Working at a startup to make a lot of money was never a thing, and that's why I decided to just finish up school. That was way more important for me.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The life of a startup is full of ups and downs, an emotional roller coaster ride that you can't quite imagine if you've spent your whole career in a corporation.
I wasn't that academic, but I always made sure I was earning money. I never wanted to put all my eggs in one basket. Even when I started doing music, my parents were like, 'You need to work; you can't just live off music.' I always knew that. So I worked until I knew I was going to be financially okay.
For me, having the opportunity to go to college was very important. To miss out on an education is a loss.
Starting my career as a kid, I was doing what jobs I got.
In the last years of the nineteen-eighties, I worked not at startups but at what might be called finish-downs. Tech companies that were dying would hire temps - college students and new graduates - to do what little was left of the work of the employees they'd laid off.
When I first started, I just wanted to work. I wouldn't necessarily do anything, but I'd pretty much almost do anything at the very beginning.
I didn't want to go to college or work in an office or have a nine-to-five job. I knew that quite clearly before I left school.
I just decided that I wasn't going to gain anything by going to school, since we couldn't afford it anyway, so I left school very early and went to work and progressively did things.
All throughout my life I have been deeply immersed in startups, either because I was running one or investing in them or helping them.
I spent the bulk of my career on building my company, and Morningstar is where the passion is.