Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, confirmed at Tech Entrepreneurs Week in London that he was relocating to the UK and said he was keen to get involved in the startup scene.
That’s why he was so keen to support the inaugural Tech Entrepreneurs Week, he said.Wales, pictured here with CambridgeElevator chief executive Richard Kirkby, founded Wiki in 2001 with Larry Sanger. In 2006, Time magazine named him in its list of the world’s most influential people.
Wales said: “To start with I didn't think about the business model - I just thought if it works I'll work that out. There was no money to hire anyone so we had to be innovative.
“That’s the problem with big companies – they have money and don't need to innovate.”
Wales added: "If you invest everything and don't prepare yourself for failure it hits your soul too hard and if it doesn't work out you have to take years to re-evaluate and try again.
"Culturally, Silicon Valley does this well - they think to do something entrepreneurial is good. You are doing something culturally valuable. Don't focus too much on the Mark Zuckerbergs. If you are doing something worthwhile and it makes money then great."
He said he gave up on newpedia but didn't give up on the vision. "Am I an idiot for giving up or more of an idiot to persist?”
Wales said that he left his second PhD to become a futures trader but was such a super geek that he went home and worked on his own web browser. “But it sucked compared to Netscape,” he confided.
“I launched a series of completely failed web sites. A lot of entrepreneurs hire too late and fire too late. In the beginning I fired too late!”
He recalls that the ultra-frugal Wiki only spent $5.36 on advertising - “we went 36c over the Google Adwords minimum.”
Wales said he wouldn’t change the model for Wikipedia of being a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
He said: “We could get more traction offering mail or Twitter comments but we don't care about that. We are an encyclopaedia.”
Hundreds of entrepreneurs and investors have been mingling at two venues in London for Tech Entrepreneurs Week (#TEW2011) – billed as Europe’s largest entrepreneur and investor technology event and conference.
Wales said “I know that one of the companies that will come out of #TEW2011 will be the next Facebook!”
Wales’ Top 3 Tips for Startups?
1 Be persistent
2 Don't waste time doing something useless. Give up sooner
3 Do something that you are passionate about rather than something you think will succeed
Photograph: CambridgeElevator CEO Richard Kirkby with Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales at Tech Entrepreneurs Week
