Extremely dedicated startup CEO makes birthday PowerPoint presentation featuring 1,284 slides


Talk about a gift that keeps on giving — whether anyone else wanted it to or not.
Ryan Allis, a self-described "passionate, joyous tech entrepreneur," turns 30 years old today. Most people — especially those past the age of, say, 16 — would celebrate with cake or a fancy dinner, and maybe throw a small party with some friends.
Not Ryan Allis.
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The startup journeyman has lived, and he decided to mark his foray into a new decade with "Lessons From My 20s" — "a presentation on everything I learned in my 20s on life, entrepreneurship, and the world."
Allis' lessons took the form of a PowerPoint presentation consisting of 1,284 slides. I'm genuinely not sure who would willingly slog through more than 1,000 slides with such nuggets of wisdom as, "Padawan is Sanskrit for 'learner,'" and "Make sure everyone knows they can talk to you anytime." Maybe Allis' mom, because moms are good for that kind of thing. (Conveniently, Allis writes in his forward to the presentation that his mom was in fact the inspiration for this "somewhat big" project, so looks like that works out!)
Take a look at the whole presentation here if you're looking for hundreds of PowerPoint slides to read. Oh, and happy birthday, Ryan Allis!
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Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
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