What Would You Do?

Anyone that knows anything about me will tell you I love technology.  I one day hope to have a solar powered house that I can control with my iPhone if that tells you anything.

But it is not just the technology that interests me.  It is the people behind it.  I love learning about the Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg’s of the world.  I like to know what they did before they made it big and what they are doing now.

Two of the guys I have been following for a few months now are Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey.  While their names might not sound familiar, what they created will…Twitter.

Now they weren’t the only two involved and their amount of involvement is different, but in the grand scheme of things they were both there in the beginning and help get it to where it is today.

But once again, it is not what they are currently doing that I am interested in, it is where they started and what they are doing now that I like.

For Evan Williams, this wasn’t his first company.  Not by far.  He has created several other start ups, including a little one called Blogger that he sold to Google.  For those of you that don’t know, Blogger is a “template based” website that allows you to post your blog.  It is what I use mainly because it is simple!  Anyone can do it!

Jack was a little bit different.  For him, Twitter was his first successful startup.  And for him, it is what he is doing now that is interesting.  While he still has a role at Twitter day to day, he founded another startup called Sqaure.

As a side note, I am a huge fan of Square.  I loved the concept and the ease of use. 

From squareup.com: Square is the simplest way to accept credit cards. It’s easy to use and comes with a free credit card reader for your phone or iPad. Sign-up is quick. No complicated contracts, monthly fees, or merchant account. When you swipe cards with Square there is just one fee: 2.75%. 

Now, the main reason I am fascinated with this is because my wife sells Mary Kay and taking credit cards has always be a challenge and expensive for her.  Not anymore!  If you have a small business or sell something on the side and you want to take credit cards, check them out!

OK, sorry about that! 

My point is, Jack moved on and did something else that he was passionate about with his time and his money.

And it was just announced yesterday that Evan (along with 2 other guys he started Twitter with) has moved on and created another start up company.  The name of the company is TheObvious Corporation.  The Obvious Corporation makes systems that help people work together to improve the world.

So that brings me to you and my question.  If money was no object and you could start a startup or start a non-profit, what would you do?  Would you tackle AIDS like Bono?  Would you battle disease in third world countries like Bill Gates?  Improve schools like Mark Zuckerberg?  Or would you continue to find niches in technology where you could make a difference like Jack and Evan?

What would it be? 

What would it look like? 

What would you do?