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Startup advice, briefly

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Startup advice, briefly

#31

Post by subdane »

kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

This is YC advice boiled down to its essential and most generalizable terms. Because it's general (applies to almost all their founders) it's also generic - the patterns matched across hundreds of humans. It leaves out the human toil, mistakes and doubt - but most importantly the emotions. It doesn't tell you why you should follow this advice. It doesn't show you what happened to the folks that did. It takes for granted its assumptions about what's valuable. Same for success.

It's the Cliff's notes for the YC ideology. So it could be the Cliff's notes part you find hollow, or it could be the YC ideology part you find hollow.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#32

Post by tomasien »

pan69 wrote: post #28
tomasien wrote: post #12

DON'T WORK WITH PEOPLE YOU HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT: I can not stress how dogmatically this should be adhered to enough.

This is probably the biggest piece of non-advice in the entire article. Feeling is bullshit. If I had followed this advice throughout my career... I've been introduced to people who I'd instantly hated but a weeks later had become my best mates and I've been introduced to people who I'd loved at first sight (oh, so social, funny and well spoken..) and they turned out to be completely useless. It often takes time to g…

It's not about first impressions - it's about people you have a bad feeling about but work with anyway because you assume it's going to be worth it. Don't do that. That's not what you're describing.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#34

Post by jqm »

pan69 wrote: post #28
tomasien wrote: post #12

DON'T WORK WITH PEOPLE YOU HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT: I can not stress how dogmatically this should be adhered to enough.

This is probably the biggest piece of non-advice in the entire article. Feeling is bullshit. If I had followed this advice throughout my career... I've been introduced to people who I'd instantly hated but a weeks later had become my best mates and I've been introduced to people who I'd loved at first sight (oh, so social, funny and well spoken..) and they turned out to be completely useless. It often takes time to g…

I think there is a difference between "liking" someone and "feeling good about them" (i.e. believing they will help advance your cause).

There are a lot of people I "like" who I wouldn't let within 10 miles of any working or financial endeavour. But great to have a beer with.

I've also noticed that when your priorities shift, so do your likes.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#35

Post by jqm »

ku5e wrote: post #33

Startup advice - make sure what you do is not something someone else does!

Or do it better to the point that someone else doing it doesn't matter? Google wasn't the first search engine after all....

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#36

Post by sama »

ryanSrich wrote: post #27
kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

With the risk of sounding ignorant I'm going to go out on a limb and say one of the biggest missing pieces for most people is financial security - or at least the availability of a safety net. Based on my experience there are four scenarios where someone could start a company: - You have financial support from someone (whether you're in college or have a spouse that makes a good income - probably the most common) - Y…

i'd thought about adding something about this but decided it's worth a full post.

i don't think you need very much of a cushion--i.e., 6 months of living expenses saved up is more than most founders have. but saving up a bit of money before starting a startup is definitely a great thing to do, and if you're an engineer willing to live cheaply, shouldn't take very long.

that said, startups are not the way to optimize for financial stability and not the right choice for everyone. if i had little money saved up and a family that depended on me, i'd choose being an engineer at a big company instead of starting a company until i felt i had some safety net in place.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#37

Post by bokonist »

kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

The issue is that you need to find an idea for a product, wherein 1) the product has the potential to generate tens of millions of dollars of value 2) the first, valuable, version of the product can be built in a couple man years. That is really, really hard to do. There are tens of thousands of smart, competent people searching for such ideas, working on such ideas.

If you want to make millions of dollars, if you want to make much more money than the average smart engineer, you need some secret. You need some idea or skill that happens to be the right thing at the right time. Nobody can tell you what that secret is. If Sam could tell you, it would not be a secret.

So you are right. There is something critical missing. What is missing is the actual secret, the actual idea that you have a unique insight into. But nobody can tell you what that will be.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#38

Post by abstractbill »

subdane wrote: post #31
kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

This is YC advice boiled down to its essential and most generalizable terms. Because it's general (applies to almost all their founders) it's also generic - the patterns matched across hundreds of humans. It leaves out the human toil, mistakes and doubt - but most importantly the emotions. It doesn't tell you why you should follow this advice. It doesn't show you what happened to the folks that did. It takes for gran…

A lot of YC's advice was not considered obvious when they started out (nearly ten years ago!).

If some of it seems generic and obvious now, that's because they've succeeded - more than anyone else - in discovering and sharing some actually repeatable strategies for building startups.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#39

Post by gandy »

d0m wrote: post #29
kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

The thing about startup advices is that even if you read it a hundred of time, it seems like you need to fuck it up at least once to really understand it.

I agree: Understanding something cognitively doesn't mean you've internalized it and can apply it. Even if you get ex ante insight from others, this can only partially help you because sometimes, you inevitably have to make mistakes yourself and learn only from breaking through your own sticking points.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#40

Post by DenisM »

kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

Making a startup is both an art and a science. The part which is purely "art", the bigger part, you will have to learn through actual doing, but the "science" part, the small part which yields repeatable results in isolated areas of the craft, is something you can also learn from others. Sam did a good job summarizing all of that which is known to YC to be repeatable.

If all of the article rings true and obvious, you're done reading, it's only doing from now on.

If it reads unclear, you should watch and read the supporting material.

If it all rings hollow and devoid of substance, you will, too, have to start doing. Eventually you will come to similar conclusions under your own power (which is why I called it "repeatable" - it repeats quite often), and then your reading history will make it easier for you to come to terms with your own experience.

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