Paul grew up an entrepreneur and dreamer, starting with his first paper route at age nine in the Canal Zone of Panama. Then came Washington, D.C. and adventures at the Sidwell Friends School, followed by the University of Chicago. That’s where he met his wife Rachel, when he was 18 and she even younger.

Paul’s mother wrote a dozen children’s books and was a speech writer, but his parents’ stories of the Depression scared him so much he decided to be an entrepreneur, make some money, and then pursue writing. Living in Telluride, Colorado, he started four companies with a best friend before age 24, including Fly By Night Builders, The Illusions Company, High Country Trekkers–you get the idea; great names, cool ideas, not much income.

He moved to Silicon Valley and got an MBA (SFSU) and more tech experience. His mentor Mel Pirtle took him on a seminal visit to PARC in the early days. He met Bob Metcalf, the inventor of Ethernet, and realized the people unleashing their creativity had the answer. And for Paul, that was writing.

But first he had to make some money. He started SoftIRON Systems and Fullspeed Networks. Both grew and prospered and he sold them to Fortune 300 companies. He then led marketing for software companies Netcordia and Sitecore. The former IPO’d and the latter was acquired by a hedge fund. That all took a lot longer than he’d planned. After thirty years in Silicon Valley and raising three loving children, it was finally time to write.

License is his second novel. The Big Disrupter is the first in the series.