[Music]
shervin pisha var is a start-up investor
in one of the central social figures in
Silicon Valley
recently he founded something called the
Hyperloop a project to move people long
distances through tubes at supersonic
speeds he's not a scientist he's not
even particularly technical can he build
it Nellie Bowles went to find out this
is servin fish apart seriously I'm like
the modern mr. Rogers this is his home
I try to curate and bring together
people in this home from Malala to
President Obama to Hillary
this is his Apple logo how much does the
original Apple logo cost
I shouldn't say here he is with Obama
President Obama is standing right here
so he put his hand on this
thousand-year-old Buddha head and he
rubbed it for good luck Larry oh the
dreamers of the world ended up settling
here in building the city that immigrant
story is something that is a big part of
Silicon Valley as most of the companies
that have been built here enveloped by
immigrants shervin's own family
immigrated to the u.s. from Iran so this
is my dad's taxi license in Washington
DC when we immigrated to America it just
reminds me is like you know where we
where we came from his reputation and
fortune comes largely from a single
investment he made in 2011 while at
Menlo ventures a 26 million dollar stake
in a small ride-hailing app called uber
those shares are now worth more than
five billion dollars shervin's social
life is infamous in Silicon Valley a low
bar maybe but his parties are good
incredibly smart incredibly passionate
very forward-thinking guy and just he's
a big teddy bear I love him but
Sherman's not content just being a
start-up investor looking for the next
app he's put his money and his
reputation into the Hyperloop this is
the Hyperloop and here's how it is
supposed to work a pressure controlled
tube will allow pod containing people
and cargo to travel through it at
extremely high speeds up to 700 miles
per hour as it literally floats through
the tube propelled by a highly efficient
solar powered motor
no friction no pollution you'll travel
from LA to San Francisco in 35 minutes
at least that's the plan
Sherman's brand Elon Musk came up with
the idea of a Hyperloop and handed it
off to Sherman to develop while on a
trip to Cuba Sean Penn was also there
what do you bring to the Hyperloop wanna
passionately believe in the idea if we
can travel between San Francisco and LA
and 35 minutes city center to city
center it would free up humanity to
really live and work anywhere is this
really gonna work yes
it's going to work the propulsion system
worked in May in Nevada we showed that
to the world so by March of 2017 we'll
have the full-scale Hyperloop the
world's first I believe work and that'll
be with cargo but all has not been
smooth at the Hyperloop shervin's
Hyperloop co-founder a man named Brogan
BAM Brogan recently settled a
high-profile lawsuit against shervin and
the Hyperloop team which shervin's
lawyers called bogus Ben Brogan alleged
that shervin's brother option left a
noose on his desk as a threat and that
the Hyperloop is more of a front for
parties than a serious venture what
happened between your brother and Brogan
Ben Brogan
not a mechanic and I can talk about the
listen there's that security image with
the rope what do you make of that I
can't talk about anything related to
blossom you want to do the tour getting
a tour of the Hyperloop is strange
because it's hard to tell what's real
when Hyperloop launched they hurriedly
set up computer stations to make the
place look busier for a magazine
photoshoot employees seem drawn by
shervin's confidence this is really cool
he's gonna demonstrate the levitation
this is how we actually levitate the pod
so we have a bunch of magnets that don't
eat the vehicle and then you'll you'll
see it begin to float once it gets it on
well not at first there we go
but then it did so when you have no
friction and you're levitating we're
gonna be able to move things extremely
fast the company is working on a plan to
build a link between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
but we likely won't see a Hyperloop in
America anytime soon shervin's project
has only raised 160 million dollars
while some estimated it will cost up to
100 billion dollars to complete a loop
between LA and San Francisco and there
is currently no government commitment to
the project there are people arguing
that the Hyperloop is it's like a sort
of banker owning a restaurant like this
is your place where you entertain where
you bring people and it's cool if I
wanted to to have a cool place like they
don't open a restaurant or a club or
something that's not this is this is
about like trying to change the world as
long as the ideas come to life and it
makes the world a better place that's
what matters every startup has is a
struggle like you know it's it's a
birthing process like you have to will
and ideas life
you