Inside PayPal (2010)
paulgraham.com
Inside PayPal (2010)
1–10 of 54 posts
Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#2Sounds like a great place to work. I wonder about the "young people with extraordinary ability" however. Surely they would have also succeeded with "older people with extraordinary ability"? (ok they probably would cost them more..)
Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#3Sounds like a great place to work. I wonder about the "young people with extraordinary ability" however. Surely they would have also succeeded with "older people with extraordinary ability"? (ok they probably would cost them more..)
I wouldn't want to work at a company with controversial business practices and "screw you we do what we want" attitude towards their customers, no matter what a great environment is inside.
Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#4Sounds like a great place to work. I wonder about the "young people with extraordinary ability" however. Surely they would have also succeeded with "older people with extraordinary ability"? (ok they probably would cost them more..)
I suspect that only young people can be that ruthlessly data-driven. Us older people tend to have experience that we're attached to, and a certain psychological resistance to the idea that the stuff we've been doing for most of our career was actually a waste of time.
Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#5Sounds like a great place to work. I wonder about the "young people with extraordinary ability" however. Surely they would have also succeeded with "older people with extraordinary ability"? (ok they probably would cost them more..)
I suspect that only young people can be that ruthlessly data-driven. Us older people tend to have experience that we're attached to, and a certain psychological resistance to the idea that the stuff we've been doing for most of our career was actually a waste of time.
I would say it depends on the person. I personally assume that how I did things in the past is no longer the state of the art and I always look towards younger engineers or outside resources to figure out the new best way, informing my decision based on mistakes of the past.
And if the data says I'm wrong, I trust it. I have no belief that I've already found the best solution.
Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#6Sounds like a great place to work. I wonder about the "young people with extraordinary ability" however. Surely they would have also succeeded with "older people with extraordinary ability"? (ok they probably would cost them more..)
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Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#7Reads the same as Netflix. Individuals empowered to make decisions and execute, at all levels of the organization.
With higher responsibility also comes the risk of exposing the company to situations that a more practised individual would know to avoid. It'd be interesting to hear about how these companies mitigate risk from their armies of ambitious underlings.
Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#8There is something nagging at me - it is something deep. It is that there has to be a set of values, a set of cultural red lines that we do not cross.
Every branch of the military will happily tick pretty much all of those "do it now, don't let anything stop you" boxes.
But every branch of the military has in place very deep redlines (sometimes expressed as rules of engagement, sometimes as "honour") - because they know the horrors of crossing those lines, with a "get it done at any cost attitude".)
Most humans have that ability to get things done, they just tend to work for organisations that don't reward it. And so the onus is on management (as ever). Build a culture that rewards innovation - but has some set of values that accepts some lines cannot be crossed.
Yes there is danger in retreating from the edge of chaos - but then we all live in Ming China. That is a better problem than going too far over the eve of chaos.
it's hard, for companies as well as societies.
Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#9Number 1 definitely. Focus is super important.
Second to this I’d put good hiring. I have seen companies that try to follow these models without rigorous recruiting or hiring processes. It results in a huge mess because management has these massive expectations but the people they hire just aren’t good enough. As a result, everyone gets demoralized
Re: Inside PayPal (2010)
#10Sounds like a great place to work. I wonder about the "young people with extraordinary ability" however. Surely they would have also succeeded with "older people with extraordinary ability"? (ok they probably would cost them more..)
I suspect that only young people can be that ruthlessly data-driven. Us older people tend to have experience that we're attached to, and a certain psychological resistance to the idea that the stuff we've been doing for most of our career was actually a waste of time.
It really depends on the person. I am in my late 30s and experience has taught me that there is a good chance the way I am working today will be obsolete tomorrow. As a manager I embrace this and encourage the people in my team to bring new ways of thinking and working. The kind of culture this creates encourages constant experimentation which ultimately leads to better results.