A 27-year-old entrepreneur reveals how he snagged $500,000 from Mark Cuban over a 5-minute email exchange

Relativity Space

• Relativity Space is a 3D rocket-printing startup that's co-founded by engineers Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone.
• The pair didn't have many connections in the investing world, so when they built their company, they decided to send Mark Cuban a cold email.
• Ellis says that Cuban agreed to fund their entire $500,000 seed round over email.

Tim Ellis has an audacious vision for the future of his company, Relativity Space: He's making a 3D printer that he hopes will someday be used to manufacture rockets on the planet Mars.

While Ellis's vision might seem like the stuff of science fiction, he says he's never once doubted his plan for his company, and that this confidence has led to several successful funding rounds. Since founding Relativity Space in 2013, Ellis and his co-founder Jordan Noone have received a total of $45.1 million from investors including Social Capital, Y Combinator, and legendary "Shark Tank" investor Mark Cuban.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Cuban has a longstanding history with Relativity Space. The first time Cuban agreed to invest in the ambitious 3D-printing company, Ellis says it took place over an email exchange.

"The week when we decided to start building our own company, we realized that we didn't have any connections in the investing world," Ellis told Business Insider.

Ellis and Noone, who have worked as engineers at Blue Origins and SpaceX respectively, decided to take an unorthodox approach to securing funding: After they heard that Cuban responded to cold emails, they decided to pitch their idea for Relativity Space to his inbox.

"We didn't have his email address, so we guessed a bunch of different combinations and tried them out," Ellis said. "It turns out that his email address is pretty easy to guess."

Once the pair landed their pitch in the appropriate inbox, it took only a few short moments before Cuban responded: He was in.

Although Ellis and Noone had originally asked for $100,000, Ellis said Cuban volunteered to fund their entire seed round at five times the amount. Ellis says the entire exchange took about five minutes.

"I was impressed at his email game to get back to us that fast," said Ellis.

When asked what it was about his pitch that made it so compelling, Ellis said he believes the concept for Relativity Space is innately attractive.

"Space is sexy," said Ellis. "I think the idea of 3D printing an entire rocket really appeals to people."

Ellis says that reaching out to Cuban taught him an important lesson about asking for help in building his company.

"If you have a vision that people want to see happen and you explain it clearly, people are usually very receptive to helping, or putting you in touch with someone who can help," said Ellis. "There's a lot of people who want to back great ideas and great companies."

Asking for help has landed Ellis other beneficial connections for his company, as well. Among them is a seat on the National Space Council, the space advisory council that advises Vice President Mike Pence on government decisions relating to outer space. Ellis said he's the board's youngest member, and the only member who comes from a venture-backed startup.

While Ellis said that many startups won't speak with the government early on, he decided to testify before the senate to give them a perspective on what it's like to come from a venture-backed company. The move paid off in big ways: Ellis said his government connections landed him a 20-year agreement to use one of NASA's facilities at cost, saving him what he estimates to be hundreds of millions of dollars in overhead.

Ellis says he rarely hesitates to reach out when it comes to furthering the interests of his company.

"You might as well reach out," he said. "Basically the moment you decide not to try, you're already sealing your fate."