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The cofounder of Evernote sometimes pretends to be a robot

Rob Price   

The cofounder of Evernote sometimes pretends to be a robot

Softbank pepper robot

REUTERS/Yuya Shino

Phil Libin, former CEO of Evernote.

Evernote executive chairman Phil Libin has an unusual approach to challenges: Pretending to be a robot.

Speaking at Irish tech conference Web Summit on Thursday, Libin revealed that "ever since I was a little kid, I'd get through difficult situations by pretending to be a robot."

Tired? Jet-lagged? "Have to get up super early?" Libin mimicks a mechanical voice: "I-AM-A-ROBOT-ROBOTS-DON'T-FEEL-TIRED."

"ROBOTS-BRUSH-THEIR-TEETH."

Give it a go next time you're faced with a tricky problem.

The executive and VC has expressed an interest in becoming a cyborg before. In a webinar with Pando earlier in 2015, he said that "I fully intend to be alive in 100 years, but I will be a disembodied head in a robot spider body with laser beams or something and that may not be the best thing to have as a CEO."

He was referring to his decision to step down as CEO of Evernote - something he also touched upon at Web Summit.

Reiterating his vision of a 100-year company, Libin said he is interested in "building a company that's bigger than the people in it," and can "still be a startup" a century later. He said he realised that while he "was good at solving the earlier-stage stuff," the company "needed to bring in someone who's going to be a more professional CEO" - Chris O'Neill.

Also: Libin wears two watches.

phil libin 2 watches

Rob Price/BI

A robot.

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