Dreamer or What Do A TRS-80 and Pagani Zonda Have in Common?

What kind of person wakes up one day and says, "I can do better than Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Maserati?" Someone with guts, drive, perseverance, talent, stubbornness, and drive. Since I was a kid, I've always looked up to these "David's" going up against the "Goliath's."
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CHILDHOOD DREAMS

What kind of person wakes up one day and says, "I can do better than Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Maserati?" Someone with guts, drive, perseverance, talent, stubbornness, and drive. Since I was a kid, I've always looked up to these "David's" going up against the "Goliath's." Sometimes they lose (see Gumpert, Spyker, and Vector) but when they win, it is LEGENDARY. I've stared at posters on my wall of a red DP modified Porsche 930 Turbo, a white Lamborghini Countach, and a Lotus Esprit just like most gearheads in the '80s. I told my dad I wanted to be a racecar driver when I grew up. He said "NO!" Then I said I wanted to design supercars, just like Alois Ruf, the legendary Pfaffenhausen, German modifier of all things Porsche. Again, he said, "NO!"

My dreams were crushed.

LONG LIVE THE TRS-80

When my dreams of being a world famous racecar driver or designer were scuttled, I was introduced to the Radio Shack TRS-80 by Mr. Frank Pignata at Sacramento Country Day School. I had a computer class with twenty or so networked TRS-80 computers in a small room. Mr. Pignata taught us basic programming with simple lines of code "goto" and "if then" statements. We were ten-years-old. Looking back, we were some of the luckiest kids around to have access to that equipment at such a young age. My brothers and I begged our mother for a computer and she bought us an Apple II Plus. What a machine! We used that computer every day playing games, using VisiCalc, Bank Street Writer, and writing our own simple programs.

ENTER HTML

In the early '90s, attending Columbia Business School, we were required to purchase a PC-based laptop. The internet was at its infancy. Again, lucky timing for me. Marc Andreessen had created Mosaic and we were using it to learn how to create websites using basic hypertext markup language, or HTML. I loved that class. I wish I could find the website I built which, I am certain, is on a floppy disk somewhere at my mom's house.

THE AGE OF THE HYPERCAR

Today, we are living in the age of the hypercar. Cars that don't need to exist but, at the same time, we love the fact that they do. Cars that push the boundaries of what is possible. I find all of them fascinating, including those built by the major manufacturers including the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, among others.

However, more impressive are the handful of dreamers pursuing their own goals of creating a hypercar to their specifications, their desires, and their own sense of perfection. Alois Ruf is a legend. He builds cars that outperform the Porsches they are based upon. Ruf is a maverick who bested everyone by sending his Yellowbird to 211 miles per hour on the cover of Road and Track. I will never forget that issue. Ruf still dominates today with tasteful and highly-refined offerings of his take on the hypercar. Another dreamer you should see is Christian Von Koenigsegg for the pinnacle of engineering perfection: from his own carbon fiber wheels, to his One:1, to his hypercars without transmissions. Christian is pushing the boundaries of the hypercar. And finally, Horatio Pagani builds cars oozing with Italian design, flair, style, and mind numbing performance. Three legends making their "dreams" become a reality... on their own terms.

ENTER MAGILLA

Magilla is the culmination of my experiences from the TRS-80, to Mosaic, to the hypercar. My co-founder, Chris Meyer, had an idea for a better way to find a bank for a business loan. Together, we created our own hypercar. A "machine" built for one thing... efficiency for the borrower and lender; a true win-win marketplace. Like other dreamers before us, we built it through hard work, guts, and by not following others. We built what we wanted as borrowers, not what banks choose to give us (not what Ford or Honda gives us). It was that simple of an endeavor.

Now, as we passed our first year in business, Chris and I look back on what we have built. Koenigsegg's One:1 is named for its hp-to-kg curb weight ratio of 1:1. Magilla enjoys a similar equation, namely One:1:One. To us, this signifies 1 year in business, $1B in loans, and $1M average loan size. We are proud of Magilla just as those hypercar dreamers are proud of their creations. Pride in what you create is healthy. You need to enjoy what you do and what you create, and Chris and I have certainly enjoyed our journey and are proud of MagillaLoans.com.

This post originally appeared on The Whole Magilla and was written by Dean Sioukas, co-founder of MagillaLoans.com.

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