Tech journalist Gina Smith had never been on TV when she was asked to appear on PBS to debate Steve Ballmer of Microsoft about Windows ’95. It was a gutsy move, but she said yes because she was determined to let consumers know her criticisms of Windows ‘95. After the interview, she was worrying “Whoa, should I have actually done that?” when ABC called and asked her to be the tech correspondent on Good Morning America and World News Tonight. And that’s how Gina started her TV career: by saying yes to opportunities, taking risks and sharing her passion.
Gina is also the New York Times bestselling author (with Steve Wozniak) of iWOZ: From Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-founded Apple and Had Fun Along the Way. She’s a radio host, wrote an award-winning column for the San Francisco Sunday Chronicle, wrote a book about DNA, and now she’s a partner in First 30 based in San Francisco, which is an incubator firm for tech start-ups.
During our conversation, we talk about Gina’s serendipitous career journey and her current role at First 30, and:
- How getting a text from a friend who met Steve Wozniak at a Grateful Dead concert turned into a book deal
- Bringing great ideas to life: getting the guy who’s been working in his basement for 7 years a patent, an expert team, and a million dollars in funding
- The Purple Cow: what Gina looks for when deciding which projects to back
- Ripping the band-aid off: how to reject people without making them resent you
Learn more about Gina’s company at www.first30services.com.
Tech writer and coder. That’s the header on Gina Trapani’s website, and it’s strikes me as exceedingly humble for someone who was named one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology in 2009 and 2010.
Alan Webber is the founding editor of 
I’ve known many people who have had to wrestle with dyslexia. Family, friends, work colleagues… the struggle is not just in being wired a different way from what’s ‘normal’ but that it’s so easy to be given the label ‘failure’, ’stupid’ or ‘lazy’.
