Esther Dyson ─ 40 years of impact through angel investments, board advice, and serving as a backup cosmonaut.
November 10, 2020 • 3 Minute Read
Esther Dyson
Founder
Wellville
Have you wondered who are the people who helped form and mold the IT industry over the last 40 years, provide angel investments for digital, health, and space technology startups, as well as train as a backup cosmonaut? There is only one person and it is Esther Dyson.
Esther began her involvement with the IT industry as a journalist and industry analyst in the 1970s and built her reputation as a technology watcher in the 1980s. In the mid-1990s, her newsletter and conference and her encouragement of young tech companies made her one of the most important names in Silicon Valley.
She has invested in over 130 start-ups, including Flickr (originally acquired by Yahoo!), Medstory (Microsoft), del.icio.us (originally acquired by Yahoo!), Brightmail (Symantec), and Meetup. She was also one of the first people to explore the impact of the Internet on intellectual property and privacy, as well as how it would affect everyday life.
Today she is an active board member for companies including Element3, Medesk, Pressreader, and Yandex and a past board member of 23andMe, Luxoft, Meetup, Voxiva/Wellpass, WPP Group, and XCOR Aerospace. Esther is also the fulltime executive founder of Wellville, a ten-year non-profit project focused on helping five small US communities become healthier and more equitable places to live and prosper with a reduced need for "health care."
Please meet this incredible IT Wondrous Woman™, Esther Dyson!
Our 10 Questions for this IT Wondrous Woman.
Fun Facts
1. What’s the one thing about you that your business colleagues don’t know about you?
As a 12-year-old, I arranged to spend the following year in London living with another family (friends of my father’s). I have always been “determined.”
2. Before the pandemic, how many air miles/KMs did you flying annually?
Too many to count. Top level in American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta, Lufthansa and British Airways. So much for that these days! I DID manage to go to Muskegon (one of the Wellville communities), on crutches, in September. Thanks Delta!
3. What is the most adventurous food you have eaten and what city/location did you eat it?
Some kind of crickets, at a weekend in a South African game park, with President Mbeki.
Your Career
4. What are the top two experiences, achievements or failures that shaped your journey as a successful leader?
Working as a fact-checker for Forbes Magazine 1984-1987, back when they checked facts. Learning to ask questions and get to the source – and not worrying about appearing stupid – is the best training I can imagine for almost any career.
Buying out my boss at what was then Rosen Research in 1982. I thought, if he can do it, so can I. That became EDventure Holdings, where I worked for 25 years and examined the rise of the personal computer and then the Internet. But it was a team effort; I had a CEO to counterbalance my enthusiasm, as I do now at Wellville.
5. Did you have a mentor in the early part of your career and, if so, what is the biggest lesson you learned from your mentor or influencer?
Not really. Another thing I learned as a reporter is that you can learn from anyone if you find their area of expertise or even just experience….and ask the right questions.
Walking In Your Shoes
6. What is one piece of business or career advice you would give to your younger self?
The big challenge is figuring out which advice to listen to! But aside from that, the advice I would actually give to anyone is “Always make new mistakes!” for which I actually still receive royalties for refrigerator magnets and the like. I love those checks just as a symbol of something I created; they are less than $100/year.
The other one, not copyrighted, is: “Never take a job for which you are already qualified.”
7. As a leader, how do you remain a resource for people early in their careers?
By answering emails!!
Today’s Business Environment
8. What is the most interesting project you have worked on in the last few years?
Wellville! I am having more fun, with more purpose, than ever. I love our team! Fundamentally, we are trying to help five small communities to think long-term and to invest in their collective future – fostering health and resilience and reducing disparities. Short-term, self-interested desire is addiction. Long-term, benevolent desire is purpose.
9. What skills are you currently developing or refining (in yourself) that will make you a more successful leader in the digital economy?
Patience, and the understanding that my role is not to fix everything, but to hand a slightly better situation over to the next generation.
10. What is your greatest business challenge today?
Helping people learn - as opposed to teaching them.
