Starport.com was started by an all-star team of space entrepreneurs including me, Eric Anderson, Frank Taylor, Andy Schwab, Chris Lewicki, Jeff, and Robert Pearlman. The dot-com craze was in full swing and money was flowing everywhere! We wanted a piece of that action and a chance to stake out our segment of space on the internet.

After a series of brainstorming meetings our group decided that we'd create the ultimate space website... only to learn shortly thereafter that Lou Dobbs had already signed on to help create and launch Space.com... we actually tried to buy the Space.com URL only to find out we had gotten there a few months too late.

Our business plan executive summary read:

"STARPORT will enable millions of people around the world to experience and participate in space exploration, one of humanity's greatest passions during the latter half of the 20th century. Furthermore, as the 21st century begins, Starport will bridge the gap between reality and fantasy (combining the excitement of Star Wars with the integrity of NASA) for the next generation of enthusiasts by providing Internet space exploration experiences both for the mass market and for businesses in the education, entertainment, and training sectors, by bringing the universe to the desktop."

I ended up serving as Chairman of Starport and Andy Schwab was hired as the CEO. Under Andy's guidance and thru some of his connections, we finally ended up selling Starport to Space.com, about the same time that I was joining BlastOff! The deal was an all stock deal... except for me. Because Lou and his team were concerned that BlastOff would be a competitor to Space.com (I tried really really hard to convince them that it would not compete), they insisted that I not be a shareholder of Space.com stock... so they bought me out for cash instead. This was probably one of the best deals I made.. getting cash a few months before the dot-com bomb blew up. By the way, 'Thanks Lou!'

Peter H. Diamandis
Co-Founder and past-Chairman

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