This "I'm 19 and about to Change The World" is...sorta getting to be a NARRATIVE.
Posted on 11/25/2016 6:06:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Chris Kelsey is a high school dropout. He’s also a millionaire and a serial entrepreneur.
“Growing up as a teenager, I didn’t have any money,” he tells Tech in Asia. “And when I started Appsitude, I finally did, and I was thinking, what is something that we can do to change the world?”
Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Cazza, a construction automation company. Before that, he was the CEO of Appsitude, a mobile app development and marketing startup that he founded when he was 17.
In October, Appsitude was acquired by Indian entrepreneur and investor Deepansh Jain, giving Chris the chance to turn his attention to something with more social impact, like building environmentally sustainable, low-cost housing. That’s what he and his co-founder, Fernando De Los Rios, hope to achieve with Cazza.
“When I first heard about climate change and everything, I got really scared,” he recalls.
While running Appsitude, Chris began looking at ways to minimize the leftover waste and carbon footprint generated by construction companies. When the opportunity came to sell Appsitude, he didn’t hesitate and pulled in Fernando – then Appsitude’s COO – to go “all in” on Cazza.
How Cazza builds
Cazza wants to automate as much of the construction process as possible, from laying down foundation to building walls. The company has developed its own proprietary construction material: a concrete-like substance that it says is up to 80 percent recycled material.
Another one of Cazza’s products, a portable, crane-like 3D printer, can extrude this material into walls, layer by layer. Through the company’s software, users can design their own 3D models, or draw lines where they want material printed and at what height. According to Cazza, the company’s 3D printing machine can build a 100 square meter house within 24 hours.
“You bring the machine on site, […] you press start, and it essentially just builds the house,” says Chris.
Unlike other 3D printing construction companies, such as Winsun, which built a 3D printed mansion in China last February, there’s no assembly required. Instead of printing pieces of the house in warehouses and trucking them to the construction site, Cazza says it can build directly on site. And by automating the construction process and 3D printing buildings, the company claims it can drastically reduce the amount of waste, pollution, and cost involved in the traditional construction process.
Cazza is keeping the specifics of its technology tightly under wraps until December. Currently, the company is partnering with construction companies, real estate developers, and government entities in places in Asia and the Middle East, such as Dubai, Singapore, and China, to close large-scale projects that will be announced in three to six months, says Chris.
“Some countries or parts of the country will be like, oh this is great, but then […] they want to make sure they have human labor,” explains Chris, referring to some of the resistance Cazza has encountered due to concerns around the impact of automating the construction process.
Cazza is also working on setting up its own in-house facilities to manufacture its construction material and hardware. In addition, the company is developing new machines that can automatically set up plumbing and electricity, as well as new construction materials.
So far, the US-based company has more than 50 engineers employed around the world. To date, the company has not accepted any funding from outside investors – Chris is funding the company on his own.
I'd want to know the cost. And I will note that not everyone wants to live in a Tiny House.
Wait till he is 20 years old... I am still working on that first million.
“When I first heard about climate change and everything, I got really scared,” he recalls.
I think he wants in on the scam.
So what if he's a high-school dropout - today's high schools are nothing but indoctrination camps anyway, with colleges/universities being virtual mind prisons. This young man thought outside the box and will make more money than most people ever dream of.
That's the story of America - People just doing things, fulfilling their passions, always questioning, always getting dirty, always working hard, and then reaping the spoils of success.
I know what..!
Let’s make a tiny lab that can diagnose myriad diseases with just ONE DROP OF BLOOD..!
And I’m a hot, blonde 18 year old who can (allegedly) speak Mandarin and I totally wear black turtlenecks, just like Steve Jobs..!
Can I have 10 billion dollars, HURRY UP..!!
100 square meters = 1076 square feet - small, but far from a "Tiny House".
This "I'm 19 and about to Change The World" is...sorta getting to be a NARRATIVE.
Do your DD, though, yup.
