Richard (Microsoft to Cranium)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

This interview is with Richard Tait, co-creator of the board game Cranium, which won the Toy Industry Association’s “Game of the Year” award five times in six years, and sold to Hasbro Toys in 2008. He is currently co-founder and CEO of Golazo energy drinks.  The interview was conducted by Andrew Chen and summarized by J. del Fierro.     Q. How has your career unfolded and taken you to your current role as co-founder of Golazo energy drinks? A. I’d love to tell you it was strategic, but that hasn’t been the way it unfolded for me. It’s often a door that closes that leads to [...]

Roger (college to tech entrepreneur)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

It’s when you take that leave of absence or quit your job to focus on the startup full-time that it becomes real. – Roger Lee, president at PaperG

Adarsh (McKinsey to Rails developer)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“Part of job satisfaction is knowing that you’re doing a really good job.” – Adarsh Pandit, thoughtbot

Amy (journalism to video producer)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“I think one of the biggest keys to transitioning is just talking to mentors who have been there before.” – Amy Montalvo, ONEPASS Productions

Jason (sales to ridesharing startup)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

Paul Graham was like, “This could be the Altair Basic.” – Jason Shen, Ridejoy

Jonathan (White House to startup)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“If you make a line from the Oval Office to people’s offices in the West Wing, and you measure that distance, there is definitely a correlation with IQ.” – Jonathan Swanson, former White House staffer

Melanie (McKinsey to actress)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“Acting for me is the craft of self-exploration, and it’s the study of human nature.” – Melanie Kannokada, actress and model

Kevin (consulting to food startup)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“In a startup, there are many situations where you just don’t know what you’re supposed to do because you’ve never seen it before. But it’s also really exciting because you get experience you may never get in a traditional job.” – Kevin Yang, EAT Club

Rachel (NGO to social entrepreneur)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“People don’t tell you how much the world is slanted toward ‘no.’ The number of times we heard ‘no’ when building Teach For China was huge.” – Rachel Wasser, co-founder of Teach For China

Linus (gaming to social entrepreneur)

By Andrew Chen | Interviews

“The idea wasn’t to start a company. The idea was to get this product out to everyone who needed it.” – Linus Liang, co-founder of Embrace