Step 1:
First, I will continue to build my knowledge of all its key players private, public, academic, etc. As much as possible, I will do this by actually interacting with them so I can get a feeling of the industry culture.
So far, I’ve made considerable progress in this. For example, not to long ago, I held an event at which a company called MetaMed was present. They were a type of concierge medical informatics service, but what was interesting is that they were backed by Peter Thiel (who backed Modern Meadow). They explained how one of their clients was able to grow a finger back utilizing stem cells, although they were introduced manually. Michael Vassar, its president, was previously the president of the Singularity Institute of which Kurzweil was a director. I learned an immense amount from their presentation; it helped me orient myself and think far into the future.
Additionally, I met several 20Under20, Startup Chile Entrepreneurs, and MIT Biotech entrpenuers some of whom were backed by the enigmatic Peter Thiel as well, while at an anarcho-capitalist entrepreneurship event in the Lithuanian countryside (the ideology doesn’t inform my decision personally but it seems to be the prevalent political belief among these communities) . This leads me to my next step..
Step 2:
If I learned one thing from this group, is that if my career goals are similar to theirs, two things need to happen before I return to any type of formal education program after I, essentially, finish college this semester.
The first is, I need to exhaust every Mooc (Massive Online Open course) and free material relating to the subject of interest before I even consider applying to a terminal degree in say, Bio-Molecular Engineering or Bio-Informatics. Anki is one effective software for increasing recollection of complex subjects in minimal time.
I should add, that the best way to learn is to teach, so I also need to create some kind of space for myself where I can synthesis, internalize, and share the information I’m taking in. I’m thinking Youtube, and in fact in 3 weeks I will be heading over to Thailand to learn, primarily, some video editing techniques at Mahidol University. I’ll be sure to send you my channel when it’s ready.
Step 3:
The other thing I must do, is have some entrepreneurial success. I’m 21, so the subject matter can still be far removed from 3dPrinitng. While in Lithuania, I met a young man by the name of Ben Yu, Founder of the wildly successful Sprayable Caffeine. His ultimate goal is to contribute to one of several technologies that he believes may increase human lifespans and healthspans by centuries. But currently, Sprayable Caffiene is garnering him the career capital that he can later on trade in for something closer to his ultimate goal. I should pursue a praiseworthy project like that at some point, as well as some quieter investments through which i can increase my personal wealth and mobility.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/20/sprayable-energy/
Step 4:
We don’t always talk about it but there is a component to Entrepreneurship that is really just personal development. Put simply, the type of optimism and fail-foward attitude one sees in the best examples of entrepreneurs are learned skills. This is perhaps the area I need the most work in. Travel and meditation are, according to many people I trust, the best two tools to remedy this. The first puts you out of context so that you get used to constantly seeking and adapting to new things. The latter teaches you to focus and be in the moment. To that end, I will be traveling to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar in the coming months and I will be doing just that.
Step 5:
Figure our what are the technical skill I need and get hands-on practice. This will likely, be accomplished at Genspace and similar venues. This is a constantly moving-target since I can’t predict what will be relevant when I’m back from circumnavigating the world.
Step 6:
Think about and prepare for the types of programs I’d like to get into. At the top of the list is FutureMed, a program run by Singularity University and housed in the NASA space center. It is an incubator and accelerator for high-risk, speculative medical projects. Enough said.
