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Most people won't

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Re: Most people won't

#51

Post by klochner »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #36
spodek wrote: post #17

Everybody so far is commenting on the woman who approached the CEO. Let's not forget the CEO, who committed and risked resources on a hunch or instinct or who-knows-what. If I had to pick one of the two to ask how they had the nerve to act and to learn from, I'd pick him. (Of course I'd prefer both and not to belittle her gumption and skills to back it up). - What did he see to suggest risking those resources? ... To…

The thing that is most fascinating, is that she basically said, "I like your idea, but your execution sucks". That is the pinnacle of the most painful thing to hear, but the CEO took it in stride and made his product better. That is the lesson I am going to take away. Ideas matter, but if execution is the thing you can change, then embrace the people that tell you your execution sucks and have ideas.

I'm embarrassed that I even know this, but she used a standard pickup tactic[1,2], popularized by the book "the game".

[1] http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=neg

[2] http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/voices/2012/05/negging-lat...

Re: Most people won't

#52

Post by kamaal »

WalterBright wrote: post #10
md224 wrote: post #3

I've been kind of struggling lately with this sort of inspirational attitude. It seems like a good attitude, but it also comes with this hidden assumption: if you try hard and keep at it, there's a good chance you'll succeed. Is this actually true? I mean I want it to be true. I'd like to live in a world where it's true. But I don't actually have any hard evidence besides the testimonials of people who have found suc…

The failure rate for those who don't try is 100%.

Only in perfect cases.

There are plenty of places where a person can BS the whole day, build gangs, do no productive work for years and yet take away a fat salary, get travel opportunities, big bonus and manage to get routinely promoted.

Its called politics, and luck.

Such people win more often than the hard working ones.

Re: Most people won't

#53

Post by ericabiz »

ritchiea wrote: post #29

Great story. That's really the right way to get a new job, tell the CEO of a company exactly how you can help her/his company. And smart of the Uber CEO to listen to her. That said it really helps if you're already hanging around at a party with a CEO of a big, in the news, growing startup and thus have insider access to tell him exactly what you think after a few drinks.

> That said it really helps if you're already hanging around at a party with a CEO of a big, in the news, growing startup and thus have insider access to tell him exactly what you think after a few drinks.

Sigh.

I know Travis personally. I met him years ago, before Uber was even a twinkle in his eye, and he was running his last company, Red Swoosh.

There's no "insider" here. I graduated high school, turned 18, and moved to the Valley in 1999. I stayed there for the next 10 years. My parents are not technical and I'm from a small town in Indiana.

I did not get a college degree and I did not go to a prestigious university. I knew no one when I moved there. Eventually, years later, as the startup community coalesced and we all recovered from the pit of despair that was 2001-2002 in the Valley, people started having parties.

I went to socialize. I met many of the "heavy hitters" you see today. And I built a successful tech company with many of them as customers.

Yeah, the articles love to talk about Stanford grads and whatnot. Maybe they had it easier than me. I don't know. What I do know is I came out there with nothing but guts and a car (that literally exploded on me a year later) and...most importantly...no belief that I couldn't succeed or that I wouldn't make it.

It does take guts to pack your shit and sleep on the floor for a while, but eventually it does pay off. I'm running my second successful tech company now, this time in Austin, where again I know most of the folks in the startup community. Not because I'm some sort of "insider", but just because I went out there and met everyone, and I asked them for advice.

There's nothing stopping you, or anyone else reading this, from doing the same. Can't afford a ticket to the Valley, or don't want to deal with immigration laws? Find a booming startup metropolis somewhere else and get to know the people there. Startups are global now and it's a beautiful thing. But don't buy into the negative media hype.

Re: Most people won't

#54

Post by hrktb »

spodek wrote: post #17

Everybody so far is commenting on the woman who approached the CEO. Let's not forget the CEO, who committed and risked resources on a hunch or instinct or who-knows-what. If I had to pick one of the two to ask how they had the nerve to act and to learn from, I'd pick him. (Of course I'd prefer both and not to belittle her gumption and skills to back it up). - What did he see to suggest risking those resources? ... To…

Agreed. In a way, this could mean the CEO was already aware of a need to change, but needed people caring enough to try a different approach and this woman did the right thing at the right time. Another way to put it: if she didn't walk to hime he could have gone to some independant product guy/girl the next week or month to rethink the design. [1]

When asking to work for a company, there is always the tension between the company needing one's input (in other words, their product really suck in some way) and the company willing and being able to act on the input. The OP's story flashed back the other stories of the designer that went to Google to bring some design expertise and just dropped the ball because it was an endless uphill battle.

[1] Of course, the other way round, if she's a freelance designer invited to award ceremonies and walks at CEOs pitching ideas to improve their companies, she'll eventually find work I think.

Re: Most people won't

#55

Post by namank »

sitkack wrote: post #50
namank wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. She qualified herself by saying: 1. she uses it all the time. 2. she hates it. As a founder, I am always looking for that combination in my users. The bonus was offering herself as the solution. I'll venture that his decision was made even before she finished the sentence.

But I don't want to fix Air BnB's problems, I want to see them die in fire. I use it all the time, but I can't resist the urge to work there and burn the place to ground.

Why?

Re: Most people won't

#56

Post by ritchiea »

ericabiz wrote: post #53
ritchiea wrote: post #29

Great story. That's really the right way to get a new job, tell the CEO of a company exactly how you can help her/his company. And smart of the Uber CEO to listen to her. That said it really helps if you're already hanging around at a party with a CEO of a big, in the news, growing startup and thus have insider access to tell him exactly what you think after a few drinks.

> That said it really helps if you're already hanging around at a party with a CEO of a big, in the news, growing startup and thus have insider access to tell him exactly what you think after a few drinks. Sigh. I know Travis personally. I met him years ago, before Uber was even a twinkle in his eye, and he was running his last company, Red Swoosh. There's no "insider" here. I graduated high school, turned 18, and mo…

I am happy for you. It sounds like you've worked hard and done some great stuff. That said I have no idea what your reply has to do with my comment. The anecdote in the parent is a story about an ex-IDEO employee encountering a big name startup CEO at private tech industry party. Noting that there's a high level of insiderness in the anecdotes doesn't mean that it is not possible to accomplish a great deal without first becoming an insider.

Really your short bio of your self makes a better "most people won't" anecdote than the original post.

I don't think my comment was overly cynical. I don't mean to tell anyone they are incapable of accomplishing things and I definitely don't believe that you have to start out privileged to make an impact on the world.

Re: Most people won't

#58

Post by greendata »

Great story. Uber sounds like a wonderful place to work at. To those commenting that this is a BS self-empowerment article, I disagree. The founder probably knew that these design issues were a problem.

A competent designer gave a criticism and a solution. She was offered a job if she could fix the issues. Seems like a story of hard work by a good designer and team who displayed a dedication to their craft. Show up, work hard, and don't be afraid to pitch your ideas you believe in.

Re: Most people won't

#59

Post by batiudrami »

spodek wrote: post #17

Everybody so far is commenting on the woman who approached the CEO. Let's not forget the CEO, who committed and risked resources on a hunch or instinct or who-knows-what. If I had to pick one of the two to ask how they had the nerve to act and to learn from, I'd pick him. (Of course I'd prefer both and not to belittle her gumption and skills to back it up). - What did he see to suggest risking those resources? ... To…

The 'three things' she suggested aren't exactly ones that inspire confidence in her abilities either. "What are three things you'd fix?" "Oh...the logo and, uh, all of it, really. And the ratings system".
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