I think I meant by "leader" founder, which I'm pretty sure he is.
And your source is?
IIRC, he and I kinda bounced the idea between ourselves, because at the time I was trying to make the best possible LD capture at the smallest price. He, having knowledge of hardware beyond me, talked lovingly of the X0 - how cool it would be, and what a bitch it would be to have access to. Sometime afterwards, Z started working on his project, and we decided to combine our efforts, rather than reinventing the wheel in parallel.
In any case, it was something that slowly coalesced from prior efforts and a desire to do more than had ever been done, rather than some overnight decision. I even remember Dr. Gonzo giving me crap for even thinking that I could improve over his version, and why was I even trying. Good thing I didn't listen to him.