Jeffrey McLarty

So, I had an interview the other day at Wikinvest.com …it went horrible.  I completely bungged up.  I’ll never hear from them.  Oh well, there are tons of things wrong with this unlikely success story.  I was hoping they would hire me, and I could fix that for them…but they wanted a coder…I wanted a more challenging/interesting role, so by the end of the hour long phone interview, I think we both new my chances, were quickly approaching the limit of 1/t, as t goes to infinite (If you don’t know the answer, see this). 

They have 10 employees, and enough users to almost cover the S&P 500 stocks.  I seriously wanted to cut and paste my morningstar subscription content, but instead I attempted to write.  It’s hard to spew out everything you know about a company you’ve invested in for years…try it…it’s hard to pen.  Ideally, they would have every stock covered like AAPL, but that’s unlikely considering this quick math / thought process / estimating / considerations:

1. The number of people that know how to use a wiki is few.

2. The number of people that want to write about stocks for free are a rare breed.

3. The number of people invested in any given stock, and long enough to care about it, is a finite number.

4. The information they will database is all available via other means, will be stale, baked into any stock, and possible incorrect/incomplete.

…this post is To Be Continued.

I would have blogged more and worried less.

I would have worked out less and played more.

I would have started things sooner.

I would have never done somethings twice. And other’s I would have done the opposite.

I would have tried harder to not be so hard on myself.

I would have saved less and enjoyed more.

With that said, it’s a good thing I just turned 23…and am just getting ready to graduate; because the shoulda-coulda-wouldaz are seriously just about to start being conceived, and future Jeff doesn’t even want to buy into that.

I’ve started 4 1/2 companies…all turned a profit…none of them had lawyers involved…but I was the CEO.

Today, I got a slap in the face from A VC named Fred Wilson from Union Square. He didn’t know it, he doesn’t even know me. It was a wake up slap, in the form of job posting. But he shocked me into realizing, that I’m accidentally steering towards the road *MORE* travelled by, instead of the one I pictured myself following; the one *LESS* travelled by. The realistic, down to earth, non-super hero half of my brain wants to embrace the road *MORE* travelled by. I have an interview this Friday, at Deloitte, it’s the safe way out. I really, really, want this job. It’s a great career opportunity, and I would be great at the job, and would love it there. If I don’t get that job, or another great beginning to a career, somewhere else…I guess I’ll fall back on my two blogs, and of course a Waterloo Engineering Degree - HA! HA!. I started this blog, and blue moat, with the idea to become noticed and venture into the unkown (mainly networking wise).  Problem is, I’m STARTING to BEGIN to COMMENCE to fail. Because it’s easy to be normal. But I’m not doing what I set out to do, and mark this post, never again. The exact opportunity I set out to be ready for, one similar to how I imagined it, happened today, an opportunity only open to outstanding people. Sadly, I have very little proof I’m outstanding…at least online.

I promise to write about more informative things from here on in…in a way…this is an asynchronous letter to Fred…maybe he’ll see it, maybe he won’t. Either way, thanks Fred.