Hacker Bits, April 2016
HACKER BITS is the monthly magazine that gives you the hottest technology and startup stories crowdsources by the readers of Hacker News. We select from the top voted stories for you and publish them in an easy-to-read magazine format. Get HACKER BITS delivered to your inbox every month! For more, visit http://hackerbits.com.
HACKER BITS is the monthly magazine that gives you the hottest technology and startup stories crowdsources by the readers of Hacker News. We select from the top voted stories for you and publish them in an easy-to-read magazine format.
Get HACKER BITS delivered to your inbox every month! For more, visit http://hackerbits.com.
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Interview<br />
Patrick J. McGinnis<br />
talks about being a 10%<br />
entrepreneur<br />
Patrick J. McGinnis is a venture capitalist and private<br />
equity investor who founded Dirigo Advisors,<br />
after a decade on Wall Street, to provide<br />
strategic advice to investors, entrepreneurs, and<br />
fast growing businesses. He is the author of The<br />
10% Entrepreneur, published by Penguin books.<br />
Wish you had the bandwidth<br />
to launch a startup?<br />
Venture capitalist<br />
and author, Patrick J. McGinnis,<br />
says it’s possible to start a business<br />
without quitting your day<br />
job.<br />
Let’s start from the beginning.<br />
You are a venture capitalist<br />
and writer based in New York.<br />
And you are a 10% entrepreneur.<br />
What exactly is a 10%<br />
entrepreneur?<br />
A 10% entrepreneur is somebody<br />
who dedicates at least 10% of his<br />
or her time and, if possible, 10%<br />
of his or her money to invest,<br />
advise and start new ventures.<br />
For computer professionals<br />
with a startup mindset, how<br />
can your book help?<br />
You have a special and valuable<br />
skillset that many other people<br />
would love to tap into. At the<br />
same time, new ventures – such<br />
as startups may not have the<br />
cash required to hire top talent.<br />
You can trade your time, and do<br />
so in a flexible way, in exchange<br />
for an ownership stake in new<br />
ventures. And you don’t have<br />
to leave your day job and take<br />
tremendous risk to do so.<br />
You seem to advocate not quitting<br />
one’s day job to pursue<br />
their entrepreneurial dreams.<br />
Is there ever an instance when<br />
you would advise someone to<br />
quit their job and jump right<br />
into building a startup?<br />
I think it’s always wise to prove<br />
your business model and validate<br />
that it can be successful<br />
before jumping in feet first.<br />
You might move a little slower,<br />
but you’ll give yourself more<br />
time and more flexibility. Once<br />
you’ve gotten to that point and<br />
you can raise financing or you<br />
can self-fund, then the time<br />
may be right to quit your day<br />
24 hacker bits