Starting off as a schoolteacher, a lifelong dream fulfilled, Susan Hobbs has since immersed herself in the tech startup world through roles at Y Combinator and TechCrunch. Now, as a partner at CrunchFund, she invests in passionate entrepreneurs.
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Taking a moment away from hearing the pitches of entrepreneurs, Hobbs spoke with Crunchbase News to delve a little bit deeper into what makes her tick on a personal level.
What would you otherwise be doing right now?
It’s a strange question for me because I’ve done a lot of things before this, but I would probably be working on product at a startup.
What is your main fault?
Procrastination. There’s this quote I remember from reading in college: “Procrastination is the little gift of time we give ourselves every day.” It drove my father completely nuts the way I would procrastinate when I was young.
The quality you most desire in a tweet?
I love tweets that are informative. I am one of these people who gets my news from Twitter. I also enjoy a good joke or a fun back and forth conversation with a good friend.
Your idea of misery?
I would say having a job where I didn’t have anything to do. That’s not to say I want to be heightened busy all the time. But having a job where you are trying to figure out how to fill up your day in the office is the worst ever.
What do you appreciate the most in your friends?
A good conversation, and sometimes that can mean you are talking about something intellectual or interesting… or your dog.
Your chief characteristic
There are two that come to mind: one is curiosity and the other one is loyalty.
Your most impactful book?
A book I’ve read recently that was super cool was “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah. I am a huge fan of biographies and memoirs. It was really eye opening.
What defines success?
Happiness and satisfaction. But you can’t live and sustain on that, so there has to be some aspect of monetary success for you to feel comfortable enough to take risks.
What’s the biggest problem tech is failing to solve?
Hands down, it’s diversity. Tech is definitely failing at diversity. It masquerade as a meritocracy, but when you pair that with pattern recognition, it only begets more of the same. So not having diversity, not having gender diversity, not having racial diversity, I think that is straight up tech’s biggest problem that it has not solved, and continues to fail at solving.
Editorial note: Answers edited for brevity and clarity.
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