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Financing lessons from the final frontier

Steve Jurvetson
Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson talks about investing in SpaceX during “A New Space Age,” a conference presented by The Economist at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

Few space geeks are geekier than Silicon Valley venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson: His office at Draper Fisher Jurvetson in Menlo Park, Calif., is festooned with far-out artifacts including salvaged parts from Apollo spacecraft and a pizza-sized slice of moon rock.

But for Jurvetson, space isn’t just a hobby – it’s a big part of his livelihood. He’s on the board of SpaceX, and helped throw a lifeline to billionaire founder Elon Musk when he was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2008.

Today, privately held SpaceX is thought to be worth more than $21 billion, and as managing director of DFJ, Jurvetson can take some of the credit for Musk’s success.

During a fireside chat at today’s “New Space Age” conference, presented by The Economist at Seattle’s Museum of Flight, the 50-year-old investor shared lessons learned from his involvement with SpaceX, Planet and other ventures.

Get the full story on GeekWire.

By Alan Boyle

Mastermind of Cosmic Log, contributing editor at GeekWire, author of "The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference," president of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Check out "About Alan Boyle" for more fun facts.

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