This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Peter Beck, the founder and CEO of Rocket Lab. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
I started Rocket Lab in 2006, after skipping out on college. We began in New Zealand as a small advanced technology house and launched our first rocket in 2009.
Eventually, I went to Silicon Valley and raised our first bit of capital. That’s when we started building Electron, our partially reusable two-stage rocket, and we’re now working on Neutron, our medium-lift rocket scheduled to launch this year. The company has gone from generating a few million to hundreds of millions in revenue.
It’s felt like a sprint pretty much the entire time. Here’s a typical day in my life when I’m working from New Zealand, instead of traveling to our California headquarters or watching a rocket launch.
I wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 every morning
I’m a terrible sleeper, which at least makes it easy for me to get out of bed each morning. When my body naturally wakes up between 4:30 and 5:00 am, I first check to see if anything critical has happened overnight — if something has, I’ll head down to my office, because I don’t want wake my wife.
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It’s already morning or midday in America when I wake up, so I jump straight into emails even if nothing massive happened in the few hours I was asleep. By 6:00, I’m in the shower; by 7:00, I’m on the road to work. The drive is around 45 minutes, and I usually use it for phone calls. Most days I wear a tee shirt or maybe a quarter zip to work. You’re lucky if you ever see me in a suit.
I avoid coffee, though not by choice. I love the taste, but it makes me feel terrible, so I settle for catching whiffs of others’ drinks.
My desk is pretty bare — other than the bits of old rocket
I start my day by saying hello to the people around me. There’s no pump, no fanfare. We just dive straight into work. Rocket Lab’s offices are open-air, but our lawyers recently got annoyed at me for having sensitive conversations in public, so we built a meeting room next to my desk. Now, I nip in there for any confidential calls.
With the private meeting space, my desk got even sparser. I used to have a few photos, but now it’s just my laptop and bits of rocket from old launches. Some are reminders of success, others reminders that this business can bite you in the ass at any moment.
Other than the rocket remnants, I’m a big fan of Post-Its. I have a row of them across the bottom of my computer screen. All the way left are the most urgent problems, and farthest right are things I can deal with later.
Rocket Lab
I like technical questions and avoid all but the most necessary meetings
When there are challenges, I enjoy getting into the engineering details. Nowadays, I’m dealing with a lot of technical and production questions about Neutron.
These unexpected moments are the most intellectually stimulating parts of each day. I try to avoid meetings whenever I can, but there are a few scheduled ones I have to attend. We have a set of rules in each meeting room, and if you’re not adding value, you should leave.
If there’s a choice to make, I’d much rather pull up a chair at someone’s desk than call a lengthy group meeting.
I don’t take many breaks during the day — I’m at work to get stuff done. Biology calls, though, and when I’m hungry, I’ll go down to the cafe for lunch. The cafe didn’t serve cake initially, so I mandated that there has to be a sweet at the end of every lunch. Now, there’s always a slice of cake to choose from, along with an ice cream machine.
Most days, I try to eat with a random group in the cafeteria, though I’ll bring my plate to my desk when it’s especially busy.
I always try to make it home for family dinner
I try to leave the office a little bit after 5 to get home in time for dinner with my wife and two teenage kids. I’m not normally involved in the cooking, which is probably for the best. We’re all busy people, but there aren’t excuses for skipping out on the meal, which is usually the most enjoyable part of my day. We’re all jokers, so dinner often consists of us talking about our days or taking digs.
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After dinner, it’s back to work. My time at home is for deeper thinking, whereas my time at the office is for solving practical problems. If I have a big choice to make, I’ll collect opinions throughout the day and then eventually sit down with a glass of wine to mull it over.
I go to sleep as soon as I start to get ineffective, which is earlier and earlier these days, typically around 10 or 11 p.m.
I’m an active relaxer — which can include helicopters or race cars
I consider myself an active relaxer, meaning I have to do an activity to destress.
My favorite way to active relax is to fly a helicopter. When I’m flying, I have to shut out everything else, or I risk crashing. I try to fly at least one hour each week, usually on a Sunday or a Monday. Occasionally, I’ll relax by flying a jet or driving a race car — really anything where there’s no possibility of thinking about work.
