Former OpenAI exec Kevin Weil is now on the board of Stoke Space

Kevin Weil, a veteran tech govt identified for stints at Twitter, Meta, Planet Labs and OpenAI, has joined the board of Stoke Area, a well-funded Seattle startup constructing reusable rockets to compete with SpaceX.

“It’s actual easy for me,” Stoke CEO Andy Lapsa advised TechCrunch of assembly Weil when he cofounded Stoke in 2020 and shortly after joined Y Combinator’s winter batch. “I got here out of engineering, began an organization, had no thought tips on how to fundraise. I had no thought how Silicon Valley labored. I had no community. Kevin [an early investor in the company with his wife Elizabeth, through their fund Scribble Ventures] comes with all of that background and was in a position to assist me take into consideration fundraising and getting the corporate off the bottom.

The 2 stored speaking whereas Lapsa raised $1.34 billion — together with a $510 million Series D funding spherical in 2025 — to construct a quickly reusable rocket that would fly this 12 months. Now, the time is outwardly proper for Weil to affix the board as a director to assist proceed scaling the corporate. Stoke declined to make Weil out there for an interview, and he didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s outreach.

Weil’s previous work has centered on digital merchandise and platforms, which aren’t clearly on Stoke’s roadmap. He was most not too long ago the top of OpenAI’s efforts to speed up scientific analysis, leaving the company after that program’s work was unfold extra extensively throughout the frontier lab in April. He had beforehand served as OpenAI’s chief product officer from June 2024 till October 2025.

Weil’s final job raises one apparent query: OpenAI’s Sam Altman was reportedly kicking the tires on Stoke final 12 months, considering an funding in his personal SpaceX competitor. May Weil be the hyperlink between the frontier AI lab and a doable accomplice in house? Lapsa declined to touch upon “gossip and rumors” about OpenAI, saying Weil’s function was to give attention to Stoke itself.

Stoke is constructing a rocket, Nova, that’s supposed to be utterly reusable and may be flown repeatedly. Nobody has ever achieved that earlier than, with the SpaceX coming the closest with its huge Starship rocket. The technological challenges of reusing a rocket—significantly its capacity to outlive the acute warmth of reentering the Earth’s environment from house—deterred even house traders with the deepest pockets. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, the place Lapsa as soon as labored, has flirted with the method, however hasn’t prioritized it.

Now, although, SpaceX’s blockbuster inventory market debut—with a lot of its worth resting on Elon Musk’s promises that Starship will likely be flying operational missions this 12 months—has confirmed Lapsa’s foresight. Regardless of many billions of {dollars} invested in new launch autos, there aren’t sufficient rockets to go round, and the following firm to get a cheap rocket flying usually guarantees to make a killing.

“The world is realizing that launch remains to be not solved,” Lapsa mentioned. “The concept of full, fast reuse was a bit of bit on the market at the moment…that’s now been somewhat normalized, and folks see the inevitable now.”

Notably, the thought of constructing distributed knowledge facilities in house to leverage solar energy and escape political restrictions on Earth has captured the creativeness of some enterprise capitalists. The important thing impediment there may be the price of getting all these laptop chips into orbit. Area knowledge facilities “actually solely make sense with full fast reuse,” Lapsa mentioned, which could possibly be a key differentiator for Stoke as its rocket begins flying.

Army contracts may even be key to the corporate’s success, and Weil has expertise bridging the hole between Silicon Valley and the Division of Protection; he was one among four tech movers and shakers who joined the US Military Reserve in a bid to enhance recruitment and cooperation between the Military and trade. And this isn’t his first time within the house enterprise. Weil served because the president of Planet Labs, a satellite tv for pc earth statement firm, for 3 years because it went public 2021.

No matter Weil can add to the corporate’s technique because it closes in on delivering an operational launch car, although, the corporate has to execute.

“We’ve bought an excellent chunk of the chance behind us, we’ve bought extra to go,” Lapsa mentioned. “We’ll work as laborious as we will, and we’ll go when it’s prepared.”