The Value of a Captured Imagination

Posted on December 5th, 2009 at 20:47 by Jason Schwartz in Business Model | 10 Comments »

When I was traveling around Germany I visited Neuschwanstein.  The whimsical castle was never finished because its patron, King Ludwig the II, was declared insane. The enormously expensive construction was halted in 1886.  Walt Disney went on to model his castle after this amazing building.

This story reminds me to never underestimate the value of capturing someone’s imagination.  The people of Ludwig’s time thought he was out of his mind to spend money on this castle, much like people think that it’s crazy for VCs to invest in startups with no business model.  The next Walt Disney is out there, and she will turn that captured imagination into a fortune.