I ordered a copy of the Financial Times from my left-over US Air miles. Today, as usual, Richard Branson's face in a Samsonite ad stares up at me from my doorstep. It is a mixed motivation to have my major competitor with over ten million in booked sales and tremendous media recognition start my day. It is an amazing standard to aspire to, but humbling at the same time. A big day of getting the word out for my site Space-Shot.com got easier when I saw on the front page of the second section: game company Xfire was purchased by Viacom for $102 million in cash. (The FT version is subscriber only.) Xfire has 4 million members spending 91 hours per month in advertiser supported game heaven. They earned less than $10 million in ad sales last year. The revenue and subscriber numbers are achievable for Space-Shot.com. Back to work.

Brand value equals 3quity as well as revenue. And Sir Richard Branson is a master of "brand value."

There is far, far more money flowing in media, marketing, sponsorships, name rights and brand value than will ever be available from the US Congress. The sooner NewSpace gets this through their heads, the sooner they can surge past NASA and get people out there into space.

Tourism is one piece of this puzzle, but only one piece. Of course, ITAR remains a problem.

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A blog that boinks "3quity" makes it hard to discuss finance. Just saying.

A blog that boinks "3quity" makes it hard to discuss finance. Just saying.

Thanks, Bill. I fixed it so that you can now use that dirty word, "equity" in comments. It's easy to get overzealous in blasting and blacklisting spammer scum.

It's an interesting anecdote, but hopefully you're not falling into the "build a company hoping someone will buy it" trap. I'd assume you've been around the block enough times to know that positioning yourself for a mega buyout is a risky proposition, if not one completely devoid of success.

IMO, you're on the right track to marketing success, Sam. And BTW, who's the hottie in the Russian pressure suit on your website?

If one operates on a shoe string, progress toward the mega buyout or IPO and organic growth can occur hand in hand.

Our spacesuited model prefers to be mysterious so she can continue to personify the ubiquitous dream of mass space travel. You can meet her if you win.

It's an interesting anecdote, but hopefully you're not falling into the "build a company hoping someone will buy it" trap.

I suspect Sam is doing this because it's fun; he gets to hang out with space entrepeneurs; and he gets to challenge Richard Branson head-to-head.

If Sam gets a mega-buyout, then that is pure gravy but don't forget to enjoy the ride.

Maybe Dr. Jane Bernstein will do a spacesuit photo-op for you, Sam.

It is fun. But Jeff Greason, John Carmack and George French are regular people with regular skills. What we're doing is the key to the coolness.

Ever get the feeling Richard Branson buys companies with his air miles?