I worked 18 years to become an overnight success. Now MagicPlace.com will short circuit that process for people.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There's no such thing as an overnight success. It took me a long to get there.
I left General Magic in 1996 to become an Internet hobbyist - got a T-1 line to my house. At one point I had all four food banks of the Bay Area hosted from this house here.
My products and magic are free, but on the commercial side of what I do, the big tech companies are impressed with somebody like me who can emotionalize a piece of technology.
It was something of a personal challenge for me to come up with a business suitable for the Internet world and the Internet age.
My dad told me, 'It takes fifteen years to be an overnight success', and it took me seventeen and a half years.
The start-up life kept me busy and surfaced the problem of not being able to stay on top of my personal finances, which led me to invent Mint.com. I was working 80-hour weeks, and had done enough preliminary work and research to know I had a big idea: To make money management effortless and automated.
I'm trying to have some longevity in this business. If that means not working for a while and just picking the right job, so be it.
I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise.
It takes 20 years to make an overnight success.
Look at my success. I didn't achieve it overnight. It has been the product of many years' struggle, and every year, my times have shown gradual improvement.