Here’s an interesting twist you don’t hear every day about those who succeed in Silicon Valley. One of Twitter’s first engineers, Alex Payne, is investing in vegan burger restaurants, mentoring startups, and donating time and money for select projects.
The profile piece is courtesy of The Oregonian, and in many ways, it could be considered the anti-Silicon Valley profile. It’s not about buying McMansions, fast cars and big, excessive parties. It’s about a quiet, thoughtful guy who’s taken some time out to focus on what’s important in life.
Payne, who left Twitter in 2010, helped build online bank Simple in Portland, but left that gig in 2012, and has been lying low since.
According to The Oregonian, the 31-year-old is spending his time “traveling, teaching, consulting, mentoring and investing.”
[pullquote-There’s a big, wide, increasingly poor world out there, and it doesn’t need 99% of what Silicon Valley is selling.[/pullquote]
“There’s a lot of people starting companies that are going to go places,” he told The Oregonian. “But it’s not enough for me at this point to just work at someplace to make a lot of money.”
One of his investments? Next Level Burger, which is looking to open two more restaurants later this year. Payne keeps a blog, in which he writes about what he’s up to and his thoughts on the tech world in general.
“There’s a big, wide, increasingly poor world out there, and it doesn’t need 99% of what Silicon Valley is selling,” Payne writes in one post.
It’s a worthwhile and thoughtful look at someone who’s not following the typical path. Give it a read.
