Jesse Middleton

Bio:

I'm a sarcastic thinker, a network architect, a writer, a technology consultant and now a Man of Leisure building a new company in NYC.

• Title: Man of Leisure/Chief Excitement Officer of GetMinders
• Age: 24
• Location: Kensington, Brooklyn
• Contact: @srcasm or http://srcasm.com

You just recently left your position at LivePerson.  How does it feel to no longer have a Nasdaq ticker on your business card?

It's liberating. Who would have thought that being fun-employed would be this much fun!? The only downside is that I had to think of a brand new title to put on the next cards.

What was the exact turning point for you where you felt comfortable to quit your job?

My wife gave me a kick in the ass and said, "Why don't you just go ahead and try building your own company? We'll be fine." With support like that, what more did I need?

If you could be anybody past or present, who would you be?

Dean Kamen is pretty amazing and I've always thought it would be cool to ride around on segways and wheel chairs that can "walk" up and down stairs all day long.

It has come to my attention that you're a sailing expert.  Is there anything that you've learned in sailing that have helped you while you are working on your startup?

Always duck while jibing. While building a startup you're going to have to make changes. Sometimes they'll be smooth (like coming about) and other times abrupt (jibing). If you've got to make an abrupt change make sure you're paying attention before hand or risk getting smacked in the face by the boom.