SpaceX IPO: Inside the Firm That Owns 1%

Justin Fishner-Wolfson is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 137 Ventures, the firm that turned a contrarian read on private markets into a $15B platform and one of the largest SpaceX positions in venture. His firm now owns more than 1% of SpaceX, a stake worth roughly $20B at the company's $1.77T listing valuation.

He was on the SpaceX deal team at Founders Fund in 2008, left to start 137, and has since bought into the company roughly two dozen times, mostly through secondaries and tenders, without selling a share. He has been buying since SpaceX was valued at $1B. In this conversation he walks through the thesis that companies would stay private longer, why partial liquidity sharpens founder focus rather than dulling it, and how 137 concentrates capital in durable companies instead of chasing sectors.

We cover SpaceX's shift from cost-plus to fixed-price economics, the Falcon 9 reusability that made launch profitable, when Starlink became underwritable, the $240B secondary market, why he backed Cognition over the foundational models, his cash on cash discipline over ownership targets, and what he plans to do with the stake once the lockup lifts.

Justin Fishner-Wolfson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinfw

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(00:00) Justin Fishner-Wolfson, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at 137 Ventures

(00:51) The story of SpaceX

(02:50) Why companies are staying private longer

(04:15) What Liquidity actually means for Founders and Employees

(05:38) Why he left Founders Fund to start from scratch

(06:23) $240B Secondaries market

(07:01) What made SpaceX a generational bet

(07:52) How the Falcon 9 made the entire Space Industry obsolete

(10:59) When Starlink became the obvious winner

(13:29) How 137 Ventures turns Conviction into Compounding

(14:09) Backing SpaceX alumni: the Impulse investment

(14:32) Will the secondary market keep growing?

(15:15) Companies vs. Categories