Ever since Elon Musk publicly released his white paper about a transport system he coined Hyperloop, millions of dollars have been invested to bring Musk’s futuristic dream into reality. One of the bold companies that invested to make this vacuum tube a working mode of transportation for passengers is the innovative company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT, HyperloopTT).
Founded by Dirk Ahlborn, HTT’s main objective is to carry around 28-40 passengers per capsule, totaling more than 160,000 people every day. HTT also aims to transport 4,000 cargo shipments daily. The transport company wants to eliminate the issues of daily commute while running in an emission-free and noise-free system.
Crowd Storming is the Way
Crowdstorming is HyperloopTT’s method of planning and achieving their innovation. It is the ability to obtain fresh ideas from several sources, mostly external, managing brainstorming via the Internet. HTT uses crowd storming to push ideas, raise money, build networks, and even hire contributors to work on the project. It is not surprising that Hyperloop and crowd storming go hand in hand in the company. Dirk Ahlborn is also the founder and CEO of Jumpstart Inc., which operates the California-based JumpStartFund. It is a crowd collaboration online platform that helps startups from conception to funding.
‟Often, companies develop projects behind closed doors, without consulting those who are going to be their future users. We want to build the Hyperloop in a different way, using the power of the community,” Ahlborn pointed out.
Through crowd storming, all project owners can easily submit their bold ideas to the community. Members can also contribute their comments, provide their services, and invest on the projects. In 2013, hyperloop was first featured on the JumpStartFund site and then eventually emerged as Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.
Dirk Ahlborn’s Bold Vision and Statement
In Bold Business’ exclusive interview with Dirk Ahlborn at the Synapse Summit, the founder of HTT explained further the importance for crowd storming to power the company. “We built a platform that brings people together that have the same passion. So if you have 10… 100,000 people that are passionate about the same thing you are, that give you their honest opinions, give you the ideas, their connections and the knowledge, you can build a better company,” said Ahlborn.
Since its founding in 2013, HyperloopTT has raised more than $100 million in investments in-cash and in-kind. Many people incorporated the company and built a small team together to start a startup. HTT has also crowdsourced its workforce from a multidisciplinary team of experts working across six continents.
“We are more than 800 people all around the world, 40 companies and some of the largest companies in the fields doing the same thing, investing in kind, bringing their knowledge, their IP, and a community of over 300,000 people that we crowd storm from,” Ahlborn added.
HTT boasts of its impressive list of collaborators. It includes design and engineering firm, manufacturers, marketing firms, IT and communications, and AR/VR companies. For stock options, collaborators just have to work 10 hours a week.
Transforming the World Altogether
In addition to driving the world into the future of transportation, HTT also leads the way in shaping the cutting-edge vision of how companies should be built together. The unique venture is a good blueprint of future companies in opening opportunities to people all around the world. It is about creating inventions and developments by using the right skillsets of contributors — the future users of such innovations.
In conclusion, HTT has gained remarkable momentum through its crowdsourcing initiatives. It is now on its way to creating the first full scale hyperloop. “We had to do more than just build a company. We had to build a movement. And that’s exactly what it is today. It’s a movement,” the founder told Bold Business.
