Steve Pavlina's and Paul Graham's articles circa 2002 and up; Bill Gates/Microsoft (QBasic, Visual Basic, C); volunteer work and after school clubs to learn that it doesn't matter if you're making money/getting graded/successful/one of the starters, if you're around smart people and having fun and learning a lot; business articles in general; learning to focus on taking things into my own hands and think logically, regardless of what people say is possible or isn't; thinking (maybe mistakingly) that inventing or discovering something is commonplace and therefore I have to do it.

Childhood inspiration for a startup? I was just happy to be learning English and didn't have a computer until I was 14.

Never thought about startups until a combination of forces started coming into play all at the same time. Paul's article on what wealth really is, gave a different perspective.

As for childhood inspiration, I don't think I ever had one. I remember liking to read picture books on robots. That's probably where some of it comes from.

my mother actually... for saying the internet is "no place to make 'real money'"

(i tend to try my best to prove people wrong w/ they say something i'm doing is impossible)

needless to say, after making money as a PHP hacker for several years now... she still asks if i've looked for a real job. heh...

What counts as a real job to her? Does she realize that computers and the web are now an integral part of society?

Paul Graham as of when "Why Nerds Are Unpopular" was published. Eric Raymond before that.

Bill Gates :)

MacGuyver