Normally we cover bootstrapped products: people who are self-funding the stuff they build. We do this because I’m naturally drawn to bootstrapped companies.
For this episode I wanted to go into “enemy” territory: I wanted to talk to the VC community. To do that I contacted Jason Calacanis, an angel investor, and the voice of funded startups on his podcast This Week In Startups. This is part 1 where we delved into the human said of Mr. Calacanis – where he came from, and how he got to where he is today.
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“My first business was making copies of Star Wars on BetaMax for my friends.”
“I don’t think being an entrepreneur is the best mode of existence; but I do think it’s important for our kids to see us working hard.”
“Show me a great entrepreneur, I’ll show you a fucked up relationship with their parents.”
“There were these things called BBSes. I had a 300 BAUD modem.”
“In college I was making $3.50/hour managing computer systems.”
“One of my first jobs was doing LotusNotes scripting.”
“When I saw Mosaic, the first browser, I was like: Whoa. When they added images, the internet felt like a magazine.”
“People thought that paying bloggers was sacrilegious.”
“I thought doing 10 blog posts a day on gadgets was crazy. But we ultimately we ended up doing 40, 50, 60 posts a day.”
“Weblogs Inc. was a great product.”
“We sold the first podcast ad ever to Volvo. We commercialized it; we saw there was a business opportunity there.”
“When people use it, and can’t shut up about it, you know you’ve got a great product.”
“I like to tinker, I like to build products. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to do other stuff, but I like product.”
