There are examples of Beal Aerospace, which closed not long before SpaceX founding, and Kistler Rocket, which also didn't survive around the same time. According to success of SpaceX, the way was there - but somehow not nearly everybody succeeded. Even Virgin Galactic was thought to be easy after successful demonstration of flights in 2004 - the was the way - but today in 2019 we have Stratolaunch closing and Virgin Galactic still not flying with regular passengers.
I think reality is that doing business with space is tricky, and requires complex combinations of luck, money, perseverance, experience - approximately in this order, but still tricky.
I think reality is that doing business with space is tricky, and requires complex combinations of luck, money, perseverance, experience - approximately in this order, but still tricky.