CoffeeSpace Cofounder Success Stories #2: Luke & Greg

Welcome to the section of our blog where we showcase inspiring, successful matching stories from the CoffeeSpace community. 

In this feature, we’re excited to introduce the brilliant minds behind Orbital Electric Systems. Orbital is at the forefront of designing and building the next generation of American work vehicles. With cutting-edge technology that leverages the clean, quiet power of electric drivetrains, Orbital’s vehicles offer unmatched torque, durability, quick and quiet responsiveness, impressive payload and passenger capacity, and the versatility of a mobile power source. Their flagship model, the Orbital Rev 1 UTV, is setting new standards for work and play across all terrains.

At the helm is Lukasz Kosewski (Luke), Orbital's CEO and founder. Luke’s entrepreneurial journey began in Canada, where he bootstrapped several startups before forming PagerDuty’s infrastructure team. He later took on a tech lead role at Netflix, automating data center outage recovery. His work continues to manage tens of millions of dollars in assets to this day. Luke’s expertise extends beyond software—he worked at Harley-Davidson on key systems, playing a crucial role in launching the LiveWire electric motorcycle. Now, he’s tackling his most ambitious challenge yet: leading Orbital to create electric vehicles that outperform their gas-powered counterparts. Luke holds an honors B.Math degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo.

Joining Luke is Greg Knox, Orbital’s Chief Revenue Officer. Greg brings a wealth of experience from the startup world, government, and politics. As Governor Rauner’s liaison to the Illinois House of Representatives, Greg sharpened his strategic and operational skills. In 2018, he transitioned to tech, starting at Remedly, a healthcare software company, where he quickly rose to lead client relations and drive growth. Greg later joined Skip, a startup that helped small businesses navigate pandemic relief funding, where, as COO, he grew the team from 2 to 40 and scaled revenue to $10 million annually. Now, as Orbital’s CRO, Greg is driving the company’s commercial success.

Tell us more about what you do at Orbital Electric Systems!

Luke: At Orbital Electric Systems, our goal is to showcase a post-gas future by developing cutting-edge electric off-road vehicles. Our first product is a utility task vehicle (UTV) that outperforms any gas-powered or electric competitor on the market. We are building the technology to enable a brand new generation of better-than-gas electric off-road vehicles. Our aim is to have this revolutionary UTV available in the market by 2026.

In our previous exchange, you mentioned that Orbital is currently raising your Series A round. Can you talk a little more about the round and the plans after that?

Greg: That is right, we are currently in the process of finalizing our Series A funding round. We have been in talks with some interested investors, and there is still room for more people to get involved, whether they discover us through this article or other connections. The market has already shown its excitement for our product, with over $12.5 million in future revenue reservations. 

We have built a prototype and it's performing exceptionally well. In fact, just a couple of days ago, we were shooting some video footage with it. And I mean, it truly is the case. Our prototype may still be in its early stages, but it's already about 40% more efficient than any other electric UTV ever built. We’re incredibly excited about its potential and look forward to bringing this vision to the masses by 2026.

So, the purpose of this Series A raise is to allow us to build our first small fleet of vehicles, which we will use to conduct demo events across the country and provide to some of our anchor partners. This is an important step in bringing our revolutionary electric UTV to market. 

If anyone is interested in Orbital’s Series A round, Luke and Greg can be found here.

Luke is the CEO of Orbital Electric Systems, with Greg later joining as the Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to meeting Greg, Luke founded the company along with another cofounder. What was the thought process behind getting another cofounder?

Luke: Owen (founder and CTO of Orbital) and I started the company together in 2021, working on the initial drafts of the product we wanted to build. We were great at product building and development, but we struggled with how to market, advertise, and sell it. We initially tried hiring industry professionals, people with experience selling UTVs, but they all came from large, publicly traded companies and didn’t seem to understand the startup environment or the incentives that come with it. So, we pivoted and decided to find someone who had startup experience, someone who understood the unique challenges and could sell in various contexts. That’s when we started to go on cofounder matching platforms and eventually met Greg through CoffeeSpace. He stood out among the others we interviewed because of his ability to sell anything thrown his way and his enthusiasm for startups and particularly the technology that we are building. There were some other candidates who I was matched with, but Greg ended up being the most promising, and we were thrilled that he took the offer. 

And for Greg, prior to joining Orbital, what was your idea behind joining CoffeeSpace (or other cofounder matching platforms)? Have you always wanted to work in startups?

Greg: Orbital is the third startup I've worked at. In 2018, I moved to the Bay Area after working in government and politics, where I served as Governor Rauner's liaison to the Illinois House of Representatives. I ultimately reached the conclusion that the impact that I wanted to make would be done through promoting emerging technologies rather than through government work. So I started doing just that.

My first experience in a startup was in 2018 in which I worked at a healthcare software company called Remedly, in a sales team of five, six people. By the end of it, I was the only one left so I had to juggle managing clients, taking on any responsibilities needed to be taken care of. I was learning the ins and outs of a startup, particularly driving growth and revenue to a business.

