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Elon Musk is worth watching

05.22.07 | business, tech | Share | Share

Elon Musk (wikipedia) is one of the most interesting entrepreneurs alive today. After creating Zip2 (sold to Compaq for $307m) and Paypal (sold to eBay for $1.5b), he’s kept busy. He financed and executive produced the rather hilarious libertarian movie Thank You For Smoking (imdb), and founded two remarkable companies:

Tesla Motors (my prior post; wikipedia; their website), a credible attempt at making an all electric car.

And

SpaceX, which is trying to create cheap rockets to help humanity finally get into space in a real way. Here’s an interesting profile of SpaceX: http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/15-06/ff_space_musk

Update, 6/20/07: Make that 3 companies. He’s also the founder and Chairman of SolarCity (http://www.solarcity.com/), a company that helps building owners or communities of homeowners install, finance and monitor roof mounted solar panel installations.

A revolving skyscraper

04.12.07 | business, tech | Share | Share

Let’s say that you’re looking at condos in Miami, and you notice that price tags are lower for units without water views. And let’s say that 10 days later a friend of yours in New York boasts that her unit is the only one in a high rise with spectacular views of both the Hudson River and the East River. What would you do?

If you were David Fisher, you would think, hmm, if all the floors of a building were to spin, everyone could have a great view. You’d then patent the idea, and put together a team that actually has some expertise in designing skyscrapers, since you yourself have none.

Then you’d find a location where someone would actually be interested in constructing such a building. Say, Dubai.

For more, see this article at the WSJ (free since it’s in their real estate section):
http://www.realestatejournal.com/propertyreport/architecture/20070412-frangos.html?refresh=on

Tagged with: business • david fisher • dubai • real estate • rotating skyscraper • skyscraper • skyscrapers • startup • tech

Help someone with a Kiva loan

12.05.05 | business, issues | Share | Share

Want to help people in the developing world who are trying to make something of themselves?

There is an organization called Kiva which has a really interesting idea. They help you lend a small amount of money to a rural African businesses. The borrowers repay the money that was lent to them, plus some interest. Kiva uses the interest to fund Kiva’s barebones operations. You get back the money you loaned in full after a number of months, without interest.

So in effect, you can use Kiva to take your money and loan it to a third world business. It doesn’t require much from you, you are likely to get your money back, and it can really change lives. Check out some of the businesses that have been funded here.

Tagged with: issues • kiva • loans • startup