A strategic thinking exercise

05/02/05 00:00:00    

By Michael Mealling

While waiting at the airport at 6:00 a.m. yesterday I was chatting with another Space Access participant about funding. He asked an interesting question: “Assume you cash out and get $20 million, what do you do with it?” I hmm-ed on that a little and came up with various answers that I'll get into later. But the question was an intriguing one that prompted some fairly strategic thinking on my part. Its enough to be able to change some things but its not enough to go out and buy your own program the way Musk, Bezos, Allen, etc are doing.

The major assumption is that, while you have the $20 million, you also don't have a job. So you have to figure out how to make sure that $20 million generates income so you can live in the lifestyle you have become accustomed. So just blowing it all on an ISS ride wouldn't be a good idea unless you could move back in with your parents afterward because your wife threw you out of the house.

So, what would you do with it?