OpenAI · SpaceX · X · Meta · TechCrunch AI
Now, the time is apparently right for Weil to join the board as a director to help continue scaling
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Weil’s past work has focused on digital products and platforms, which aren’t obviously on Stoke’s roadmap.
Key facts
- The two kept talking while Lapsa raised $1.34 billion, including a $510 million Series D funding round in 2025, to build a rapidly reusable rocket that could fly this year — He had previously served as OpenAI’s chief product officer from June 2024 until October 2025
- Weil served as the president of Planet Labs, a satellite earth observation company, for three years as it went public 2021
- It’s real simple for me,” Stoke CEO Andy Lapsa told TechCrunch of meeting Weil when he co-founded Stoke in 2020 and soon after joined Y Combinator’s winter batch
Summary
Kevin Weil, a veteran tech executive known for stints at Twitter, Meta, Planet Labs, and OpenAI, has joined the board of Stoke Space, a well-funded Seattle startup building reusable rockets to compete with SpaceX. “It’s real simple for me,” Stoke CEO Andy Lapsa told TechCrunch of meeting Weil when he co-founded Stoke in 2020 and soon after joined Y Combinator’s winter batch. The two kept talking while Lapsa raised $1.34 billion, including a $510 million Series D funding round in 2025, to build a rapidly reusable rocket that could fly this year. Weil’s last job raises one obvious question: OpenAI’s Sam Altman was reportedly kicking the tires on Stoke last year, contemplating an investment in his own SpaceX competitor.