Allen wrote an autobiography, and it's pretty good. About up there with Woz's, and I can't think of another Homebrew-era memoir as interesting.
The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
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Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#32> Paul was driven by an incredible curiosity his whole life. Even when we were just kids, he seemed to be interested in just about everything. I can identify with this. I've founded a gamedev company, taught Computer Graphics, and worked at Google and Improbable as a SWE; but in the middle of all this I wrote a novel, I recently quit my job to become an actor/filmmaker ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10232800 ), and I…
I have the same problem. I taught myself marketing, then design, and enough code to throw together decent web pages. I've written a novel, then decided it wasn't good enough and shelved it. I taught myself how to play the guitar, then how to produce music.
This can feel like bragging but I really feel that I haven't really specialized in anything. Although being a marketing consultant has been my livelihood for nearly a decade, I'm somehow not able to call myself a marketer.
I'm turning 30 and beginning to wonder if these grand experiments have been stretched too long. And if they have, what do I focus on? And can I even focus on one thing?
Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#33Paul allen owned an island in the san juans - when i used to fly to my mothers on Orcas we had to land first at paul allens airport... There was a beauty and a freedom i used to feel from that experience: There was no tower, nor staff; just a landing strip and we would fly in - do our thing and then take off again. It was awesome... and i loved it, because we talk about america being the “land of the free” but we are…
>we talk about america being the “land of the free” but we are really the “land of the regulated —special terms apply such as 1) are you rich enough to be free”
Well.. most people in America live in places that depend on other people to coordinate shared resources. People will likely die or get seriously hurt if you hit them on your joyride flight, so we try to put procedures in place so that does not happen.
When you have the privilege to assert a colonial ownership claim to a large land area, you don't need to coordinate with other people when you're landing on an empty part of that land.
Same principles apply to companies as they scale. It's why startups can move fast.
Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#34> Paul was driven by an incredible curiosity his whole life. Even when we were just kids, he seemed to be interested in just about everything. I can identify with this. I've founded a gamedev company, taught Computer Graphics, and worked at Google and Improbable as a SWE; but in the middle of all this I wrote a novel, I recently quit my job to become an actor/filmmaker ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10232800 ), and I…
I'm also extremely curious and honestly I'm not sure if it is a curse or a blessing. I dream of projects where I could put all my skills to work but these seem totally inaccessible to me.
I feel the same way. I reckon people like us would make great co founders
Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#35> Paul was driven by an incredible curiosity his whole life. Even when we were just kids, he seemed to be interested in just about everything. I can identify with this. I've founded a gamedev company, taught Computer Graphics, and worked at Google and Improbable as a SWE; but in the middle of all this I wrote a novel, I recently quit my job to become an actor/filmmaker ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10232800 ), and I…
#Humblebrag
Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#36> Paul was driven by an incredible curiosity his whole life. Even when we were just kids, he seemed to be interested in just about everything. I can identify with this. I've founded a gamedev company, taught Computer Graphics, and worked at Google and Improbable as a SWE; but in the middle of all this I wrote a novel, I recently quit my job to become an actor/filmmaker ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10232800 ), and I…
> Sorry to bring a personal question...
On an article about the selflessness of another, in four paragraphs of text, you mentioned yourself ~24 times.
One might suggest reading the article again.
Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#37> Paul was driven by an incredible curiosity his whole life. Even when we were just kids, he seemed to be interested in just about everything. I can identify with this. I've founded a gamedev company, taught Computer Graphics, and worked at Google and Improbable as a SWE; but in the middle of all this I wrote a novel, I recently quit my job to become an actor/filmmaker ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10232800 ), and I…
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Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#38Remember when Gates and Ballmer tried to screw Allen out of his shares because his productivity had gone down due to cancer? https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-to-...
Wow. Thanks for sharing, puts bill in a new light. Baller, to be expected.
Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#39Remember when Gates and Ballmer tried to screw Allen out of his shares because his productivity had gone down due to cancer? https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-to-...
warning: video ad with audio auto-plays even with ublock origin turned on.
Re: The side of Paul Allen I wish more people knew about
#40Remember when Gates and Ballmer tried to screw Allen out of his shares because his productivity had gone down due to cancer? https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-to-...
Wow. Thanks for sharing, puts bill in a new light. Baller, to be expected.
He only worked there a couple of years, and before MS got big. Did he really deserve the same cut as the other two (who worked for 30+) did? Maybe/not, but the question is valid.