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Six Degrees of YC Separation

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Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#11

Post by gav »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #4
kamac wrote: post #3

> Hiring people that have a track record of taking projects from inception to delivery and who actively seek out projects to own is critical Doesn't that regard the first few early hires (who'd take some form of senior/management positions later on)? For me a person who delivers projects means somebody who's very involved in the process; somebody that calls significant decisions about the product. Should all hires be…

I would go one step further and say if you have full of go getters, some might get bored when the inevitable “just execute the assigned tasks” work comes up. This is what I hear happening at Google a lot: they only hire A players, but many get bored (and eventually leave) when they are assigned B or C-level work that needs to get done.

I was visiting a large successful startup that had a "no managers" mantra--they hired engineering A players who were expected to work on the right things.

It turns out that people want to work on the fun and challenging tasks. Nobody put the effort into the billing system and they were doing a poor job of collecting money from their customers.

That's the thing about any organization, there's plenty of grunt work and "boring" tasks to go around, but they need to get done. Scaling up any organization is an exercise in making sure that the right things get done.

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#12

Post by tlow »

jadbox wrote: post #8

I thought that since this author's startup is sorta a 'reddit for politics', I'll plug my own startup (currently self-funded) which is a 'chatroulette/duolingo for politics': https://dinnertable.chat/

Putting a log in requirement to even see what your app does may provide a filter on usage that you don't want.

While there may be advantages, I think you'd be hard pressed to overcome the drop off from potential users who will bounce.

Furthermore, you're not delivering a clear value proposition "JOIN THE CONVERSATION you're invited to our dinner party beta". And then you have an ambiguous call to action "start login". At no point are you giving the potential user a reason to even want to login. And then you're asking the user to overcome an email signup and confirmation flow before they even get to see what your product does. Consider the case where the product isn't what the potential user thought it was, now you've wasted their time, what good is their email signup?

Why not go for a progressive engagement flow? You can still require accounts, signup and login for continual use. However you could engage the user first, then make your email signup ask. Wouldn't that be more advantageous?

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#13

Post by tlb »

ryanmercer wrote: post #2

Probably more accurately titled "Bay Area Tech is a Small World After All" TLDR: Chekr Director of Solutions, formerly Director of Strategic Sales (and first business hire), starts client on-boarding company (nice idea, streamline a lot to minimize hand-holding).

I find that the mechanisms that make the tech world small are interesting in themselves. Graphs are made small (in the graph-theory sense of the shortest distance between typical nodes) by adding connections.

This anecdote about how some particular connections were formed and later led to real opportunities seems like a good example of how things often happen in the Bay Area tech world.

Perhaps someday there’ll be a general theory of how opportunities are created, but in the meantime if you want to learn how things happen, there are only anecdotes to learn from.

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#14

Post by freedomben »

What exactly is meant by "commits" that you talk about in 1:1 and meetings? Is that more like "commitments" or "git commits". The former I agree, the latter I think is in many cases a terrible measure of productivity, because it discourages activities that don't directly lead to code, such as pairing with your junior, or helping a customer, or providing mentorship for others, etc. Remember you'll get what you measure.

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#15

Post by kmack »

freedomben wrote: post #14

What exactly is meant by "commits" that you talk about in 1:1 and meetings? Is that more like "commitments" or "git commits". The former I agree, the latter I think is in many cases a terrible measure of productivity, because it discourages activities that don't directly lead to code, such as pairing with your junior, or helping a customer, or providing mentorship for others, etc. Remember you'll get what you measure…

"Commitments", not "git commits". For revenue teams, this could be signing a contract, scheduling a certain number of meetings, drafting a blog post, etc. Similar parallels for any team within a company. The key is being able to break larger projects into manageable weekly commitments that are specific and measurable.

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#16

Post by shawn »

tlb wrote: post #13
ryanmercer wrote: post #2

Probably more accurately titled "Bay Area Tech is a Small World After All" TLDR: Chekr Director of Solutions, formerly Director of Strategic Sales (and first business hire), starts client on-boarding company (nice idea, streamline a lot to minimize hand-holding).

