Why Esther Dyson Says You Should Seek Out Mistakes and Messes

The investor and futurist has made a career of challenging norms and seeing around corners. Here's what has given her perspective.

- JENNIFER CONRAD

Esther Dyson admits she grew up in "one of the world's most bubbly bubbles," surrounded by Nobel Prize winners in Princeton, New Jersey, where her father, theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, worked for J. Robert Oppenheimer. But the 73-year-old Swissborn investor and futurist has spent her adult life following her interests in unexpected directions. That's included working on Wall Street, immersing herself in the Eastern European startup scene after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and training to go to space; she's now wrapping up work on the community health nonprofit Wellville, which she founded in 2014. Dyson, who has backed prominent companies such as Square and LinkedIn, affirms that her success isn't a product of opportunity; it's a consequence of curiosity.

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