This week, Paul and Rich try to define success and failure in business, the tech industry, and their lives. The result is part topical conversation (Apple, Yahoo, the penetrating gaze of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes) and part therapy session. “I don’t know how to feel successful, personally,” Rich admits early on. Paul eventually matches him, announcing, “I think that everything I do and everything I touch is a failure.”
Rich: Software’s sort of a reflection of our own flaws, right? It’s all broken.
Paul: It’s a garbage tornado.
Rich: It all could be rewritten. I don’t think I’ve ever met an engineer who if I’ve asked them to take a look at someone else’s work has come back to me and said, ‘This is great. I just want to change a couple things.’ [sad, knowing laughter]
Paul: No, typically what they say is, ‘This is a war crime.’
Rich: All of LinkedIn is a cover-up of all the crap I did wrong.
Paul: I’m never gonna be happy — ever.
Paul: (On Apple.) What do they have? I mean they have an unbelievable amount of cash on hand —
Rich: Insane amount.
Paul: They’re good for fifty years. And we talk about them —
Rich: But that’s not —
Paul: We talk about them like a bodega that might go out of business!
“Yahoo’s got…problems.” — Paul
Paul: (On Theranos.) I’ve seen some videos with [Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes]. She expresses herself while looking directly through the camera into the back of your head where your brain starts to actually catch fire from the pressure of her eye sockets.
Paul: (On Henry Kissinger.) Why is he still doing anything?
Rich: Kissinger’s semi-retired, dude. This was interesting —
Paul: I know. But his job is to feast on babies. That is his only real responsibility.
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Track Changes is the weekly technology and culture podcast from Postlight, hosted by Paul Ford and Rich Ziade. Coordination, research, and management by Elizabeth Minkel, who also prepared the summary of this episode. Production and editing by Tom Meyers. Podcast logo and design by Matt Quintanilla of Postlight. We record with Paul Ruest at Argot Studios.
