In the ‘Hot Seat’ with Paul McNabb
‘Hot Seat’ interview with Episode 1’s Managing Partner Paul McNabb, self confessed geek, food and wine obsessive. Let’s see what makes him tick…
What’s your name and where are you from? Paul McNabb, born in Blackburn, lives in London, lived on the East coast and the West Coast US, in France and in China.
Three words to describe yourself? Geeky, curious, seeking.
What has been your biggest success in your life so far? Happily married for 30 years.
What’s your biggest failure? Not coming into VC earlier.
If you weren’t doing your job you do today, what would you do? Perfecting my sourdough, running a pop up supper-club from my wood burning oven, or perhaps studying evolutionary biology.
Who would be your mystery dinner guest (dead or alive) & why? Ferran Adria from the former El Bulli because he is the most influential chef of his era and I never got to eat there! He also looks like he is completely bonkers and as obsessed with learning as I am.
If you were to win the lottery what would be the FIRST thing you’d do? Buy a cervelo carbon road bike and cycle to the top 10 restaurants in the world.
What’s your favourite book/blog/website to read? Probably the Art of Eating — I like Eater for recommendations. Books — Gilead by Marilynne Robinson was probably the most moving book I’ve read in the last decade.
What’s the Dumbest thing you have ever done? Investing heavily in Global Crossing in the early 00’s, I loved the idea but they were way ahead of their time.
What was the biggest ‘EUREKA’ moment in your life so far? In 1993 I was doing some work for Silicon Graphics, the workstation company, and my contact showed me this thing called the Web working on a pretty rubbish piece of software called Mosaic. If I recall, pretty much the only site you could browse was CERN, but it totally blew my mind.
If you were to die tomorrow, what advice would you leave to the world?Life is a long game, and the journey is the reward not the destination.
Who would you like to nominate next for the ‘Hot seat’? Misha Gopaul, CEO of FatMap.
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