I was never trying to do the next big thing in software.
In 1999 when I was a founding member of a dot com that did pretty good - $25 million raised round two - it was trying to create a community online.
A little after when I was pitching VCs on my own, what I had in mind is what the Chromebook is today, only the price point is not right yet. But then I was not thinking touch as a possibility at all.
The nuclear winter happened. A few years later when I moved to NYC it was with the Chromebook concept in mind.
I got pulled into doing full time political work on a volunteer basis, in Nepal and in America. They were both historic opportunities. I did raise 100K as was the first goal, but my political enemies in the city made sure the idea got scuttled. They killed it. And the Great Recession happened.
After that I started thinking in terms of microfinance, for profit high tech microfinance. Advising or rooting for or even joining the teams of others don't count. A few dot coms fall in that category.
Today I am squarely in Clean Energy, one of the next big things like nanotech and biotech. I will also do sales, and I hope to pick up microfinance down the line. When it comes to software, I am a great user, I'd like to believe. But I never was a guy trying to do the next big thing in software.
I came to New York wanting to do hardware. I am glad Google picked up the slack. I want Google to also do globally wireless gigabit broadband. That is the only way it can become a trillion dollar company.
As for me, let me worry about hydroelectric dams in Nepal.
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