Mike Trigg
Mike Trigg was born in Kentucky and raised in Wisconsin. He earned a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley. Over his twenty-five-year career in Silicon Valley, he has been a founder, executive, and investor in dozens of venture-funded technology start-ups, as well as a contributor to TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. He lives in Menlo Park, California, with his wife and two sons. Bit Flip is his first novel.
Twitter: @Mike_Trigg
Instagram: @Mike_Trigg254
Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?
I love films with unreliable narrators that, consequently, lead to unexpected endings. Three of my all-time favorites that exemplify this approach include Fight Club (based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk), Memento, and The Usual Suspects. I strive to emulate this storytelling style in my own work, particularly in my second novel.
What period of history do you wish you knew more about?
I majored in contemporary American history and have always been fascinated by the birth of Silicon Valley. It’s hard to believe that a rural area of mostly fruit orchards transformed into the epicenter of the technology industry over such a relatively short period of time. My book, Bit Flip, originally included a prologue featuring a 1950s family man moving to Palo Alto to join the nascent semiconductor industry. For an excellent history of Silicon Valley, read Margaret O'Mara’s book The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America.
Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
Definitely savory. I love to cook and particularly enjoy making slow-braised meals in my trusty Dutch oven. French fries, potato chips, and mashed potatoes are almost impossible for me to resist. Although I enjoy sweets, I don’t crave them and usually skip dessert without temptation.
Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
I hate giving up on a book, even when I don’t particularly like it. Maybe it’s sympathy for the author or the belief I’ll miss out on a surprise ending, but I usually persevere to the end. When I do read something I don’t like, I try to avoid similar books, either in the same genre or by the same author, in the future.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
My biggest creative outlet for most of my career has been starting companies. I have two sisters, both very creative – one is an artist and the other is a dancer. I realized relatively late in life that entrepreneurship was how I got my creative fix. Although it’s not a fine art, creating a company applies many of the same principles—envisioning what could be, conjuring something out of nothing, pursuing your passion, and tirelessly promoting it to others are just some of the similarities.
