Dropping out of high school is obviously not enough. You also have to go ahead and create a Blip.TV or, in David Karp's case, a Tumblr. But I just now found out Mike Hudack is a high school dropout. Wow.
I knew the name for a while. And I had followed him on Tumblr a while. I had seen him in a video online, he was on some kind of a panel. He came across as a man to watch. There is this raw intensity an entrepreneur throws out like a halo. This guy definitely had it.
I got to meet him in person at the Blip.TV Holiday Party in December.
"You Mike Hudack, right? Man, I have been following you on Tumblr a long time now. Am so glad to finally meet you in person."
Mike was nice about it. He took me over to his workstation when Blip.TV had explicitly cordoned off all the workstations for the party. He gave me his card. We had a small chit chat. I was so glad I had shown up for the party early, as in on time, rather than fashionably late, as is the custom.
I was in the big room in the back. Then I walked over to the adjacent corridor like space. I was back in the big room for a little while. Then back in the corridor. And then I moved towards the entrance, the small crowd there. Mike bumped into me again there while he worked the room.
Image by Matthew Buchanan / Flickr via CrunchBase"So, Mike, where do you see Blip.TV in 10 years?" I asked.
"The future of television," he boldly pronounced. He spoke with the confidence of someone who was obviously a trailblazing entrepreneur. I was so taken. I just looked at him. I was a little speechless, to be honest. I looked at him, he looked at me. I took in the moment.
I briefly saw him again as he swept the length of the space to announce the party was over now.
I tried to have fun blogging about the party.
Video - creation, curation, and consumption - will get more and more intelligent as our internet access speed gets faster, and faster, which is what will happen over the coming decade. Mike is well positioned to ride that wave.
It was an honor to meet him.
I also noticed something the day after the party. Somewhere online I saw a group photo of the key Blip.TV people. I knew Dina Kaplan was a cofounder. But so, it looked like, was an African American dude with full gear Rastafari hair.
That symbolism is important. In web tech the emphasis is on out of the box thinking. And being gender inclusive, culturally inclusive is a sign you are
Image by Esquire Magazine via CrunchBasedoing a good job of that out of the box thinking thing that is so crucial to your long term sustenance as a web property. I noticed. I was impressed.
Blip.TV is one of those solid New York City startup success stories. I wish Mike new heights of success over the years.
Recently on Tumblr I have noticed Mike has been all over Egypt. I really like that in a tech entrepreneur. The best tech entrepreneurs I know or know of tend to be helplessly socially progressive. They can't help it. Mike obviously is one of those. Political revolutions are so totally my cup of tea. I invented the damn thing.
While I am at it, I am going to pitch Mike about my microfinance startup. I am about to send him an email. I am looking for angels. And I am looking for tech entrepreneurs who will give me small bridge loans.
Third World Guy
Immigration Mess/Humiliation And Window Shopped Tech Entrepreneurship
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Microfinance
No comments:
Post a Comment