“I think the single most important trait for a successful entrepreneur to have is ‘irrational confidence’ (coined by the sportswriter Bill Simmons). This is having the utmost confidence and belief in yourself based on no real world data.”
Q. Tell us about yourself and how you got into internet start-ups (aka how did you become such a genius)?
Patrick: I was born in LA, grew up in Maryland, and went to school at Berkeley. Left school after two years to start my first company with a few friends from college. We wanted to work with each other and were impatient and couldn't wait to get out into the real world.
Q. How would your friends describe you in 3 words?
Happy, OCD, Hobo.
Q. Your dad was a physics professor and your mom was a computer programmer. What would you say was the most important lesson they have taught you?
It’s not a lesson, but the most important thing my parents provided was giving me the tools necessary to do whatever I wanted. This includes making sure I had a good education, raising me to be open-minded and creative, and giving me the freedom to work on startups instead of getting a normal job.
Q. What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?
I think the single most important trait for a successful entrepreneur to have is “irrational confidence” (coined by the sportswriter Bill Simmons). This is having the utmost confidence and belief in yourself based on no real world data. They will jump into markets they know nothing about and fearlessly compete against huge and experienced companies. They will constantly have people tell them “no” — investors, business partners, customers, etc and will brush it off and keep pushing. Their confidence will inspire others to quit their jobs to join them, investors to fund them, and clients to use their product and/or buy from them.
Q. Who were your role models growing up?
I don’t know if I really had role models outside of my parents growing up. I was a big fan of Jet Li, Jackie Chan, No Doubt, and Weezer in college. Once I started doing my own companies, I found myself really inspired by what Steve Jobs accomplished. He is the ultimate “irrational confidence” guy. He jumped into so many new industries and completely shook them up; and he was so confident and convincing that people described him as having his own “reality distortion field”.
Q. What has been the most challenging/difficult point of your career?
When I was in Hong Kong and working on my startup there (alivenotdead). We had some early momentum, but then the site hit a wall where traffic, usage, and revenue all went flat and then slowly started declining. For years we kept putting more time and money into the company to try to right the ship with no meaningful progress. And while this was happening, also trying to keep morale up with employees, signing up new deals with business partners and sponsors, signing up more artists and users, etc. I hope to never have to go through that again.
Q. When times are tough, what advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
To use a poker analogy, figure out what cards you are holding (ie. the quality of your idea/product) and whether you should fold or bet. If you have a good hand, then it’s just a matter of putting in more time and money. If you have a bad hand, you should think about folding - ie. pivoting the company to something that has more potential, or starting over with a completely new idea. Pushing forward with a bad hand just wastes time and money.
Q. You founded the online community for artists and fans, alivenotnead.com, with actor Daniel Wu and fellow Rotten Tomatoes co-founder Stephen Wang, what was the motivation behind this venture? How was it like to work with artists?
I knew Daniel back in college. We used to train in wushu together (Chinese martial arts that Jet Li studied). When I sold Rotten Tomatoes, I ended up funding a movie that Daniel directed and starred in called “The Heavenly Kings”. It was a mockumentary about a boy band called “Alive” that Daniel formed with three other actor friends. The movie did fairly well in Hong Kong, won a few awards, and went to a couple of film festivals. alivenotdead.com was a website for the boy band and the movie. Later on we decided to expand the scope of the website to make a community for celebrities/artists and their fans. It’s interesting working with artists. It can be very exciting if you’re a fan of their work. And we held some pretty cool events while we were working on alivenotdead. That being said, it can also be really hard working with artists and their management since many artists are really busy, not super technical, and sometimes can be very demanding.
Q. What projects are you currently working on?
Working on making mobile games with some friends at my new startup, Hobo Labs. I started my first company with my friend Lyle Fong (founder of Lithium Technologies), and we’re back at it again many years later with this one.
Q. Looking back at all your adventures and accomplishments, what has been your most memorable experience so far?
Every company was an adventure with many memorable experiences. Probably one of the coolest experiences was when we were running Rotten Tomatoes. My roommate Mark, who was also working at Rotten Tomatoes, and I were at home watching the Daily Show when this happened (starts at the 25:00 mark; US friends can watch it on the Daily Show website here at the 1:20 mark).
I'm always looking for inspiration from others and it's an absolute pleasure to get to find out more behind such an amazing innovator. Thank you Patrick for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview!
For Bay Area friends, Patrick will be at the Haas School of Business in Berkeley to give a talk on entrepreneurship on November 5, 2014. For the rest of us Canadians, stay tuned and watch out for this serial entrepreneur!
Thank you for reading :)
