Material-science startups now launch from garages using cloud-based access to expensive equipment like electron microscopes, paying per use instead of raising millions upfront. Singapore's policy lets companies start with $50,000. Social media spreads the tacit knowledge that used to require years of apprenticeship.
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I'm sure you guys have had many talks here about how Silicon Valley is now finding ways to do material science in the garage. I happen to be connected with several companies, basically started out in garages that do fundamental work in material science. And how do we do it? We kind of use cloud computing. We actually grab electron scanning microscopes on the net and 10 or 20 people can make this company actually work. Which, as you also know, that means I don't have to spend my precious funds in series A or angel funding in order to buy infrastructure. I actually pay for it as I use it and I kind of reach up there and pull what I want. I just came from spending the day with Singapore. Singapore now expects to start a company with $50,000, all based on use of the clouds. Now, they get a lot for $50,000. But just think about what this means. I saw 40 new companies that have been started in that little nation state in the last year or so. So this game is changing and we have to think about, in terms of being entrepreneurs, how we might use social media to be able to spread some of this, how social media and tacit knowledge might actually work together, and how cloud computing might change the game.
