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Former Imperium CEO Martin Tobias launches new startup Kashless.org

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:October 27, 2008

Ever wonder what happened to tech executive Martin Tobias since he parted ways with Seattle biodiesel company Imperium Renewables? Turns out he’s the CEO of a new company called Kashless.org.

Tobias isn’t saying much about the company yet, but did say it’s in the ReCommerce space, which he described as “clean tech meets software.”

The Kashless.org website says the company is building a “community and platform enabling person to person product reuse, sharing, lending, trade and other ‘cashless’ transactions.”

It continues: “By increasing reuse, Kashless.org will divert a significant amount of waste from the landfill and extend the useful life of many products.” says Eric Engleman

Whereas he says Early in 2008 I was cleaning out my garage and had a bunch of stuff that hadn’t been used in forever. A seven year old mountain bike, a twice ridden wake board, a lightly used work out bench, a blow up pool, two snow sleds, a beginner kids bike, some garage shelves, a garden hose, an old pair of skis, a too small snowboard, you know the kinda stuff I’m talking about. Since the stuff had originally cost me quite a bit and it wasn’t really trash yet, I thought to sell it. Two weeks and tens of hours spent posting stuff on multiple sites, emailing and calling tons of people, waiting around the house, dealing with no-shows, flakes, bounced checks and some downright scary people I had only sold one thing – the mountain bike – for half the asking price.

So I decided to give it away, but I wanted it to go to someone who actually needed the stuff and would use it. I tried the free sharing/giving networks my friends recommended. More posting to multiple sites, three weeks and even MORE waiting, no shows, flakes, (no bounced checks Yea!) and no information about the people who were asking for my cherished stuff. In the end I got rid of everything but it was WAY TOO HARD and took way too much time/energy/effort. Heck, I was trying to give something away for free!

During this time I was also looking for a white board for my home office. I know there are lots of white boards lying around after office moves, in my friend’s basements, etc. After visiting multiple sites, doing multiple searches (no saved searches – ARGH!), and blogging the need of a white board, none came into my life. So I went out and bought a new one. Two days later a friend who follows my Twitter feed said “hey I wish I knew you were looking for a white board, I have an extra one under my desk!” Oops, more consumption where it was not necessary.

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