From Bankruptcy to a $5.2 Billion Space IPO | Eric Salwan of Firefly

High Five Energy Founders · Jun 30, 2026 · 1h 2m · transcript

Eric Salwan, co-founder and former Chief Revenue Officer of Firefly Aerospace, reveals: the company went bankrupt, laid off 160 people, and almost died in a fireball on the test stand — then became the first private company to land on the moon and IPO'd at a $6 billion valuation.

THE REAL STORY: Before Firefly became one of only five private companies to ever reach orbit, Eric was sitting in an empty office under construction, agreeing to "come down for a year." Eighteen months later, the company ran out of money, got evicted, and laid off the entire team. Eric stayed anyway. A single…