4 of 5
BACKNEXT
Switched gears
Switched gears
Nick Dickreuter
Age:
30
Previous position: Analyst in Mergers and Acquisitions at Lehman Brothers
Current status: CEO of startup Psychoauction.com

I was laid off from Lehman because the firm went bankrupt. I briefly worked for a hedge fund but that one got hit really hard by the crisis as well so I was only there for about six months. Rather than looking for another job in finance, I decided to start something on my own. I thought I would set up a company that would be completely different.

I somehow came across this idea for Psychoauction and started working day and night. I launched in April 2009. The way it works is you have to bid on the items and each bid increases the price by 1 cent and resets the timer to 5 minutes. You have to buy bids before you can place bids and bids cost $1. The person who wins is the person who bid last. I would call it entertainment shopping. I intend to open a whole platform with entertainment shopping sites based on the Psycho brand.

Internet startups are very fragile, but it's been a lot of fun. Finance, in the end, is not the most dynamic -- let's just say a lot of people find it boring. I'm very happy now. I don't know what I'm going to do in the future, but I'm not going back to a bank -- that's not really something that I want to do.

NEXT: Still looking for a job
Last updated October 09 2009: 8:46 AM ET
Email | Print | Share  |  RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
More Galleries
10 of the most luxurious airline amenity kits When it comes to in-flight pampering, the amenity kits offered by these 10 airlines are the ultimate in luxury More
7 startups that want to improve your mental health From a text therapy platform to apps that push you reminders to breathe, these self-care startups offer help on a daily basis or in times of need. More
5 radical technologies that will change how you get to work From Uber's flying cars to the Hyperloop, these are some of the neatest transportation concepts in the works today. More

Special Offer

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.