A man was inspired to create these high-tech, tiny homes after living in a dumpster for a year

Meet Jeff Wilson: a former IBM project manager and dean at Huston-Tillotson University, who also happened to live in a dumpster for a year.

What started as a project on minimalist living and sustainability developed into KASITA, Wilson's company that is making high-tech, moveable homes.

Scroll down for more of Wilson's story and a closer look at KASITA housing.

Wilson started off working for IBM during the dot-com boom, but quickly became frustrated with the corporate grind. After burying his Rolex in the desert, Wilson eventually found himself as a dean of a university with the novel concept of living in a dumpster.

"The idea was to test the absolute limits of what one needs to have a pretty good life," Wilson told Tech Insider. "And although it wasn’t originally aimed at housing, the idea around housing evolved from it."

So Wilson sold the majority of his possessions for a dollar a pop, getting the word out by posting a Facebook message his students could see. He showered at the University and fit the rest of his personal belongings in a backpack.

"One night, lying on my back in the dumpster staring up at the stars as we all do, I had that 'aha' dumpster epiphany, if you will," he said. "There was something here to solve for one of our country’s biggest problems."

So Wilson set off to design KASITA — a 208-square-foot home that can easily be set up and moved anywhere.