What You Didn't Know About Ryan Petersen

 

10 personal questions and 10 personal answers from Ryan Petersen, Chief Executive Officer of OCZ Technology. OCZ Technology was founded in 2000 and is best known for its performance memory devices and power supply units. The company also announced to soon release its "Neural Impulse Actuator", a device that plays in the emerging category of Brain-Computer Interface products. Ryan has been OCZ’s CEO since the company’s founding in 2000, has grown the company to about 200 people and remains the inventor or co-inventor of much of OCZ’s proprietary technology. Read on to find out how Ryan answered our questions.

I couldn’t survive without my ... Blackberry and my Paul Reed Smith guitar.

The best advice I ever got ... Never stop fighting!

A person/people I admire ... People with vision and the ability to motivate and excite others with their passion.

If I could go anywhere, or do anything, I would... do exactly what I am doing now, run a fast growing technology company, and part of that is doing the very thing that I did when I first started OCZ, spend time in the lab overclocking and designing exciting new products. When I am not in the office, I relax by playing my guitar and recording music.

A technology I have no use for ... I’ll admit I absolutely immerse myself in technology and, to be honest, I have yet to find a technology that I didn’t appreciate.

The best idea I had ... was that overclocking memory wasn’t just for a select few extreme users, but something that a wide range of consumers could benefit from. This ultimately led to the founding of OCZ (which actually stands for overclockers) which was founded by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.

Luxury is ... sleep.

I wish I had invented ... MLC NAND flash.

My tombstone should read ...
Veni, Vidi, Vici or a close second would be Bigger, faster, less expensive

A person/trend/technology to watch ... Solid state drives. SSDs offer faster access to data, lower power consumption and heat generation, no noise, and increased reliability as there are no moving parts. The technology really makes sense for mobile applications, but as the price of flash memory comes down consumers will be able to take advantage of all the performance benefits at price point more in line with conventional drives.

  • amrikove
    great guy. Always inspiring to see someone with vision and passion about what he does. Thumbs up
    Reply
  • bpogdowz
    omg the owner of OCZ is a pro bass fisherman as well.
    Reply
  • maxinexus
    I wish I was born sooner. I got all this ideas but get disappointed after finding out someone else already invented them. I know exactly what he is talking about..."Always inspiring to see someone with vision and passion"
    There is so much to be discovered but as you know, The chance favours a prepared mind...so you have to know what to look for. I'm crossing my fingers for my project to get patented...
    Reply
  • warezme
    hmm, I was hoping for something more in depth and interesting history on the man. Otherwise it reads like a chintzy high school yearbook top ten list or just another rich fat out of shape white guy thing....
    Reply
  • About as insightful as Teen Magazine. Keep posting manicured promo articles like this and Tom?s may just be the next big celeb tech magazine.

    You go girl!
    Reply
  • I was room mates with Ryan when he started OCZ, before the official start. He asked me to go in on the business with him but he had just been through three failed attempts, and I said no thank you. At that time he was also my AA sponsor. I really wish I could go back and get in on day one of OCZ. The business grew fast and our lives went separate ways but he asked me about six months later to help him, but this time as an employee since he had a handful of other people and was already making far beyond expectations. I turned him down again (crap). All he wanted was help fabricating heat sinks and I was good with metal. My little brother ended up working for him for a while when OCZ was run out of the back of a computer store in Boise, Idaho off of Overland. He was a good guy and treated others fairly. I could tell some stories but....nah
    Reply