This past weekend,  BIL took  place in Long Beach, California. It describes itself as an “unconference for people changing the world in big ways. It’s a place for passionate people to come together to energize, brainstorm, and take action”( BIL website).

Steve Jurvetson @ BIL Conference on 2/12/10 in Long Beach, California

Steve Jurvetson shares his love of rockets

Venture Capitalist Steve Jurvetson gave the first talk Friday morning on his passion for model rocketry. Jurvetson is a venture capitalist whose firm invested in companies like Hotmail, SpaceX, and Tesla Motors.
What we need are individuals like Steve Jurvetson.  Individuals who bring with them the scientific wherewithal to rationally judge NewSpace (or as Hoyt Davidson of NearEarth LLC calls it, “SmartSpace”) and have the credibility, enthusiasm and capital to take actions.  They are not interested in paper rockets or powerpoint planetary exploration.  They behave — as Michael Mealling of Masten Space advises young space enthusiasts — in the way of the Wright Brothers: building with their hands, getting the cuts, and the grime, and sweating beneath the burning sun of Blackrock, Mojave or Kittyhawk, those remote places sans Starbuck’s complacency…those unpleasant conditions where aviation was born, where ‘NewSpace’ or ‘SmartSpace’ will flourish.

Jurvetson’s enthusiasm for rocketry is not feigned.  As I observed his latest BIL presentation  (a variation on one I’d seen previously at TED), I realized that this dude loves rockets.  Just like we all did as kids — that strange tinge of pyromania that we’re all born with.  Wanting to see GI Joe figures, white plastic buckets, or whatever we could find in our sister’s toy drawers shot into the space above our roofs.  Or even those stupid little plastic army guys with the string and cellophane parachutes.  Chucking them up until inevitably they got caught in tree branches leaving us forlorn.

I wonder why there are so few Steve Jurvetson-types out there — interested in the financial potential as well as the sheer excitement of rocketry — and not afraid to publicaly display this inner-geek-child to whoever will give him the time.  Mr. Jurvetson is a rare bird but one whose flock I hope soon will fly alongside…

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