<I've read that Rotary Rocket was funded with $17 million from private investors. I have two questions:

1. Was there enough interest earned on that amount to run the company indefinitely, or was there a predetermined date of termination of cash flow?



Rotary Rocket spent more like $30 million (approximately) altogether over a few years, from a wide variety of investors, the largest of which were Walt Anderson, who backed us to the bitter end, and Tom Clancy. The money was totally spent on research, development, and overhead so there wasn't really any left over to "earn interest" even if we could have run on that amount.

2. When Rotary Rocket failed, did those private investors lose their life savings, or was it seen as an experiment anyways?

No one lost their life's savings, since SEC and other regulations prevented us from taking investment money from anyone but "sophisticated investors." There is an exact definition somewhere, but basically a sophisticated investor is one who can prove a net worth far in excess of the investment amount.

We were legally prohibited as a private offering from taking money from small investors. Had we eventually gone public, then anyone could have purchased our stock.

Yeah, they lost their investment money, but that's how the game is played, and they knew the job was dangerous when they took it. Had we succeeded, they would have gotten filthy rich. I would have too, since I got some founder's stock, which I paid a lot less for than most of the investors did. Too bad all around.