If you're only working to serve someone else, stop. Only when you're following your true passions - in the case of Peter Diamandis, founder of X PRIZE and multi-time space entrepreneur and enthusiast - can you withstand the bumpy path to success. And if you're unsure of where your passions lie, simply revisit what you daydreamed about most from your childhood. This, says Diamandis, is where all the biggest ideas first hatch.

Space entrepreneur and X PRIZE Founder Peter Diamandis believes that the world today is far too adverse to risk. True breakthroughs that expand scientific capability take a tremendous amount of adventurous spirit, which means real mavericks need to be audacious in order to discover greatness.

Inspired by Charles Lindberg's Spirit of St. Louis, X PRIZE founder and space entrepreneur Peter Diamandis explains to interviewer George Zachary of Charles River Ventures that offering a high profile cash reward can often be more financially advantageous - and more aggressive in moving forward a societal push - than simply funding a good idea. Diamandis describes his incredible quest for funding, pitching hundreds of potential benefactors without success. Not to be deterred, he announced the first X PRIZE contest with no competing teams and not a penny of the $10 million prize money on hand. His unbelievable tale grows even longer as he describes how funding came from a bet placed with a space insurance company, and how he had to scramble for the $50 thousand premium every month.

Traditional philanthropy invests in a limited circle of people, whereas the X PRIZE, says its founder Peter Diamandis, funds a broader landscape of people and ideas that succeed. Diamandis is encouraging large foundations like the Carnegies and the Fords to consider adding cash incentive prizes into their portfolio of philanthropy, as he believes the rewards from this new form of public enrichment and exploration are much richer.

In conversation with Charles River Ventures' George Zachary, Peter Diamandis, founder of the X PRIZE, describes how prizes for great, global, revolutionary achievement are a new form of philanthropy. He funds the X PRIZE with both private gifts and corporate funds, and outlines how prizes can be an efficient investment in new technologies with tremendous returns.

Fundraising is simply an energy transfer to further your projects, says entrepreneur and X PRIZE founder Peter Diamandis. It's also the most critical skill an entrepreneur can have. When trying to raise funds, it's critical to remember that you have to ask for what you want, and that you have to give others the opportunity to be involved. And, says Diamandis, never walk away from a potential funder without something; whether it's dollars, feedback to help you pitch more efficiently, or the phone number of another contact.