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How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

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Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#21

Post by RaySharma »

aneth wrote: post #19
dotBen wrote: post #8

Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most…

I think an entrepreneur who can't scrap up $500 for lunch if they believed it would help them succeed is unlikely to be much of a success. You must have some marketable skill and ability to make money with that skill....

what if he's already denied you?

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#22

Post by jayphelps »

RaySharma wrote: post #21
aneth wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think an entrepreneur who can't scrap up $500 for lunch if they believed it would help them succeed is unlikely to be much of a success. You must have some marketable skill and ability to make money with that skill....

what if he's already denied you?

This lunch isn't an investor meeting. It's a chance to have some food and chat about start-ups in general or general advice on your own. I'm fairly certain there is no implied chance of funding. After all, this is for charity.

That's not to say if if your idea is freaking amazing or you two click, he isn't ABLE to fund you. The chance is slim, but maybe just slightly more then meeting him on the street since he'll listen to what you have to say since your money is going to a good cause.

Either way, bid. The chance to meet him alone is worth $500 in my book.

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#24

Post by [deleted] »

cperciva wrote: post #2

1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US Ok, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Who the hell goes across the country compiling a list of the top ten nursery schools ? I'm not convinced that such ratings are useful for universities, never mind high schools or lower tiers of education. The concept of a top-ten list of preschools just blows my mind. (I still think it's great that PG is contributing to this in such…

[deleted]

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#25

Post by j_baker »

cperciva wrote: post #9
ibejoeb wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite exper…

I'm sure early education is very important, yes. But ranking universities is much easier than ranking preschools, for the simple reason that universities are big and few in number while preschools are small and plentiful.

On the other hand, you don't have much educational data after university. You have 12 years of it after preschool.

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#26

Post by lifeisstillgood »

Eduis wrote: post #13
ibejoeb wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite exper…

Kudos for PG opening another channel for people to talk to a guru. Even if it's a purchased avenue, that can't hurt in the long run. But on ranking preschools...? That seems to be a stretch. All you parents out there, feel free to correct me. But my vague recollection of preschool consists of running around a playground, finger painting, and a nap.

That was college surely? :-)

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#27

Post by anthonyb »

Eduis wrote: post #13
ibejoeb wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite exper…

Kudos for PG opening another channel for people to talk to a guru. Even if it's a purchased avenue, that can't hurt in the long run. But on ranking preschools...? That seems to be a stretch. All you parents out there, feel free to correct me. But my vague recollection of preschool consists of running around a playground, finger painting, and a nap.

You obviously didn't go to one of the top ten preschools then :)

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#28

Post by brk »

dotBen wrote: post #8

Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most…

You're assuming that all startup founders come from the poor-recent-college-grad pool.

I'm working on an idea (applied to this round of YC but didn't make the cut), and the primary thing I need/want from YC is the mentoring and connections. Funding-wise, the $15K or so they'd invest wouldn't shift the needle of my personal finances one bit. I saw this post and briefly considered the idea of bidding, and then flying out from Boston for lunch if I won.

I am not saying this to brag about the fact that I don't necessarily need $15K. I am saying it because it is important to recognize that not every startup founder is in the same or age income bracket.

You are also confusing or blurring the line between YC and pg. Paul would likely be able to dispense valuable advice and offer insight and perspective on the current VC trends to a wide variety of startup founders, including those that are in the mid-30's with some experience and an idea. As I write this, it occurs to me that perhaps the people who CAN spend $500 on a lunch may be the types who would need or want some kind of advice on an entry path to the game since they can't follow the live cheap and eat ramen path.

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#29

Post by fleitz »

mahmud wrote: post #10
ibejoeb wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite exper…

You're both off-topic and dead wrong. Don't you know there are tons of successful people who taught themselves everything from basic literacy to advanced sciences later in their life? Not even talking about "late bloomers", rather, people who lived illiterate well into their teens and twenties. How do you explain this ability to learn?

Yup, not to mention that there is more value in 'How to win friends and influence people' than in most 4 year degrees.

Friends of mine joined the accounting club at their university because it had the best hockey pool.

So they end up at the end of the year invited to some wine and cheese thing where the guys from KPMG, et al, are talent scouting. Being the accounting club they are hanging out with a bunch of wall flowers. Started chatting with the guys from KPMG and at the end of the event they all have job offers, so my friend finally says we'd love to accept but we're english majors, they say, don't worry, if you really need to learn accounting we'll pay you to go take it.

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#30

Post by geden »

cperciva wrote: post #2

1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US Ok, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Who the hell goes across the country compiling a list of the top ten nursery schools ? I'm not convinced that such ratings are useful for universities, never mind high schools or lower tiers of education. The concept of a top-ten list of preschools just blows my mind. (I still think it's great that PG is contributing to this in such…

It's probably not the ideal thread, but this pushed me over the edge on education.

The current education system is a dire sad long term problem that is writing off a large portion of society. I believe something more sensitive and human can grow out of it.

Ken Robinson talks super lucidly about the destruction of creativity in children and the wider problems in schooling. That's great and the problem is now quite well defined. But we now need enlightened individuals to step up with solutions. We need to recognise it's the core problem humanity faces. We can't solve hard problems like energy and environmental degradation without first tackling the social problems perpetuated by Victorian schooling.

Someone with a bunch of cash needs to step up and help get the ball rolling.

- Define the desired outcome (ie. providing space and nurturing for the expression of individual talent)

- Pick the best parts of the existing schooling methods/models (Victorian / Steiner / Montessori / Summerhill / Home Schooling)

- Roll it out. Iterate. Recognise that educational needs are unique and change constantly.

- People will come. I'm a parent of three kids. Almost all our friends (especially teachers!) would run at something - if relatively large scale and supported.

Contact me if interested - maybe it's a startup! I'm really surprised there isn't more concerted action in this space.

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