Early Days

In 2005, 14 years after starting Mark/Space, a successful company offering software to move data between mobile phones and computers, Brian was ready to start another business endeavor. While attending a software conference in Cologne, Germany in July, 2006, fate was about to step in. One of the only three Zeppelins in the world was in Cologne, offering a rare chance for Brian to fulfill one of his dreams – to ride in a Zeppelin.

One ride aboard the Zeppelin NT was all it took – Brian was hooked. Designed exclusively for passenger operations, the Zeppelin NT (“New Technology”) is unlike any other airship in the world. Engineered with the best in German technology, the airship's precise handling, and quiet, spacious cabin with oversized windows and restroom were designed for luxurious passenger operations. Realizing that there was no experience like this, and no airship technology like this in the U.S., Brian immediately embarked on his next business venture.

The Zeppelin's manufacturer, Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik (ZLT) and their operating company DZR, had been offering Zeppelin passenger rides successfully in Germany since 2001, with sold-out flights for all eight months of favorable flight weather available each year. Brian sent an email to the company, with an initial business plan to bring a Zeppelin NT to the Bay Area. Two months later, in September, 2006, he returned to convince ZLT that the American marketplace, San Francisco resident and tourist base, and more favorable flying weather in the Bay Area would make for a successful Zeppelin flight operation. They agreed. A deposit was made for the next Zeppelin NT pending production, the fourth Zeppelin NT to be constructed.

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