It’s a long way from the small town of Tumbarumba, Australia to NASA and space startups, but it’s come naturally to Chris Boshuizen.

Growing up in rural New South Wales, Boshuizen has Carl Sagan to thank for his choice of career path. The beloved astronomer’s television show Cosmos was the only program Boshuizen was allowed to stay up past his bedtime to watch.

“I figured, if I’m allowed to stay up late and watch a show about space, space must be important,” he told Mashable Australia.

Boshuizen, the cofounder and former chief technology officer of Planet Labs, a California-based startup that operates a constellation of Earth-imaging satellites, was in Sydney Monday to share his story at the technology conference, The Sunrise. He had some simple advice for startup founders: “Just build something.” Read more…