Video Interviews with Me
The other week I sat town with a professor at Cal State Pomona and two of his business students and recorded four 15 minute video interviews. Thanks to the black background, it has a Charlie Rose kind of feel. Thanks to my commitment to never brush my hair with a comb, my hair is all over the place.
Files load in Windows Media Player. Below are the topics in each segment.
- business ideas come from experiencing a problem
- overcoming credibility issues when you don't have a track record
- how I think about mentors
- the tradeoffs inherent in doing a lot of things at once
- staying balanced / focused when there's outside attention
- networking
- explain "I don't want to be normal"
- importance of luck
- high level and tactical hacks around staying connected
- life entrepreneurship
- dealing with criticism, putting yourself out there
- balance
- biggest mistake I've made
- importance of experimentation and "doing stuff"
- the terribleness of PowerPoints
- scaling an idea and the emotional readiness it requires
- respecting the natural pace of the market
- importance of "good enough"
- collaboration and working with offshore people
- pricing products is hard, since people don't know what they want and therefore don't know what they'll pay
- advisors vs. mentors
- no long term career plan
- consolidation in the tech industry
- business ideas around the travel industry
- why we need to blow up the education system and start over
- are young people going to start companies?
- risk is overrated concept in entrepreneurship
- commoditization of knowledge: free and accessible online
- globalization is a big deal
- importance of writing well
- need to recognize diversity in learning types in our school system
- local government has more impact on people's lives than federal
- optimistic about young people
