Former Facebook CTO on his $25,000 award

... and Palm engineer Michael Abbott on how they plan to win their TechFellow award money

Nearly two dozen individuals, many of whom had experience starting companies, were awarded a TechFellow Award last week. The Founders Fund is behind the program, which gives $25,000 to selected individuals to either invest in their own company or to invest in another startup.

I caught up with two of the TechFellows - Adam D'Angelo and Michael Abbott - at the TechFellow Awards, produced by TechCrunch. Both of them were among the six men who won the award for Engineering Leadership. 

When asked why they thought they were selected, D'Angelo, former CTO of Facebook, said, "I'm not sure actually. I have experience from Facebook and I'm likely to start a company in the future."

I also asked them what they plan on doing with their new funds.

D’Angelo is off to create his own company. He stayed mum about what the company was all about, but he did say that he's hiring engineers. He said he may take the money and invest in his own idea.

Abbott, a software engineer at Palm, said he's definitely investing the $25,000 in startups.

Both of them said the criteria they're considering for putting the money to work is the right team and person. "Certainly, at that amount [$25,000], you're investing in the people," said Abbott, adding, "I might invest in Adam's company."