49°
The Winklevoss brothers spoke at the J House Hotel as part of an invite-only lecture series entitled, "Inside the Entrepreneurial Mind," hosted by international law firm Withers Bergman.
The Greenwich-raised twins discussed how they have launched into the business world since being portrayed in the film "The Social Network." The film dramatized the founding of Facebook and included the Winklevoss brothers' lawsuit against the site's founder Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he stole their idea.
The brothers briefly mentioned Facebook and the film, with Cameron joking, "It had a happy ending, didn't it?"
The 31-year-old entrepreneurs focused mostly on their current projects, including Winklevoss Capital, which invests in companies such as Hukkster, and went into great detail about their latest venture, Bitcoin.
While the brothers could have remained in the limelight with their sudden fame after "The Social Network" (they were approached to appear on "The Bachelor" and "Dancing With the Stars"), but they decided to remain in the business world.
"We have a unique situation where some very talented people made a very good movie that happened to feature a part of our story," Tyler said. "We made a decision not to do that kind of stuff, but we're open minded. We have a plan and sort of know where we're going, but we also love the serendipity of taking an idea and seeing where it can go."
Cameron and Tyler are now based in New York City but still get back to visit their family in Greenwich "every couple of weeks."
They maintain that New York and Silicon Valley in California remain the best places for entrepreneurs to thrive said but said Fairfield County has plenty of opportunities for fledgling companies.
"We are firm believers that every startup ecosystem has benefits," Cameron said. "Being in Silicon Valley or Santa Monica or Brazil just for the sake of being there doesn't make sense. You just have to identify what you're trying to solve and who you can be around to help solve it. There's plenty of capital in Fairfield County, but it's the engineers you need here. If they're willing to commute up here or move up here, there will be startups here."
Click here to follow Daily Voice Greenwich and receive free news updates.
