Imagine getting to sit down with a magnate in your field, someone who can open any door, introduce you to the people you need to meet. A man who loves ideas tells you he likes your idea very much and wants to help. Only trouble is, there’s a stretch limo waiting for him downstairs, you may have seen it on your way in. It was sent for him by his former intern, now, at age 26, about to become a very, very wealthy man. Touching that the kid would send the limo for his old mentor, he was a teenager when he worked for the magnate for free. A brilliant kid, a great kid. Anyway, not to waste time– and I promise you a full meeting at a later date– but in four minutes or so, fill me in.
So you fill him in. And as it’s your idea, and you know every detail of it intimately, and you’re a bright kid yourself, you are able to bring it to life to this guy who loves a great idea. His eyes shine like the eyes of a kid in a candy store as you talk. He asks an intelligent question, you give a snappy, succinct answer. A few laughs are laughed. It is with regret he stands, on the fourth intrusion by his secretary, and shakes your hand. “We’ll do the full meeting soon,” he says with warmth, and then is on his way down to the limo.
You later read about the sale, it’s all over the news. The young man, David Karp, 26, has sold Tumblr for 1.1 billion dollars. Sitting next to him on the dais, the man you were just talking to. It’s an amazing world.
But that all happened in April, why are you thinking about it now?
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Tumblr: David Karp’s $800 Million Art Project Forbes – by Jeff Bercovici – Jan 2013 Facebook is the Internet’s phone book. Twitter is its wire service. In Tumblr, 26-year-old Karp has built the Web’s canvas. Now can he shape it into a money machine?
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Can Tumblr’s David Karp Embrace Ads Without … The New York Times – Jul 2012
The founder and C.E.O. has a vision for his Web company as a “platform for creativity” unblemished by commercialization. But isn’t that what all 26-year-old tech prodigies … -
Tumbling on success: How Tumblr’s David Karp built …Wired UK – Feb 2012 Tumblr’s David Karp, at 25, has a £500 million empire of blogs devoted to protests, porn and photographs of cats. Chris Crisman. This article was taken from the March 2012 …