rocket Labs USA and could 3D print the first rocket engine that made it to space. Shortly after, I was hired by the team at Virgin Orbit to build out their first 3D printing-enabled production line. This was right before Virgin’s first launch failed and the COVID-19 lockdown started, and the company really struggled to manufacture at the rate it needed to and shortly winded down. I began to think that if a rocket company backed by a billionaire had these problems, all aerospace companies must have felt these same manufacturing pain points. 

Solideon is described as the only large-scale manufacturer capable of crafting any aerospace vehicle. Can you explain what makes your manufacturing process unique?

Traditionally, all manufactured structures are still required to be post-processed, inspected, assembled, and tested. At Solideon, we combine additive and subtractive manufacturing with assembly and inspection capabilities. Our north star has always been building entire vehicles in orbit, and to do that, we needed to build towards a high level of autonomy. 

How has Solideon evolved since its inception, and what have been some of the most important milestones in your journey?

Solideon was originally hyper-focused on space manufacturing. However, when we were fundraising and building relationships with customers, we started to realize that many of these market signals were the same problems that permeated all heavy industries. 

Congratulations on raising $5.1 million in funding! How do you plan to handle your cap table after this round of funding?

Thank you! We are excited to work with incredible investors who have been value-added partners. As the defense tech market becomes more prevalent across venture capital, our team’s highest priority will be to ensure that the right investors continue to stay in our corner.

How does Solideon plan to position itself as the premier end-to-end platform for bespoke aerospace manufacturing?

We use off-the-shelf robotic arms that can fit inside a connex box but are, more importantly, found at most companies in heavy industries. We want to build where needed and radically change how the world sees supply chains. 

What innovations in manufacturing and assembly are you most proud of, and how do they contribute to the company’s success?

It’s hard to pick just one innovation because our team is always up against reality every day! With the resurgence of the American Dynamism movement, we want to make sure our focus remains on delivering value and excellence to our customers.

What have been some of the biggest challenges in scaling Solideon’s manufacturing capabilities, and how did you overcome them?

I think the biggest challenge has always been whether we can take what’s on the pitch deck and make it a reality. We are taking many non-traditional approaches to robotics, and so we’ve been really focused on continuing to build out an incredible team that can continue to make the fictional a reality. 

How do you build and maintain strong relationships with your clients in the aerospace sector?

Working at incredible companies like Rocket Labs and Virgin put me in a great position to meet many leaders in the A&D world and see what was needed. At Solideon, we are focused on listening to our customers’ problems and developing scalable ways to solve them. We don’t want our customers to have to buy more hardware or waste more time.

Can you share more about your approach to developing new aerospace components and vehicles?

We have been focused on the intersection of hardware and software, from capturing data to leveraging artificial intelligence. Creating a digital manufacturing ecosystem capable of building data-driven processes into the manufacturing value chain is the fundamental next step in moving humanity forward.

Finally, we use swarm manufacturing techniques by leveraging multi-robotics to increase efficiency. 

What are the next major milestones for Solideon, and which goals are you most eager to reach in the near future?

We are working on scaling our operations in our factory in Berkeley. Given global tensions, our team has been heads down developing our technologies readiness level and making sure capabilities are online to containerize and deploy a factory-in-a-box. We’ve got a lot of goals, so scaling up the team has been at the top of my mind! We are always looking to hire talented engineers and tinkerers.