I jumped to Skip three years later, a startup that helped small businesses navigate pandemic relief funding. It was also more related to the government sectors, which was a great fit for me. I was Chief of Staff and eventually became the Chief Operating Officer, growing the company from just the CEO and I to 40 employees and $10 million in annual revenue. Really proud of that.

After two years at Skip with enough experience to really contribute to growing startups, I left Skip and took some time off, looking around for other opportunities. Especially since I don’t really have any technical skills, I realized I do need to latch onto the right technical people who are building truly disruptive technology that’s going to drive us forward as a species, and that’s what Luke really is doing with his field expertise and industry knowledge. I mean, we like to say we have the EV dream team building our vehicles. And it is true, if you look at people who conceivably could do something like this, we have the best team, period. So, yeah, it was a really easy choice. 

Anyway, the thought of that led me to start searching on cofounder matching platforms like CoffeeSpace, where I ultimately found the right technical team at Orbital, and I’m confident I made the right choice.

What are some of the biggest challenges in meeting the right cofounder? 

Greg: I think the biggest challenge was sifting through all the other options and sort of weighing them and doing my best to understand the opportunities and also myself. Obviously, we are right in the middle of our societal explosion with ChatGPT coming out, so it was also a little bit of introspection of how much passion I have for the ideas. However, the final decision boils down to the excitement I have for where the business is heading towards and how much I think I will enjoy being a part of it. And we’re talking about the next 5 or 10 years of my life, and that is really what put me over the edge of making this decision. 

When Luke and I were still talking, I got to know Owen as well, and we really built a good foundation of trust and rapport, and here we are, still sharing an office and enjoying each other’s presence. So yeah, there was a logical aspect to the decision, but also an emotional one, and I believe I made the right choice in joining Orbital.

Luke: Not rushing it. When Owen and I were looking at wanting to hire someone, we thought about someone who we could work with in close quarters. By the time we met Greg, we had five people on the team working halftime or remotely, but in the office, it was just Owen and I. One of the hard lines in the sand that we drew was that whoever we hired was somebody who we wanted to spend time in the office with. And so all of Greg's comments about finding somebody who we would get along with, well, we felt the same way and meeting the right person definitely took time. It was also during the holiday season that we matched, and we really gave time to let this relationship grow to the point where Greg is comfortable committing and not rushing the process.

How was your experience using CoffeeSpace and how does it differ from other cofounder matching platforms you have used?

Greg: My experience with CoffeeSpace has been very positive, especially in comparison to other co-founder matching platforms I've used. With some of the other platforms, there were a lot of options, but not all of them were great fits. In contrast, CoffeeSpace really stood out for me. I was honestly impressed with every single founder I spoke with through CoffeeSpace. The platform's filtering and matching process was key, as it helped connect me with the right opportunities. I'm grateful that the CoffeeSpace team reached out to me about the platform, as it's hard to get involved with a company if you don't even know it exists. The CoffeeSpace team did a great job of matching users with the right candidates and obviously that led to the success story of Luke and I meeting and becoming cofounders together.

Luke: I have to say I have the same comments as Greg for my side that all the people I got matched with were at least very interesting. Some of them ended up not being quite the right fit for me in terms of the skillsets they bring to the table but the problems were remediated really quickly and I would get users who I was matched with possessing the skills we were looking for in our company and they were like excellent, interesting, competent people. While we were not getting as many matches on a per week basis as some other platforms, they were quantity over quality. CoffeeSpace was different in that it was quality first, and that was a huge differentiator. 

What is one piece of advice you would give to founders or just people exploring and building ideas? 

Greg: You only get one shot at building your company culture. So, choose wisely of who you want to spend your professional life and career with. From my past startup experiences, I have been fortunate enough to work with like-minded people, and really got a lot out of growing to know them better, but also trust each other over time. But if you are not careful in the initial cofounder search, you may end up with a team that you don’t have the same goals and right things in common. I say it's pretty strong parallels between choosing someone to spend your life within the romantic and personal sphere and people to spend your life with professionally, it's not too different. 

Luke: Same thing here for me, but to add on I guess it is crucial to make sure that everyone in your founding team is honest and aligned about what they expect from the startup, especially regarding its growth and timeline. While your technology might quickly take off, leading to an exit strategy within a few years, the reality is that  most of the time it's going to take a different path. And part of that path might be that you're going to be slogging at this for years, right? That doesn't mean that you're going to have to eat ramen for 10 years. You know, at my age, that would kill me long before 10 years. So there's no real worry of that happening but the point is it might involve a lot of time acting like a startup instead of a large company, there are periods where things are moving slower and there are crazy growth at times, just make clear and make sure that this path is acceptable for everyone on the team. If someone is only in it for a fast exit, they may not be the right fit for the journey ahead and you really have to choose wisely especially when it comes to a cofounder role.

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If you’re inspired by this story and want to start exploring your own ideas and find someone to get off the ground with, join us at CoffeeSpace.

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