Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
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Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#2That's a very Kate Courteau picture incidentally. She's our architect, and is the reason YC looks so distinctive. It's hard to get simple right, but she does.
Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#3" If a place has really good food, it can be in an obscure location, charge a lot, and have really bad service, and it will still be popular. If it has bad food, boy, it better do something really special to get anybody in there."
The "special" can be "location". Food on the NJ Turnpike (or similar) is an example of a captive market where quality of food is not the key ingredient but landing the contract and being merely acceptable can still be very profitable.
Likewise being in Times Square, if you can afford the rent, can be profitable because you are not worried about repeat business but simply grabbing the tourists that will only be a customer one time.
Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#4"He is brilliant and hilariously funny."
How is being hilariously funny an advantage in terms of working for YC?
Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#5"He is brilliant and hilariously funny." How is being hilariously funny an advantage in terms of working for YC?
Presumably being likable is important when you're trying to make business deals. Plus, if you are doing well and earning more money that is necessary, you can probably afford to optimize for other things, like enjoying the people you work with.
Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#6With hands in pocket he has not been captured mid motion. He is therefore purposefully guarding entrance into the "Y". The blue exit door is for anyone who cannot answer his questions three.
Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#7"He is brilliant and hilariously funny." How is being hilariously funny an advantage in terms of working for YC?
That's actually a very interesting question. I've noticed for a while that the people who are best at giving advice to startups tend to be funny. It's not a job where it would be good to be the humorless variety of smart. I think the reason is not that being funny is important per se, but that being funny and having good ideas about startups are so similar that it's impossible to find one without the other.
Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#8That's a very Kate Courteau picture incidentally. She's our architect, and is the reason YC looks so distinctive. It's hard to get simple right, but she does.
I would love to have a high-res version of that.
If you're in a Q/A mood, I'm curious: When you start to see one of the YC batch companies struggling... what does an intervention look like?
Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#9"He is brilliant and hilariously funny." How is being hilariously funny an advantage in terms of working for YC?
That's actually a very interesting question. I've noticed for a while that the people who are best at giving advice to startups tend to be funny. It's not a job where it would be good to be the humorless variety of smart. I think the reason is not that being funny is important per se, but that being funny and having good ideas about startups are so similar that it's impossible to find one without the other.
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Re: Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth
#10"He is brilliant and hilariously funny." How is being hilariously funny an advantage in terms of working for YC?
That's actually a very interesting question. I've noticed for a while that the people who are best at giving advice to startups tend to be funny. It's not a job where it would be good to be the humorless variety of smart. I think the reason is not that being funny is important per se, but that being funny and having good ideas about startups are so similar that it's impossible to find one without the other.
Would add that humor to me is linked to being liked which is important in getting people to do what you want them to do or listen to you..
And being liked is related to at least two things [1]. One is having lots of people who want to be around you which can be an advantage (you can get people to help you and do things for you it's like being the "pretty" girl).
Of course it can also be a big distraction (you are funny and people want to spend time with you so you are less inclined to stay in side and study or hack at something).
In terms of someone listening to you humor is like an anesthetic that puts people at ease and makes them more inclined to at least hear you out (that is if they don't take you as being a complete goofball). And perhaps the mental state that a good joke puts them in makes it less likely that they will be defensive and opens them up. (An example is my wife who I can never get mad at because she is always following up with humor to anything that goes wrong.)
I could also stretch and add that being funny provides social proof since the group as a whole likes or appears to like the funny person giving advice.
[1] Strictly my observations over time.