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I have never read a business plan or balance sheet

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Re: I have never read a business plan or balance sheet

#271

Post by WastingMyTime89 »

onion2k wrote: post #133
guynamedloren wrote: post #106

I’m surprised the YC application hasn’t been more of a focus in this discussion. The following questions are pulled from the application (perhaps an older version): What is your company going to make? Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making? What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it does…

These questions cover product description, value prop, market analysis, financial projections and more, all of which are the core of a “business plan”. There is a key difference though - none of the YC questions are about the planning bit of a business plan. None of them are about what you're going to do in the near term future. It's all about what you've done so far and where you believe you could be when you exit.…

There is very little short term detailed planning in an actual formal business plan. It remains very much at the strategic level and is mostly about your value proposition, your go-to market strategy and financial projections (which necessarily include market sizing). All of these things are actually part of the YC interview. I agree with OP that PG’s comment is somewhat disingenuous.

Re: I have never read a business plan or balance sheet

#275

Post by treis »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #258
viraptor wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PG knows how to write good content. This tweet was just-vague-enough that people can both claim he did and that he didn't and many other things and argue and explain the view, etc. He got engagement - maybe that's all it was about. Or maybe I'm wrong and it was a random tweet. But what I'm sure about is that if he wanted this to be an idea that's well communicated and important, it wouldn't be ambiguous like this.

So basically, it's flamebait? That'd be a pretty disappointing circumstance. I don't know pg but the HN brand is certainly to rise above stating disinformation to start arguments and drive engagement. I guess maybe that's what Twitter is for, but then maybe the mods should stop that sort of thing leaking to HN ... Any chance you're mistaken?

One of PGs things is if you're default dead or default alive. So even if he has never literally read a balance sheet he cares about the information in it.

Re: I have never read a business plan or balance sheet

#276

Post by pfortuny »

tener wrote: post #190
pfortuny wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a teacher, I would rather examine my students orally. Shorter and to the point. Much fairer. In that sense, what he says is normal.

Fair? Some people do much better in writing due to anxiety etc.

Oh, no: you take that into account obviously.

Re: I have never read a business plan or balance sheet

#277

Post by throwaway1777 »

tener wrote: post #190
pfortuny wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a teacher, I would rather examine my students orally. Shorter and to the point. Much fairer. In that sense, what he says is normal.

Fair? Some people do much better in writing due to anxiety etc.

If you have so much anxiety you can’t pitch your idea and tell someone who you are you aren’t gonna make it as a founder unless you have a cofounder who can carry you.

Re: I have never read a business plan or balance sheet

#278

Post by mbesto »

ignoramous wrote: post #180
austenallred wrote: post #159

Seems like a lot of people are missing the point of this one. PG/YC invest at the earliest stages. The information they need is pretty much: 1. What are you doing? 2. Do people like it? 3. How big is the market? 4. What are you/team like? Could you cover all of those in a formal business plan? Sure, but you can also do so in a short-form application that's 1/20 the length or in a 10-minute back-and-forth conversation…

Gotcha. YC Continuity, otoh, surely evaluates go-to-market / business plan?

PG also said in his thread that he never reads pitch decks.

YC Continuity and similar follow-on investors are 100% reading pitch decks which have projections, financials, etc.

Re: I have never read a business plan or balance sheet

#279

Post by [deleted] »

csee wrote: post #229
majani wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And assertive. No ifs, buts or maybes

That's tied in with the need to be succinct. Expressing uncertainty often adds verbosity and cognitive load onto the reader. Often it also adds redundancy, given that uncertainty should be taken for granted in certain contexts. Note that in these last two sentences, the word "often" added verbosity, which is an example of what I am talking about. If someone is just expressing their opinion, I don't like to read a bun…

[deleted]

Re: I have never read a business plan or balance sheet

#280

Post by jordanpg »

prea wrote: post #247

Am I missing something? What's the point of the tweet other than to elicit a reaction? And then in the replies: 'I CAN'T BELIEVE I ELICITED A REACTION!.

Because it's Paul Graham, who's a very rich and wise venture capitalist, over whose musings people who also want to be very rich and wise venture capitalists someday, must fawn and nod their heads and agree with, as if he has said something very profound.

Is this tweet wise and profound? Obviously not. Is there a kernel of useful information buried in there? Barely. As you said, is the purpose really just to elicit a reaction? Obviously, yes.

These kinds of remarks remind me of people who used to brag about getting good grades despite not doing the reading or homework, as if that's a virtue.

They're not harmless, because plenty of people will take away from this the idea that you don't need to do research on things, in general. Because Paul Graham is very rich and wise and he said so.

It's dumb fortune cookie wisdom, like so many of his wise and profound edgy, contrarian viewpoints.

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