Welcome to Part I of this in-depth conversation with the extraordinary Vinny Vacanti, CEO of Yipit.

Vinny treats us to an immensely insighful and transparent account of his ongoing entrepreneurial odyssey. We cover topics such as his decision to abandon the primrose path of a thriving career in finance, his sudden leap into the world of startups and the challenges of launching a tech company as a first-time entrepreneur. His insights and learnings, including the account of the fateful decision he and his co-founder made to actually learn how to code themselves are a literal treasure trove for any entrepreneur.

Below is a short table of contents (with corresponding minutes) of Part I of our conversation.

:20 Harvard freshman in '99, the tech bubble, investment banking

2:20 The "kernel of entrepreneurship" could not be ignored

3:15 Post bubble epiphany at a conference: "That's who I want to be"

4:12 Early Days of Yipit, Summer '07, "no idea what we were doing"

5:22 No safety net, no more primrose path: big realizations!

6:47 The leap of faith: Learning how to Code....

8:00 The reaction of his colleagues/family

9:30 Building the early prototpes of Yipit

11:23 The equivalent of steroids for an entrepreneur

11:50 Becoming a deal-aggregator in NY; Groupon launhces

13:57 The Lightbulb Moment: "just aggregating daily deals!"

15:04 The Big Pivot: Building this version in 3 days... first-to-market

16:30 Finance/Corporate World vs. Startup World: different mentality required

Part II of our conversation with Vinny