5 ms·

So if I wanted to do PixActing like I wanted to breathe, my five year plan would be a) get VC funded for anything, b) achieve a modestly successful exit, and th

by patio11 15y ago

So if I wanted to do PixActing like I wanted to breathe, my five year plan would be a) get VC funded for anything, b) achieve a modestly successful exit, and then c) recruit one similarly situated person and just shake the money tree. Without making disparaging comments about identifiable businesses, it is not a controversial observation that proven entrepreneurs with existing networks have vastly superior access to capital compared to first-time entrepreneurs with no network, independent of idea quality, target market, or execution ability. $40 million is not a number that is unachievable in 2012. The password is just a bit different than for $200k, $700k, or $5 million.

erichocean 15y ago
I'm basically doing that, actually. Fohr has ridiculous technology, and I'm parting it out (feels like chopping a car) as you describe. I can do Fohr without the capital, it'll just takes me longer as hardware gets cheaper and my own net worth goes up. 18 month ago, it would have cost over $100 million to operate Fohr, so time is on my side.
- tlb 15y ago
  Pixar did it for 16 years (1979-1995) before they released a movie.
  - _delirium 15y ago
    1986-1995 is a bit closer, I think; from 1979-1986 they were in effect an R&D division of Lucasfilm, and it wasn't their job to even think about making films. They were supposed to develop new tech and do special-effects in films, which they did do for quite a few prominent films.
- cpeterso 15y ago
  btw, Fohr looks really cool. However, the pull quote at angel.co/fohr is a little unfortunate: “Our dream of building a Pixar for films that are photographed is just weeks away from being realized.” (Posted 4 months ago)
  - securitytheater 15y ago
    A good laugh.
    - erichocean 15y ago
      Thanks, I've updated AngelLest with the latest news: > Pre-production continues on the first computer-photographed film, Carpathia, and production begins on June 1, 2012 in Los Angeles. At the time, we were very close to going through with a deal. (Obviously, that fell through.)
leoc 15y ago
It's probably worth mentioning how Steve Jobs was introduced to (what became) Pixar: http://engineering.stanford.edu/profile/alvy-ray-smith-ms-1966-phd-1970-ee http://engineering.stanford.edu/profile/alvy-ray-smith-ms-19... > One of my champions at Xerox PARC was Alan Kay. So I knew Alan Kay, who was by this time a fellow at Apple. And Steve Jobs had expressed some interest in computer graphics, so Alan Kay said let me introduce you to the guys who do it best. So Alan Kay brought Steve up to spend an afternoon with us at Lucasfilm. That’s when we first got to know each other. I had actually had one earlier conversation with Steve at some design conference on the Stanford campus one summer, but that was just a first meeting sort of thing. The first serious meeting with business possibilities was that one at Lucasfilm with Alan Kay. > Shortly after that, Steve and Apple broke up. And meanwhile, Lucasfilm was trying to sell us. Steve ended up buying us from Lucasfilm for $5 million. So not only was Jobs alerted to Pixar by an existing contact, in buying it he was to a large extent reusing the business model that had already worked with the Macintosh: take PARC goodies and commercialise them, hiring some of the PARC guys themselves.

by patio11 15y ago

erichocean 15y ago

I'm basically doing that, actually. Fohr has ridiculous technology, and I'm parting it out (feels like chopping a car) as you describe. I can do Fohr without the capital, it'll just takes me longer as hardware gets cheaper and my own net worth goes up. 18 month ago, it would have cost over $100 million to operate Fohr, so time is on my side.

tlb 15y ago
Pixar did it for 16 years (1979-1995) before they released a movie.
- _delirium 15y ago
  1986-1995 is a bit closer, I think; from 1979-1986 they were in effect an R&D division of Lucasfilm, and it wasn't their job to even think about making films. They were supposed to develop new tech and do special-effects in films, which they did do for quite a few prominent films.
cpeterso 15y ago
btw, Fohr looks really cool. However, the pull quote at angel.co/fohr is a little unfortunate: “Our dream of building a Pixar for films that are photographed is just weeks away from being realized.” (Posted 4 months ago)
- securitytheater 15y ago
  A good laugh.
  - erichocean 15y ago
    Thanks, I've updated AngelLest with the latest news: > Pre-production continues on the first computer-photographed film, Carpathia, and production begins on June 1, 2012 in Los Angeles. At the time, we were very close to going through with a deal. (Obviously, that fell through.)

leoc 15y ago

It's probably worth mentioning how Steve Jobs was introduced to (what became) Pixar: http://engineering.stanford.edu/profile/alvy-ray-smith-ms-1966-phd-1970-ee http://engineering.stanford.edu/profile/alvy-ray-smith-ms-19... > One of my champions at Xerox PARC was Alan Kay. So I knew Alan Kay, who was by this time a fellow at Apple. And Steve Jobs had expressed some interest in computer graphics, so Alan Kay said let me introduce you to the guys who do it best. So Alan Kay brought Steve up to spend an afternoon with us at Lucasfilm. That’s when we first got to know each other. I had actually had one earlier conversation with Steve at some design conference on the Stanford campus one summer, but that was just a first meeting sort of thing. The first serious meeting with business possibilities was that one at Lucasfilm with Alan Kay. > Shortly after that, Steve and Apple broke up. And meanwhile, Lucasfilm was trying to sell us. Steve ended up buying us from Lucasfilm for $5 million. So not only was Jobs alerted to Pixar by an existing contact, in buying it he was to a large extent reusing the business model that had already worked with the Macintosh: take PARC goodies and commercialise them, hiring some of the PARC guys themselves.