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> I went on a quick search to see if such a thing as "Winner's guilt" exists, and while it does appear to be a thing to some extent, I found not studies on it in a larger context. That's because it's called survivor's guilt.
Such a real thing, and I wonder how related it is to imposter syndrome.
I can't speak to "most founders", but those who have impacted me the most (like Jimmy Treybig) or even my own experience ... I have not found this to be true. Maybe I just need to get out more...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interestingly, 30-50 people is the standard range given for 'band societies', the most basic pre-agricultural group. That's been cited as a problem with Dunbar's number, but most people seem to think it's just another major "natural group size" among many. Dunbar has also cited 5 and 15 people as rough 'rings' to which we devote disproportionate amounts of our socialization time. I have a bit of trouble judging how F…
You might have 30 people who live together; but even just to avoid inbreeding, their social milieu would likely include a handful of other bands with nearby territory. Thus any given persons social ties could very reasonably number in the low 3 figures.
Lieberman ought to more than I do, but his argument that "150 connections" can't be selected for because pre-agricultural bands were smaller seems ridiculous. Most fundamentally, because 150 doesn't have to be directly selected for; it's a consequence of working memory that might be valued for unrelated reasons. But more directly, because "bands of 30-50" is not "only knowing 30-50 people". Bands were usually extended family groups, so the value of maintaining personal relationships outside of those groups is obvious.
Honestly, the best I can work out is that Lieberman is a few decades out of date on his understanding of how pre-agricultural groups interacted.
I have felt this too and it turns out I leave my startups around 200 people -- when I can no longer remember everybody's name instantly. (but where's the line? I worked with a guy who wouldn't work for a company of more than a dozen people. I've looked at his linkedin over the years and indeed he worked for some phenomenal startups...but always left when the started to grow).
Why does it matter? If your startup has 12 or 200 people, it has lots of clients and vendors who you aren't friends with, just like people in a different org in a large company.
The other part is that it's a company (a group of people) not just a corporation; while I am friendly with some clients and vendors (ones I worked on, either old ones or major ones) when we happen to hit it off, it's not the same as the company of people.