Welcome.

Finally, I've decided to start a blog. Could anything be more egocentric?

Recently, I've been been designing and building a high-efficiency vehicle for use mainly in commuting. It holds two people, and gets from point A to point B, and back again. It provides reasonable comfort and is fun to drive, but is hardly luxurious. Unlike the average car, it runs on little more than fumes. It's a plug-in hybrid. It is also profoundly simple -- so simple I've considered changing its name from "Pod One" to "Neanderthal". It's stone-axe reliable.

The world is full of all sorts of cars that say something about their owners. Some say "I'm feeling inadequate, so I drive this huge SUV to compensate." Some say "I want you to know I'm rich." Some say "I love to drive fast". Some say "I'm more environmentally conscious than you."

The Neanderthal says, "I just want to get to work and back and don't want to waste our resources or my money in doing so."

The company that builds the Neanderthal will be largely customer-owned -- at least at first. We'll do a direct public offering (DPO), which has to be considered one of the riskiest possible investments: the people who will invest in this company will be playing the role of venture capitalists, but will probably not have money to burn, and may not have the ability to evaluate risk as well as a VC firm might. Such offerings are legal in most states and are legal from the federal SEC perspective. There are limits, however, on how much money can be raised in a DPO.

What do you think of the name "Neanderthal?" Do you prefer the name "Pod One?"