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What We Look for in Founders

paulgraham.com

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Re: What We Look for in Founders

#101

Post by hugh3 »

BrandonM wrote: post #80
Andrew_Quentin wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How awesome would that be if I could just believe that I am the King of England and so become it.

In his article, PG was describing personal qualities, as opposed to external qualities (with something of an exception in the case of the cofounder item). In the case of most personality traits, if you want that trait and actually try your best to exhibit it, then "you believe it, you become it," is pretty accurate. If you want to procrastinate less and right away you begin to finish things that you've been putting o…

I don't know, there's too much room for self-delusion.

It's easier for an unimaginative person to convince themselves that they're imaginative than for an imaginative person to actually become imaginative. The illusion that you're King of England can't be maintained for long. The illusion that you're good-looking can be maintained for a little longer. The illusion that you're determined, imaginative and... naughty... can be maintained pretty easily.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#102

Post by MrFlibble »

JimboOmega wrote: post #2

That fifth item, like the post originally mentioning as something that dooms startups, gets me every time. Having a solid co-founder seems to be the hardest part, and honestly, it helps with all the others. It helps you be more flexible since two people can see things more ways. Gives you more imagination by the same route. It helps you be more determined since one can pull the other up if he/she gets too demoralized…

Marketing is crucial indeed. It irks me to no end that so many have faith in the "If we build it they will come" business model. Word of mouth only goes so far. You can have the best site in the entire world but if nobody knows about it you will fail.

While there are numerous companies doing variants of most ideas out there, more often than not it is the one with the most market visibility who ultimately gains traction, even if that product is less impressive than the competition.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#103

Post by ramanujan »

BrandonM wrote: post #78
JimboOmega wrote: post #2

That fifth item, like the post originally mentioning as something that dooms startups, gets me every time. Having a solid co-founder seems to be the hardest part, and honestly, it helps with all the others. It helps you be more flexible since two people can see things more ways. Gives you more imagination by the same route. It helps you be more determined since one can pull the other up if he/she gets too demoralized…

> I'm also surprised that none of these points mention marketing - an ability to sell something seems vital in getting a startup going. I agree. One of the best assets for a good founder with tech-skills is a business/marketing founder. She can keep the ball rolling on the business things that would halt or slow software development, and during development she can be out discussing the product with potential customer…

You probably don't want to do that. A new relationship is a green sprig which must be carefully tended, not an oak tree capable of bearing heavy load.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#105

Post by btilly »

Keyframe wrote: post #37
scott_s wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 concerne…

Accountants don't get involved until the company makes enough money to need an accountant. Actually, here in Croatia every form of company is obliged by law to have a licensed accountant (working for them or contract). You can't do your own paperwork - and TBH I wouldn't want to, it is too much liability if something goes wrong when filing papers.

And that fact would constitute a major drag on ever developing a startup culture.

See http://www.paulgraham.com/america.html for some of the other ones.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#106

Post by sstoneii »

The "hacking the system" question on the application was probably the hardest one for me. While nothing just sticks out in my mind of hacking something I would say that I do and accomplish what most people can't do on a daily basis. In dealing with people; a smile always helps, the right attitude and disposition can start a movement, and looking at things from a "how could I fail?" point of view ALWAYS changes the rules of what a so called deal breaker is.

example: When I applied to college in 1999 I was accepted right away however my parents made entirely too much money for me to get adequate loans and grant money. So I used my graduation money from HS and had my parents to pack up all must stuff and drive me down to the financial aid office(425 miles away). After a bit of sincere "asking" and explaining the situation I was in. VIOLA!!! Money started raining on my college dream. Saying all that to say I was a good looking kid, with a personality you had to see (because writing does not convey everything), and had I not been determined to have them tell me no to my face I would have never attended that school. Did I hack anything? By no means...did I use what I had to have the circumstances in my favor? Absolutely!

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#107

Post by robg »

portman wrote: post #98
robg wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were Woz and Jobs "friends"? Don't Page and Brin claim explicitly they weren't? It seems more like the shared purpose brought those pairs closer together than where they started or where they would have ended up had they never worked together. That example of Viaweb helps clarify the distinction I'm thinking of. You guys were friends and so worked together despite differing convictions. But what of people who share a…

I don't know about Woz/Jobs, but Page/Brin were definitely friends when they started a company . They may not have been friends when they started collaborating on their first research project, but at the moment they were "co-founders", they had already become friends.

A lot had also changed by that point - namely they failed in selling the technology to Excite. Would they have stayed friends had they gotten the $1 million they wanted?

Shared trials make and break friendships.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#108

Post by HiroshiSan »

Wonderful post, I especially love the part about naughtiness, when it's time for me to apply to ycombinator I will share my little ninja hack that I used for about 2 months ;).

I didn't know about airbnb until now, thanks for introducing me to the site.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#109

Post by mrchess »

makeramen wrote: post #84

Huh, first thing I thought was "can I go back and change my answer to that 'describe something you hacked..' question?" There are so many ways to interpret that question from the way the worded it.

My thoughts exactly, I had no idea that that was the intention of that question especially since it had no context.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#110

Post by gcheong »

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…

I think a good example would be the way Randy Pausch "hacked" his way onto NASA's "vomit comet". There was a program for students and faculty were not allowed so he couldn't go as a teacher, but he scoured the rules and found out that press were allowed so he found a way to get a press pass. He didn't break any of the stated rules, just found a loophole he could squeeze through.
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