The Resilient Entrepreneur, Edition #93
Hi there
I hope you had a great week!
Here are the topics in today's edition:
- Hacking a Satellite? More Common Than You Think
- Give Your Brain a Break: Spend Time Alone, and Just Think
Please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions for articles!
Talk soon,
Tom
LEADERSHIP FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
Hacking a Satellite? More Common Than You Think
You will be surprised to learn where I heard about how to hack a satellite. Spoiler: This group also taught me a ton of other things.
For more than 20 years, I have been an active reserve officer in the Swiss Armed Forces. Right now, I am preparing for my next military duty period, which is due to take place next week.
Every time, I need to juggle business and family life around the military service. Military service is an additional strain on your time budget, so naturally, the question “Is it worth it?” pops up now and then.
From my perspective, I can firmly answer this question with “yes and yes”.
The first “yes” goes to Switzerland, my home country. It’s our obligation to defend ourselves, so everybody has to contribute even if it’s strenuous and inconvenient.
The second “yes” goes to me as a person. I have met so many interesting people and learned so many new things in the military. I wouldn’t want to miss all those experiences.
And it’s the second “yes” that we’ll discuss in detail in this article.
The Setting
I’m using an example from a recent cyber operations course I attended. Besides many sessions delivered by the course instructors, each participant had to present their own topic to the entire course. The only guideline was that the topic would have to illuminate one aspect of cyber operations, no matter if the aspect was military or civilian.
Here is what a bunch of knowledgeable active reserve officers presented to each other.
Hack the Cosmos
Have you ever thought of hacking a satellite? What sounds like science fiction is more commonplace than we think — both in the context of the war in Ukraine, and also executed by cyber criminals. I’m sure you understand that I can’t write about the details of how to hack a satellite, but one course participant was proficient in such matters.
No Electricity, No Data. No Data, No Cyber
Should the ground forces care about cyber? Absolutely. If IT systems are unavailable, communications and intelligence will become impossible for the ground forces, too. But how do you protect a data center? Of course, you protect it by proper cybersecurity. But you will also need boots on the ground to protect the data centers. One of the course participants was experienced in leading a full-battalion exercise with the ground forces to protect data centers.
But if you don’t protect the power grid installations, your data center will stop running. And yes, there was also a participant who works for a grid operator and shared first-hand knowledge of the challenges of maintaining a stable grid.
AI vs. Machine Learning
Everybody is talking about AI. The military is using AI to improve the sensor-shooter loop. But what lies beneath the surface of AI, chatbots, and agents? Learning about the core principles of machine learning from somebody who spent his entire career on these concepts beats every article on AI in your favorite news outlet.
Software Defined Radios
When you think of a radio in a military context, you probably think of a big, heavy, black device with a few buttons and an antenna. But did you know that you can perform the signal processing not just through hardware, but also through software? This makes the radio much more flexible, and suddenly your big, heavy, black device can support a myriad of frequencies and protocols. And this flexibility also helps you stay undetected, which is a huge advantage on today’s battlefields. And yes, one of the participants works on the introduction project of the next-gen radios for the Swiss Armed Forces.
Technology Monitoring
Technology advances so fast that the Swiss Armed Forces have their own team of scientists monitoring technology trends. They go far beyond the technologies we use every day, for example, investigating quantum computing. Learning about technology trends from the person who leads that team of scientists and writes books on it is better than anything you read in the news.
Capture The Flag
When you think of military guys doing exercises, you probably think of shooting ranges in all their forms. But what does a shooting range for cyber soldiers look like? Cyber soldiers use capture the flag platforms to train stuff they’d better not try on production systems.
Emergency Radio
Even if the internet is omnipresent and radios are software-defined these days, how do you alert the population if everything else breaks down? In Switzerland, there is still an emergency radio service for the worst case. And yes, the person responsible for this was also a participant in the course and could inform us first-hand.
Conclusion
This article isn’t engineered; it represents the reality of what the active reserve system is capable of. Isn’t the competence of this group of individuals mind-blowing?
If you’re based in Switzerland, I encourage you to propagate the active reserve system. It brings the best of the country together.
If you’re based in a country that doesn’t use the active reserve system, you should talk to your politicians about the benefits of this system.
LIFE HACKS FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
Give Your Brain a Break: Spend Time Alone, and Just Think
After an intense period of effort, you need rest. Just like giving your body a rest regularly, don’t forget to give your brain a break.
Entrepreneurial life is busy. Even if you try to plan ahead, reality is brutal: It doesn’t care for your plans.
Legend has it that Winston Churchill said that planning was a “necessary evil”. Welcome to my world. Juggling the roles of Founder & CEO of Yonder, military duty as an active reserve officer in the Swiss Armed Forces, and being a father of three children, my wife and I are planning and replanning all the time.
Sometimes, everything gets jumbled up, and you have to start your planning from scratch again. An important customer reports an urgent bug; immediate action is required. Your kids fall sick, and you have to stay at home. Or you have to fly to the Far East on short notice for a vendor presentation.
In other circumstances, everything is planned out, and you just have to survive.
This article is about these situations. Let’s dive deeper.
Just Survive
In October 2025, I was on the road for pretty much the entire month: Military service with my battalion, followed by a tradeshow attendance, followed by a two-week cyber operations course in the Swiss Armed Forces.
My concept for this month? Just survive. I wasn’t planning ahead anymore, just trying to do the necessary to keep everything running and not falling behind.
Did it work? I would say yes. At the end of the month, I was delighted to note that I didn’t fall behind. My inbox was as tidy as always, and the minor urgencies at work were handled by my colleagues.
Yet something was missing. I had no plan for what I would do in the next few weeks, and all the technical work that requires full concentration had suffered.
Give Your Brain A Break
What did I do? Despite having been on the road for 4 weeks, I decided to spend the weekend after the cyber operations course in the mountains. Alone.
I didn’t go skiing, even though the weather was splendid.
I didn’t even go for a walk in the sun.
So what did I do? Because my inbox was empty and all the minor urgencies were attended during the work week, I spent the weekend thinking.
The visible output from this thinking session was minimal, but the invisible output was maximal. I regained a plan of what to do over the next few weeks.
And my brain got a break.
About Me
Growing a company in uncertain times is like running a marathon — it demands grit, strategy, and resilience.
As a tech entrepreneur, active reserve officer, and father of three, I share practical insights and write about entrepreneurship, leadership, and crisis management — no AI bullshit, no promos, just my thoughts in plain text.
When I’m not solving problems, I recharge and find inspiration in the breathtaking mountains around Zermatt.
Do you like this perspective? Here is how you can get more:
📌 Read all my articles in one place — without paywall, without popups.
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