#44 A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one-time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. As I walked toward Harvard Square on a December weekend afternoon in 1974, I had no inkling that my life was about to change. I was 21 years old and at loose ends. My girlfriend had left a few weeks earlier to return to her hometown of Seattle 3,000 miles away.
I had a dead-end job at Honeywell and a crummy apartment. The one constant in my life those days was a Harvard undergraduate named Bill Gates, my partner in crime since we had met at Lakeside School when he was in 8th grade and I was in 10th.
Bill and I learned how to dissect computer code together. We started one failed business and worked side-by-side on professional programming jobs while still in our teens. It was Bill who had coaxed me to move to Massachusetts with a plan to quit school and join him at a tech firm. Then he reversed field to return to college. Like me, he seemed restless and ready to try something new.
Bill and I kept casting about for a commercial project. We figured that we'd eventually write some software where we knew we had some talent. We fantasized about our entrepreneurial future. One time I asked Bill, if everything went right, how big do you think our company could be? He said, I think we could get it up to 35 programmers.
That sounded really ambitious to me.
So that was from the introduction of the book that I'm going to talk to you about today, which is Idea Man, A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft. So this book was on my list. I have, I think, last time I counted, something like 34 books lined up for future episodes of Founders. And so this was probably in middle of the pack somewhere in there. And then a few weeks ago, he, Paul Allen, surprisingly passed away. So I decided, he passed away while I was working on the podcast of, about D-Hawk, the founder of Visa. So I decided to push it up and to learn a little bit more about his life. So before we get into the rest of the book, let me just remind you that I need your support for this podcast. Once we get going, once we get back into the book, I'm not going to interrupt the podcast with any ads. And the only way I'm able to do that is if you support my work directly. So the easiest way to support my work is becoming a paid founders member. I still don't have a better name than member. Unfortunately, I'm sure I'll come up with one.
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