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Are you building a company, or your credentials?

geofflewis.org

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Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#11

Post by jonnathanson »

I question what the relentless seeker of credentials is trying to achieve. Not just here, but in general. If life is an infinite set of boxes to be checked, what's the point of it all?

It seems our society places an unduly large value on achievement, rather than accomplishment. The point of going to a top school is to say you've gone to a top school. The point of working at McKinsey or Goldman is to put it on your resume. The point of being on the board of X is to get onto the board of Y. And so forth. This is the cold, seldom-questioned bargain of achievement. It is a paint-by-numbers approach to success, and it certainly guarantees its devout adherant a substantial degree of material comfort. But at what cost? And is there an end goal? Or is life simply a contest to see who can build the most prestigious obituary?

I, for one, hope and trust that YC is able to sniff out the achievers from the accomplishers, and to select the latter. It is the latter who build great companies. The former make fantastic lawyers, consultants, and bankers.

Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#12

Post by geofflewis »

jonnathanson wrote: post #11

I question what the relentless seeker of credentials is trying to achieve. Not just here, but in general. If life is an infinite set of boxes to be checked, what's the point of it all? It seems our society places an unduly large value on achievement, rather than accomplishment. The point of going to a top school is to say you've gone to a top school. The point of working at McKinsey or Goldman is to put it on your re…

Completely agree.

Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#13

Post by vasco »

jonnathanson wrote: post #11

I question what the relentless seeker of credentials is trying to achieve. Not just here, but in general. If life is an infinite set of boxes to be checked, what's the point of it all? It seems our society places an unduly large value on achievement, rather than accomplishment. The point of going to a top school is to say you've gone to a top school. The point of working at McKinsey or Goldman is to put it on your re…

"Or is life simply a contest to see who can build the most prestigious obituary?"

Life is what you make of it. If checking boxes doesn't make you happy, don't do it.

Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#14

Post by alexhaefner »

This is common, it's somewhat frustrating, but I've found that my way to deal with it has been to let others pad their credentials. It's a waste of time for me to worry about, it would be like worrying about the weather day-to-day when the issue is really climate change. i.e. this is a cultural problem that cannot be solved on a micro level.

We really want to build and sell stuff that our team has built, it's not about my ego, it's not about the self, we just want to build cool things that people want to use. I have had some very deep conversations with the person I work with and we relate in the sense that we don't care for this incessant ego-building that goes on in the world and especially around college. It doesn't serve you well in a lot of cases to have a large ego. Of course that's an over simplification, but the egos are rampant at college and I don't want anything to do with it.

Let them pad their credentials, while you go build something great and don't give a shit about that.

Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#15

Post by oskarth »

jonnathanson wrote: post #11

I question what the relentless seeker of credentials is trying to achieve. Not just here, but in general. If life is an infinite set of boxes to be checked, what's the point of it all? It seems our society places an unduly large value on achievement, rather than accomplishment. The point of going to a top school is to say you've gone to a top school. The point of working at McKinsey or Goldman is to put it on your re…

There's a great quote pertaining to this:

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." - Lily Tomlin

Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#16

Post by fleitz »

alaskamiller wrote: post #8

Getting into and surviving top notch elite business schools requires a whole lot of credentials. The guys and gals that spent their lives accrediting themselves with clubs, sports, extracurriculars now want to join in on the entrepreneur revolution David Fincher crafted for them. To do so they're applying their way of "success" to this new field. Because that's all they know. And as long as there's money, there'll be…

The real life equivalent is selling MBAs study guides or coaching seminars for their YC application.

Put together an e-book and then buy some ad words, the CPC for a Y combinator application is currently estimated at 10 cents per click.

Sell the book for $97 with a 30 day money back guarantee if they don't get accepted.

Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#17

Post by jonnathanson »

vasco wrote: post #13
jonnathanson wrote: post #11

I question what the relentless seeker of credentials is trying to achieve. Not just here, but in general. If life is an infinite set of boxes to be checked, what's the point of it all? It seems our society places an unduly large value on achievement, rather than accomplishment. The point of going to a top school is to say you've gone to a top school. The point of working at McKinsey or Goldman is to put it on your re…

"Or is life simply a contest to see who can build the most prestigious obituary?" Life is what you make of it. If checking boxes doesn't make you happy, don't do it.

"If checking boxes doesn't make you happy, don't do it."

What I'm asking is whether checking boxes really makes anyone happy. I mean, truly happy.

Don't get me wrong; I went through a lengthy box-checking phase that lasted about 20 years. Checking a given box made me happy only until the next box appeared on the horizon. The whole thing seemed like a cosmic treadmill.

I think there's something admirable in the sheer work ethic and determination required to check the top boxes. But at the same time, I wonder whether that effort couldn't be spent on something more worthwhile -- such as defining oneself on one's own terms, rather than by a weird chiaroscuro of ideals hit and missed.

Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#19

Post by petercooper »

Like in most things, I think there's a healthy "middle way." Solely chasing credentials all of your life isn't wise, but targeting well chosen credentials is a way to unlock hard-to-open doors. Writing a book for a mainstream publisher, for example, was once a great way to make a splash in an industry (less so now, but still).

I think the key is to know, in advance, why you are chasing certain things and to use those "credentials" on a route to something more fulfilling. For better or worse, we carry our histories around with us, and if the choice is between twiddling thumbs and adding another accolade to the collection, it's tempting. Once something genuine comes along, however, you need to jump on it.

Re: Are you building a company, or your credentials?

#20

Post by alaskamiller »

fleitz wrote: post #16
alaskamiller wrote: post #8

Getting into and surviving top notch elite business schools requires a whole lot of credentials. The guys and gals that spent their lives accrediting themselves with clubs, sports, extracurriculars now want to join in on the entrepreneur revolution David Fincher crafted for them. To do so they're applying their way of "success" to this new field. Because that's all they know. And as long as there's money, there'll be…

The real life equivalent is selling MBAs study guides or coaching seminars for their YC application. Put together an e-book and then buy some ad words, the CPC for a Y combinator application is currently estimated at 10 cents per click. Sell the book for $97 with a 30 day money back guarantee if they don't get accepted.

I can tell you're a hustler.
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