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Eli Dourado

What Eli Dourado thinks about startups

@eli-dourado · 5 positions · 1 change of mind · On ppll ↗

Economist writing about why physical technologies — geothermal drilling, supersonic aircraft, cargo airships — stall between being possible and being built, and about the regulation, certification and capital structure that decide which ones get made.

Eli Dourado did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Eli Dourado on startups. See everyone on startups

4 dated positions, 2023 to 2024, in their own words. Our reading of what Eli Dourado has said — not written or endorsed by them.

4 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our reading · no longer heldA large cargo airship is probably not fundable as a startup, because it stays capital-intensive and risky until late in development.

    No longer holdsCargo airship margins, therefore, can be much higher than I had realized.

    SaidThe problem is that today’s air freight service is not as fast as I had assumed.

    ↗Cargo airships are happeningelidourado.com 1st of 2 in this piece

  3. Our readingInvestors avoid hard tech for its capital intensity while the largest returns available are in exactly those physical markets.

    investing

    Their wordsMany software investors eschew hard tech startups because of their capital intensity, but it’s hard to deny that huge returns are possible in hard tech: just consider SpaceX.

    ↗Cargo airships are happeningelidourado.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

  4. 20 months earlier

  5. Our readingCertification, not engineering, is what gates revenue for a new aircraft company.

    Their wordsFAA certification is required before you transport anything for money.

    ↗Cargo airships could be bigelidourado.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

  7. Our readingA large cargo airship is probably not fundable as a startup, because it stays capital-intensive and risky until late in development.

    Their wordsMy suggested approach would be more capital intensive while retaining a lot of risk until fairly late in development. I am not sure it’s fundable.

    ↗Cargo airships could be bigelidourado.com 5th of 4 in this piece