I honestly don't know if I could live with myself. I just turned down a really great position in favor of a start-up I'm working on, specifically because I don't want to be in this guy's position.
First, how many times are you willing to spin the wheel? It was pretty clear that he tried to start a business at least once before, and it blew up in his face. That probably changed his outlook on risk-reward tradeoffs.
Second, it confuses me that this guy is living off Social Security.
"After Apple, he spent two years creating the model shop at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, then was chief engineer at Thor Electronics in Salinas for 16 years. He holds a dozen patents, but he has never had the money to develop them into products."
Being a chief anything for 16 years in the Valley, I would think should let you sock enough away for a comfortable retirement, even investing conservatively. I suspect this guy is just bad at managing money all around, which he pretty much admits.
"I don't know why, it just never happened. It's probably because I'm not the businessman I should be."
You don't know though - by the guys own admission he isn't a great business man. He might have driven the fledgling Apple into the ground by making some poor choices.
As for your own choice - go for it - you can't win if you ain't in the game.
My comment was not a judgement statement about him (sorry if it sounded that way). It was really a statement about myself: I would really have a hard time not "what if'ing" myself to death if I were in that situation.
I actually have a lot of respect for anybody who could find peace after that.
Second, it confuses me that this guy is living off Social Security.
"After Apple, he spent two years creating the model shop at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, then was chief engineer at Thor Electronics in Salinas for 16 years. He holds a dozen patents, but he has never had the money to develop them into products."
Being a chief anything for 16 years in the Valley, I would think should let you sock enough away for a comfortable retirement, even investing conservatively. I suspect this guy is just bad at managing money all around, which he pretty much admits.
"I don't know why, it just never happened. It's probably because I'm not the businessman I should be."