I am skeptical that an entire building (not to mention community) can be built using 3D printers. It’s much less expensive to bulk-produce the large items (such as 2x4, drywall) and distribute them than to have each site producing their own with raw materials & on-site equipment. Nevertheless I do think its possible (and very smart) to have the small parts that need to be custom-built for construction (especially repairs/maintenance) to use 3D printers. And this should become especially important for boats, trucks, cars, etc. in the future, especially those models that aren’t among the most common where a large aftermarket for parts is possible.
I’m a high school dropout who became a millionaire at age 34. IMO yes there are many paths to successful careers.
How did you do it?
Just what I was thinking too. Sounds like another Theranos brewing.
Just goes to show, you can make a few bucks with some stupid app and still be dumber than a toadstool.
Cost? How about stability and safety?
"When I first heard about climate change and everything, I got really scared..."
Nope, you cannot get more "in the box" than that stupid statement. He's been thoroughly indoctrinated by government schools and can only think the correct way.
There was a video a couple weeks ago of a truck mounted boom crane that lays concrete block automatically. A robot butters the block with some glue, not mortar and the robotic arm precisely lays then down. The boom is long enough to cover a big area.
The big problem with these schemes is 1) the lack of steel reinforcement and 2) chases for wiring and plumbing. I’ve been in earthquake-devasted regions of the world where steel is too expensive to put into masonry buildings. It is not a pretty site after a huge quake hits.
Just because his supposed motivation was the usual Leftist claptrap, doesn’t mean that he cannot or did not do anything viable or valuable. If his idea stands on its own merits, and isn’t sucking government money, then more power to him!
Hey, 19 year old dropout...
First you need some properly zoned property...then
Somebody still has to pull the permits, install the plumbing,electrical,hvac,foundation,roof, etc.
PS. A 3d printer can’t build a house.
I applied for college early admission and then dropped out in the middle of my Junior year of HS to save up money and take a community college class before going to the university. I also studied for 2 AP tests so at barely age 17 I was a Sophomore in college and before turning 18 I was working as a Computer programming intern making 8.25 per hour. I worked very hard and was thrifty. I dropped out of college to do some contract gigs. But I did stay the course and finished college at barely age 23 with about 10K in debt for student loans, car loans, computer loan, etc. and a salary of 34K in 1994.
It took me a little over a year to pay off my debts by working hard, doing overtime, being super thrifty, and keeping very careful track of my finances. Then soon after I got out of debt I discovered that the market was red hot for IT talent so I got a nice signing bonus (with the recruiter paying me on top) to take a new job out-of-state and between my relocation package leftovers and those bonuses I soon had nearly 10K in the bank.
Rather than splurge I continued to be thrifty in never owning a new car and saving carefully for a down payment on a modest home. I also started moonlighting and then discovered that with the Y2K era brewing that it would be good to go independent & make the big bucks. For the next 4 years that’s what I did and I also bought a modest home for 163K with a 33K down payment. Soon afterwards I realized I had enough cash that I paid 20K extra down on the mortgage. Every 3-4 months I’d try to pay an extra 10K down on the mortgage. I also bought an investment condo with cash (using 65K of savings and 40K on a home equity line) and have had it ever since and its been good to me.
By age 30 through thrift and hard work I managed to accumulate a net worth of approx 240K (assuming that my home was worth 240K) and found it fascinating that my net worth really was whatever the value of this home was. I had put 40K of improvements into it.
Well it went up to 325K when I sold it in 2003. I also made some risky but good stock market bets at the bottom of 2003, particularly HealthSouth. AndI bought a home in 2003 & by 2004 had a net worth over 600K. Within 2 years it was up to 1.1 mln on paper before I turned 35.
I’ve had my ups/downs financially so I’m far from feeling comfortable to retire. I lost around 500K on paper during the financial crisis. I also gave away over half of my assets to charity. But I’m doing fine financially and have been essentially debt-free the past 7 years and enjoy the good cashflow that having my home paid-off gives me.
Awesome! I wish every American adopted your lifestyle. This country would be unstoppable if they did.
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