You don't program, but you are certainly a hacker. How did you get started?

Thanks, that's high praise. I had the kind of highschool education where they taught me how to maximize returns for minimal work, mostly because I wanted more time to lead my Quake2 & Half-life clan and level my bard (Everquest). That was mostly social hacking -- the kind I started training on my first job as a 14 year old sales rep at a CompUSA. One of my customers handed me his card (Stanley Foods, if I recall correctly) and offered me a sales job on the spot after I helped him choose a mouse.

When it comes to rule-breaking, my proudest accomplishment was probably getting into Y Combinator despite being the first (and only) non-technical founder they'd accepted. This was the first ever class of YC, mind you, and Paul certainly was skeptical of me.

What advice can you give to the younger hacker generation?

Start creating, start sharing. No one will remember your innumerable failures, so learn from them and iterate or move on. This is going to be your century. I'm working on a book proposal about that right now, in fact...

Thanks for the interview, Michael! Can't wait to see your interview with Huff :)