siliconvict

Tacking onto this, once your father's reputation is big enough even a felony conviction won't stop him from being hired at top places.

I've had offers at Google/Apple. I've worked for the Federal Avation Administration. I've been on a leadership team who's raised from A16Z. I've been through IPOs. I've gotten jobs in London and Tokyo.

Sure, it's extra paperwork when you have to explain that you're a felon, but once he's got a reputation, companies will foot the legal bill for him to join.

I also went to prison and have a felony conviction.

My suggestion to your father is to work for smaller firms or move to a state where background checks are shunned like California.

I did not have a single background check my entire duration living in San Francisco.

I also served a prison sentence.

When I was 19, I didn't have a father or mother to send me books, but I managed to barter with other prisoners to get books to come in from the outside.

My primary focus was computer science rather than mathematics, and even though I didn't have a computer to work with, I wrote out all my programs on paper. Learning was slow, very slow.

When I got out, it took me 8 months to get a computer. I couldn't afford to buy one, so I bought it part by part and built one myself, even though I never had done it before.

Fast forward 20 years, I'm a multimillionaire, successful startup founder, and two IPOs deep. I think my success came from the anger I felt in prison. Nothing could be worse than serving time, I told myself, and it made me very ambitious because of it.

Reading Travis' letter and seeing his DOC number at the bottom of it made me feel all those painful, frustrated moments I had while serving time.

Best of luck to Travis. I will be contacting his father and sending what is allowed.