#7 Interview with Dan Lyons, author of "Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble"
The Not Old - Better Show
Paul Vogelzang
4.7 • 107 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2016
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Interview with Dan Lyons, author of "Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble"
Author Dan Lyons has reported on and satirized the tech industry. Dan reported on the industry for Newsweek and Forbes, he wrote the satirical fake Steve Jobs blog and has been a member of the writing team for the HBO comedy series "Silicon Valley." Dan was laid off from Newsweek shortly before it discontinued its print edition. This was around April 2013, and Dan was 52. Next, after some soul searching and panic, which I can relate to, Dan took a job in the world he'd long written about and became the "marketing fellow" at a startup called HubSpot, which sells a marketing software platform that is designed to help companies attract visitors and turn them into customers. I personally have some familiarity with HubSpot, having been at Oracle. And, I relate to Dan's story, after being laid off by Oracle, at the then age of 56.
But, back to Dan's story, at this startup, HubSpot, Dan was the "Designated" old guy, twice the age of many of the people he worked with. Dan stayed at HubSpot less than two years. He's written a new book, just out this week, a memoir called "Disrupted: My Misadventure In The Start-Up Bubble." He describes the book as the story of what it's like to reinvent yourself and start a new career in your 50s in an industry that is by and large hostile to older workers.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the not old better show. |
| 0:11.4 | I'm Paul Vogelzang. |
| 0:13.3 | In his early 50s, Dan Lyons lost his job reporting on the tech industry for Newsweek. |
| 0:19.0 | And at the very same moment in time, the traditional |
| 0:21.7 | media industry was imploding due to the internet, social media, blogging, and user-generated |
| 0:27.7 | content. My problem was not just that Newsweek was kind of struggling and laying people off |
| 0:34.4 | and kind of going out of business, but that the entire industry I was in was collapsing and kind of falling apart. |
| 0:40.5 | So Dan went to work at Tech Startup HubSpot, where Dan was the designated old guy and was given the title of Marketing Fellow. |
| 0:49.5 | But again, Dan is in his mid-50s at this point. |
| 0:53.7 | And you start thinking, well, what am I going to jump to? |
| 0:56.0 | I have to reinvent myself and become something new. |
| 0:58.0 | I have to start a whole new career, but you're doing it at the age of 50, which is tricky and not had some special challenges. |
| 1:05.0 | Today I talk with author Dan Lyons about his memoir, Disrupted, My Misadventure in the Startup Bubble. |
| 1:13.9 | Dan has also written for the HBO comedy series, Silicon Valley. Welcome to the not old better podcast, a podcast dedicated to your future. |
| 1:40.9 | The not old better podcast is all about revealing your future, offering clarity, health, |
| 1:47.9 | happiness, and all things senior geek chic. And now your host, Paul Vogelzang. |
| 1:57.6 | Well, hi, everybody. Welcome to The Not Old Better show. I'm Paul Vogelze. Your host, my guest today on the show is Dan Lyons. Dan, who's with me here on the line. You know, many of my listeners are going to know you as somebody who's reported on and satirized the tech industry. Dan has reported on the industry for Newsweek in Forbes. Dan wrote the satirical fake Steve Jobs blog. One of my favorite shows, Silicon Valley. Dan's been a member of the writing team for HBO for a couple of seasons. I think it's two and three, and I think three is just coming out now. |
| 2:36.2 | Dan, unfortunately, yeah. Yep, good. Dan was laid off. Dan, you were laid off from Newsweek |
| 2:42.3 | shortly before it continued its printed, it discontinued its print edition. And I think that was |
| 2:48.2 | around April 2013 when you were 52. And next came some soul |
| 2:54.4 | searching, maybe some panic that I certainly can relate to. And you took a job in the world |
| 3:00.5 | that you'd long been writing about. And you became, and I love this title, you became a marketing |
... |
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