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What We Look for in Founders

paulgraham.com

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Re: What We Look for in Founders

#21

Post by edanm »

raganwald wrote: post #11
maxklein wrote: post #7

I bet 80% of people reading that list are thinking: This describes me perfectly.

I was about to post how this list makes me question leaving BigCo. I must be in the 20%, I don't think I have any of these qualities, and behold, my bank account tells me that none of my ventures have succeeded.

If you've worked on several ventures, I would guess you're more determined than most of the population. Most people only talk or dream of actually working on projects, and never actually do anything with it.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#22

Post by raganwald »

mrchess wrote: post #4

Wish I knew about the emphasis about hacking a system question and I would have elaborated on my application.... Although it is a difficult question to put emphasis on IMO because it also makes you in a way "reveal" your bad morals... which I am sure many people don't feel comfortable doing. Why would you ever want to openly admit you beat ie. cheated a system be it government, academic, or private? Not to imply that…

Why would you ever want to openly admit you beat ie. cheated a system

Sometimes your audience is sympathetic because they perceive that the system you're beating is broken.

I read Victor Kiam's "autohagiography," and in it he recounts a story about how parking at a baseball game was impossible to get, but there was a special lot just for limos. So he grabs a peaked cap, puts on a dark suit, and drives his buddies to the game, right into the limo lot.

That (possibly apocryphal) anecdote is a perfect little story of ingenuity and hacking the system without confessing to moral corruption, more of a right the imbalance and tweak the nose of a big, unlikeable organization kind of thing.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#23

Post by mrchess »

raganwald wrote: post #15
araneae wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Like I started forging the report cards I gave to my parents starting in 8th grade. I'm not proud of that. Would I really put that on an application?

I have no idea what Y Combinator thinks about the answer to that question. But if Paul asked me to help out by reviewing some applications, I'd probably send you an email asking how that was to your advantage.

Actually I did something like araneae stated, I started hiding my transcripts in high school and college to avoid drama between my folks because I was NOT a good student -- the formal education system wasn't for me. There was even one point in college where I was failing out, but gamed the GPA system so that they couldn't kick me out.

Anyway, it worked well for me. I didn't get any drama, and I ended up graduating and landing a job with a top 25 software company.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#24

Post by scott_s »

Keyframe wrote: post #20

My accountant (with eons of experience): Worst thing you can do when founding a company is to found it as a partnership Take it as you will. My personal take is that, if partnership (among several founders) is really strong (friendship from this essay) - then it's certainly better than doing it alone - backed by high profile success stories. On the other hand, I've seen too much companies fall apart because of the pa…

Consider that perhaps your accountant has a different perspective. Accountants don't get involved until the company makes enough money to need an accountant. So his perspective, which he may not realize, may be "Given that a company succeeds, it's better to have been started by a single person."

PG has a different perspective. He's less concerned with questions which assume a company has succeeded; he's more concerned with questions about whether or not a company will succeed. So PG's perspective is more "A company is more likely to succeed with multiple founders."

My point: the two perspectives seem mutually exclusive, but they may not be.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#25

Post by rprasad »

Keyframe wrote: post #20

My accountant (with eons of experience): Worst thing you can do when founding a company is to found it as a partnership Take it as you will. My personal take is that, if partnership (among several founders) is really strong (friendship from this essay) - then it's certainly better than doing it alone - backed by high profile success stories. On the other hand, I've seen too much companies fall apart because of the pa…

He means that from an accounting and tax perspective, the partnership form is the most complicated business entity you could choose. The tax code on partnerships is complicated enough that you could get into serious tax trouble without even knowing (or having any reason to believe) that you're doing anything wrong.

Also, partners in a partnership are not shielded from liability (i.e., for lawsuits, business debts, etc.) like investors in LLCs or corporations are.

Friendship can help, but at the end of the data, a business is about money. Do you know enough about your friend's financial wherewithal to be comfortable launching a business with him/her?

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#26

Post by nkassis »

bradly wrote: post #14

Definitely finding a co-founder has been the hardest part for me. Not living in the valley currently, you don't have as big of a pool to find people. Also, the type of person that makes a great co-founder(smart, determined, etc.) usually have good things going on already. The people that I talked to that would have been great to work with were all doing great work currently and couldn't commit. It would be really awe…

I've had the same issue, all the best people I know are happy where they are. But I've managed to get some of them to agree to help me part time

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#27

Post by wensing »

araneae wrote: post #10
mrchess wrote: post #4

Wish I knew about the emphasis about hacking a system question and I would have elaborated on my application.... Although it is a difficult question to put emphasis on IMO because it also makes you in a way "reveal" your bad morals... which I am sure many people don't feel comfortable doing. Why would you ever want to openly admit you beat ie. cheated a system be it government, academic, or private? Not to imply that…

Right. Like I started forging the report cards I gave to my parents starting in 8th grade. I'm not proud of that. Would I really put that on an application?

I think the right answer would involve a hack that bent or even broke the written rules but made everyone wealthier (better off) in the end.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#29

Post by rmorrison »

bradly wrote: post #14

Definitely finding a co-founder has been the hardest part for me. Not living in the valley currently, you don't have as big of a pool to find people. Also, the type of person that makes a great co-founder(smart, determined, etc.) usually have good things going on already. The people that I talked to that would have been great to work with were all doing great work currently and couldn't commit. It would be really awe…

It would be really awesome if YC put on some type of match-making event for single founders to find co-founders in person. Like a speed dating event for startups.

I feel like that would be somewhat counter-productive for YC.

They're looking for people who are going to be Flexible and Determined to make the startup happen, regardless of what obstacles get thrown in the way. Finding a co-founder is one of the first real obstacles, and will definitely not be the hardest one over the life of the startup. By exemplifying the qualities listed in this essay, a single founder should be able to find at least one solid co-founder.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#30

Post by raganwald »

edanm wrote: post #21
raganwald wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to post how this list makes me question leaving BigCo. I must be in the 20%, I don't think I have any of these qualities, and behold, my bank account tells me that none of my ventures have succeeded.

If you've worked on several ventures, I would guess you're more determined than most of the population. Most people only talk or dream of actually working on projects, and never actually do anything with it.

Thanks! Your kind words are much appreciated.

I sometimes have the wrong kind of determination. I created a program for managing classified ads, a desktop database-backed app that integrated with Aldus (yes, that long ago) PageMaker. I did some stuff I'm proud of, including finagling my way into the booth with Aldus at MacWorld and posing for a picture with Guy Kawasaki (a hero of mine those days)...

And yes, I sold my software in Canada, the US, and even South America. But my pricing model was all wrong, I didn't grasp that the reason my competition charged 3-5x the amount that I charged (US$795) was that it cost so much to sell software at that time, the cost of ramen was irrelevant. It took me a while to figure this out. I think the turning point was when I looked out of my apartment window and realized that the bank had towed my car away.

Anyways, I had the persistence of a bull, but as the OP notes, a little flexibility would have gone a long way.

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