I find that the mechanisms that make the tech world small are interesting in themselves. Graphs are made small (in the graph-theory sense of the shortest distance between typical nodes) by adding connections. This anecdote about how some particular connections were formed and later led to real opportunities seems like a good example of how things often happen in the Bay Area tech world. Perhaps someday there’ll be a…

On the flipside, the mechanisms that make the tech world small are also the mechanisms that will exclude you and those around you if you happen to attract someone’s ire. In the limit case, this seems like a return to feudalism rather than an inclusive opportunity for everyone.

I was at startup school in 2007. What struck me was how motivational and inspiring it felt. The tone in the tech world has shifted dramatically since then, at least online.

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#17

Post by jadbox »

microcolonel wrote: post #10
jadbox wrote: post #8

I thought that since this author's startup is sorta a 'reddit for politics', I'll plug my own startup (currently self-funded) which is a 'chatroulette/duolingo for politics': https://dinnertable.chat/

Cool, seems like it'd attract exactly the people who don't need it though. ;- ) I'll sign up I think! Edit: While I was signing up, I tried copying the verification code from the email, and it copied with the period from the email, so when I pasted it into the site it didn't work. Maybe put a zero-width space in there (U+200B) or ditch the period altogether. ;- ) Edit 2: The "start login" page didn't work the first t…

Thanks for the feedback- super appreciated! The login/reg system is in need of an overhaul and is the next task on my list. Also, ya, the font choice has made the countdown timer finicky. heh

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#18

Post by jadbox »

ladon86 wrote: post #9
jadbox wrote: post #8

I thought that since this author's startup is sorta a 'reddit for politics', I'll plug my own startup (currently self-funded) which is a 'chatroulette/duolingo for politics': https://dinnertable.chat/

That was his first YC application, and it got rejected. Looks like his current startup (which is in YC) helps companies with onboarding. Your implementation looks nice! The idea of yet _more_ people to discuss politics with however... is not for me.

I think of it more as a system to help people improve their political reasoning. Too many people are stuck in bubbles, and 'reaching across the aisle' cannot be solved by just showing the "facts"... it needs to be an emotional journey best carried out through interpersonal connections. The question is... will people be willing to have these difficult conversations? I'll just have to see with this startup. heh

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#19

Post by jadbox »

tlow wrote: post #12
jadbox wrote: post #8

I thought that since this author's startup is sorta a 'reddit for politics', I'll plug my own startup (currently self-funded) which is a 'chatroulette/duolingo for politics': https://dinnertable.chat/

Putting a log in requirement to even see what your app does may provide a filter on usage that you don't want. While there may be advantages, I think you'd be hard pressed to overcome the drop off from potential users who will bounce. Furthermore, you're not delivering a clear value proposition "JOIN THE CONVERSATION you're invited to our dinner party beta". And then you have an ambiguous call to action "start login"…

The entry page needs a little work, particularly the top banner as you pointed out. It's a challenge and a delicate balance. I tried to provide as clear of an explanation on the front-page... do you feel you learned of the value proposition by reading the rest of the page below the banner? I do like the idea of a progressive flow, but the tricky thing is reducing bots/trolls (+banned accounts) from entering back into the live debates.

Re: Six Degrees of YC Separation

#20

Post by citizens »

gav wrote: post #11
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would go one step further and say if you have full of go getters, some might get bored when the inevitable “just execute the assigned tasks” work comes up. This is what I hear happening at Google a lot: they only hire A players, but many get bored (and eventually leave) when they are assigned B or C-level work that needs to get done.

I was visiting a large successful startup that had a "no managers" mantra--they hired engineering A players who were expected to work on the right things. It turns out that people want to work on the fun and challenging tasks. Nobody put the effort into the billing system and they were doing a poor job of collecting money from their customers. That's the thing about any organization, there's plenty of grunt work and…

I once interviewed at a place that had "no managers' yet kept referring to the "MGMT" team. Made me laugh.
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