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This is a 2011 conversation, not a new interview: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen spoke with GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop at Seattle’s Town Hall after the publication of his memoir, Idea Man. GeekWire republished the recording on October 15, 2018, the day Allen died at 65. Its mix of Microsoft recollections, reflections on illness and science, and dry humor offers a personal vantage on a public figure who often stayed out of the spotlight.
Watch or listen to the full interview at GeekWire.
What the interview is—and where to watch it
The recording captures a live conversation between Allen and Todd Bishop at Seattle’s Town Hall in 2011. The event followed the release of Idea Man, Allen’s memoir about his life and Microsoft’s early years. GeekWire’s 2018 remembrance includes the full interview video and audio/podcast material, alongside selected highlights.
![[(Idea Man : A Memoir by the Co-founder of Microsoft)] [By (author) Paul Allen] published on (May, 2012)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/419ABcEryvL._SL160_.jpg)
GeekWire called it a rare public interview, but it was not a private recording or Allen’s only interview. Its value is in the breadth and informality of the discussion: the conversation ranges from Microsoft and Bill Gates to cancer, brain research, music, yachts and the possibility of life beyond Earth.
Why Allen wanted to tell his version of Microsoft’s history
Allen described Idea Man as an effort to recount events as honestly as he could remember them, rather than produce a polished public-relations account. Writing about Microsoft’s beginnings meant setting down his own recollections while recognizing that people who shared those events might remember or interpret them differently.
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He did not think the book had destroyed his friendship with Gates, though he expected an intense conversation about it. Allen said he had given Gates a copy months before publication, leaving time for him to read it. That is Allen’s description of their relationship and the memoir’s reception, not a settled account of every disagreement between the two.
Microsoft, Gates and the limits of one person’s account
Allen speaks as a co-founder looking back on a company whose work he likened, humorously, to one of the greatest bands: Microsoft had its “hits.” The exchange also touches on programming, the company’s future and the intensity of its internal relationships. His remarks provide a firsthand retrospective, but a conversational interview cannot stand in for a complete or uncontested history of Microsoft.
That distinction matters especially when the subject is Gates. Allen’s recollections reveal how he understood their partnership and differences; they do not make his perspective the only one. The interview is most useful as one participant’s candid account, read as memory and interpretation as well as history.
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Illness, patience and the urgency of time
Allen reflected on cancer treatment and the experience of confronting the possibility that time might be limited. He described treatment as requiring patience because so much of the process was beyond his control, while awareness of mortality sharpened his focus on ambitions and hopes he still wanted to pursue.
These are personal reflections, not medical guidance or a simple explanation for Allen’s later choices. They show how he spoke about uncertainty: accepting what could not be controlled while remaining intent on what might still be accomplished.
Why the brain drew his curiosity
Allen said the brain fascinated him because it differs fundamentally from a computer and is extraordinarily complex in its biological, chemical and structural workings. He saw research into the brain as a way to improve understanding of it and potentially help address neurodegenerative disease.
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The exchange connects his interest in technology with a broader appetite for difficult scientific questions. Funding research can enable investigation; it is not the same as producing a definitive treatment. In the interview, the emphasis is on the questions that compelled Allen, rather than a claim that those questions had been solved.
Technology, timing and ideas that change daily life
Discussing Facebook’s rise, Allen was struck by how a concept that would transform everyday life could have emerged years earlier. His retrospective point was about timing: a technology can be possible before someone develops the idea, recognizes its potential and brings it to a wider audience.
That observation is not a claim that Allen predicted Facebook. It is a reflection on why innovation can look obvious after the fact, even though technical feasibility alone does not ensure cultural or commercial adoption.
The personal details behind the public profile
The lighter moments make the conversation feel less like a formal corporate history. Allen joked that his yachts were too large and too numerous, and about the size of a yacht built to accommodate a submarine. He described playing Pink Floyd while exploring underwater, and joked that he had spent 25 years getting to a passable version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.”
Other answers place the interview firmly in its own moment. Allen said he still used a BlackBerry and identified himself as a Windows user. Asked to choose among Star Wars, Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, he chose all of them; on extraterrestrial contact, he joked that he had never received a call. These details reveal his humor and eclectic interests, but his device comments describe the 2011 conversation, not his later technology habits.
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GeekWire republished the conversation on October 15, 2018, as part of its remembrance after Allen’s death. The original remarks belong to 2011: references to devices and the technology landscape reflect that period. The interview is neither a new conversation nor a complete biography. It is a useful record of Allen describing, in his own words, the recollections, questions and enthusiasms that mattered to him.
GeekWire’s Paul Allen remembrance coverage provides the surrounding 2018 context.
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