Actually, that's a little inaccurate. I had entertained ideas about being a professional shareware developer when I first learned Pascal - that was when I was 12, so about 1993. The November date in question was on the way to a WoCoMal math meet. One of my teammates asked our driver & math teacher "Are you a millionaire?", to which he replied, "No, the only millionaire on the faculty is John [one of the school founders, and another math teacher]. He founded and sold a company for like $40 million." That kinda planted the seed that yes, owning a business was achievable and it did happen to people like me.
It kinda grew into "I'm going to start my own startup" over time. I was writing a MUD at the time, and about a year into the project (which I eventually gave up on), I found out "Hey, people actually pay for games like this!" Then after high school, I worked for a tech startup founded by the aformentioned math teacher/school founder, and found I liked it. Then I took a long holiday from startup stuff while I was in college, though I did have primary implementation responsibility for a non-profit. Then I came back to it my senior year, because I realized "Oh shit, I have to get a job now" and realized how sucky most jobs were. Applied to SFP05, wasn't really ready for it, was rejected, took a job at another startup that I'd interned at instead. Then this year I started letting it be known that I was interested in starting a company, and got 3 overtures for cofounder positions within 8 months. Took the most promising, applied to YC for SFP07, was rejected, going ahead anyway, and we'll see about WFP08...
When I realized that it's difficult to find places to work where you're not working for a fking moron. I want to make cool things and work with people who don't suck. I don't really care if that means a startup, but things certainly seem to point in that direction.
Sometime in November, 1995.
Actually, that's a little inaccurate. I had entertained ideas about being a professional shareware developer when I first learned Pascal - that was when I was 12, so about 1993. The November date in question was on the way to a WoCoMal math meet. One of my teammates asked our driver & math teacher "Are you a millionaire?", to which he replied, "No, the only millionaire on the faculty is John [one of the school founders, and another math teacher]. He founded and sold a company for like $40 million." That kinda planted the seed that yes, owning a business was achievable and it did happen to people like me.
It kinda grew into "I'm going to start my own startup" over time. I was writing a MUD at the time, and about a year into the project (which I eventually gave up on), I found out "Hey, people actually pay for games like this!" Then after high school, I worked for a tech startup founded by the aformentioned math teacher/school founder, and found I liked it. Then I took a long holiday from startup stuff while I was in college, though I did have primary implementation responsibility for a non-profit. Then I came back to it my senior year, because I realized "Oh shit, I have to get a job now" and realized how sucky most jobs were. Applied to SFP05, wasn't really ready for it, was rejected, took a job at another startup that I'd interned at instead. Then this year I started letting it be known that I was interested in starting a company, and got 3 overtures for cofounder positions within 8 months. Took the most promising, applied to YC for SFP07, was rejected, going ahead anyway, and we'll see about WFP08...