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What We Look for in Founders

paulgraham.com

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Re: What We Look for in Founders

#141

Post by [deleted] »

hugh3 wrote: post #101
BrandonM wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...…

[deleted]

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#142

Post by BrandonM »

JimboOmega wrote: post #117
BrandonM wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

As my story goes, I met someone about 6 months into my year-long startup experiment. As luck would have it, she had relevant skills... and she did help a lot with my startup, but not on the level of a co-founder. She isn't that interested in cleaning up the existing mess and the subject matter and targeted audience don't really interest her. That startup sort of burned out, for reasons not worth going into. If we cou…

That's excellent! So why did you say having a co-founder is the hardest part? Surely there's some way you can help the world doing something that interests the both of you.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#143

Post by sbisker »

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 "beating" is fundamentally different than "hacking." I view hacking as more of an act of creativity, or at the very worst an act of defiance. "Beating" implies that someone has been "beat"; there's a winner and a loser. "Hacking" a system can just as easily be a win-win.

It just requires a certain amount of "ballsiness" in putting yourself out there to try to change something that already exists, and a certain amount of opportunism in recognizing when things can be done differently without violating rules/personal ethics/the law.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#144

Post by ig1 »

chegra wrote: post #83

It is pretty hard to change who you are at the core. But the thing about it is that you have your own way of succeeding. You see at some point in life, you more than likely have succeeded. Instead of determination, you have passion. Instead of flexibility, you are a perfectionist. Instead of imagination, you can communicate well. Instead of being naughty, you are efficient. Instead of a partner, you are well connecte…

I imagine if you build something cool and get traction, YC will consider you even as a single founder.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#145

Post by msg »

ptn wrote: post #112

pg: would you show an example of an impressive answer to the question about hacking a system to one's advantage?

How about Dick Hamming's thing at Bell Labs about crediting programming help in scientific papers? (from You and Your Research)

I also did a second thing. When I loaned what little programming power we had to help in the early days of computing, I said, "We are not getting the recognition for our programmers that they deserve. When you publish a paper you will thank that programmer or you aren't getting any more help from me. That programmer is going to be thanked by name; she's worked hard." I waited a couple of years. I then went through a year of BSTJ articles and counted what fraction thanked some programmer. I took it into the boss and said, "That's the central role computing is playing in Bell Labs; if the BSTJ is important, that's how important computing is." He had to give in. You can educate your bosses. It's a hard job. In this talk I'm only viewing from the bottom up; I'm not viewing from the top down. But I am telling you how you can get what you want in spite of top management. You have to sell your ideas there also.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#146

Post by zbruhnke »

araneae wrote: post #6

I have a pretty good friend on here that has The Best answer to the "hacked" question, and I would never, ever be co-founders with him because he's impossible. There's often a trade-off between "naughtiness" and "friendship."

How do you define good answer to that question? I have thought about that question (probably more than any other) over and over again since filling it out. Mine was about something fairly early in my learning of systems, but it was something that some could consider a bad thing.

My Dad owns a wholesale fence company and when the fire and police dept wanted to rewrite the fire code for gated neighborhoods they wanted to do something different EDIT: By code, obviously I mean as in LAW, not as in programming, my Dad being a fenceman is obviously not a programmer lol. So they came to my Dad and asked him to help a write a forward thinking code for the city, what they eventually settled on was an RFID card system where every police and fire dept vehicle has a card which constantly emits a signal that opens the gate of any neighborhood which has this reciever (it is mandatory for the two parishes nearest to us). So being young (13) and new to programming at the time (this was almost 10 years ago) I decided to try to reverse engineer one of the cards. I took it apart piece by piece looked at the programming software they were using and eventually (after much tinkering) made my own card.

Obviously this is highly illegal and so I was slightly worried about putting it on there, but I also thought it showed characteristics of curiosity and a will to find a better way... In case you are wondering, yes, i still get into any gated house or subdivision in a two parish radius without hassle :P lol

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#148

Post by addoway »

I am firm believer that if you know you are going to succeed, then you will no matter what you are working on. It might not be your current project and it might not be the next, but it will come. You need the right energy, positive attitude, and patience.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#149

Post by netcan »

chegra wrote: post #83

It is pretty hard to change who you are at the core. But the thing about it is that you have your own way of succeeding. You see at some point in life, you more than likely have succeeded. Instead of determination, you have passion. Instead of flexibility, you are a perfectionist. Instead of imagination, you can communicate well. Instead of being naughty, you are efficient. Instead of a partner, you are well connecte…

I think you're right. Don't wait for things to be perfect before building.

OTOH, pursuing most of these things is probably a good thing for general reasons. Hacking some non software thing, if you do not tend to do that sort of thing will probably benefit your thinking. Making friends is obviously good for you too.

Re: What We Look for in Founders

#150

Post by dstein »

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…

Yeah, I hope they don't really put a lot of emphasis on it. I submitted my application about an hour before the deadline and couldn't really think of anything at the time. But later I thought of a bunch of better things I could've put down.
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