Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues • Hacker News Board

Re: Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues

#11

Post by cortesoft » Tue, Oct 01, 2013, 11:59 PM UTC

andrewhyde wrote: post #7

cortesoft wrote: post #5

This question presents a very false dichotomy: "Is the startup world a meritocracy, or are there leagues in startups?" If we are making a sports analogy, then having different leagues does NOT imply that it is not a meritocracy. The very best (judged from merit) end up in the top leagues. Sports is the ULTIMATE meritocracy, in fact, because there is a simple and fair way to judge who is better. Leagues just form so t…

Perhaps the BCS is a great analogy: there is a seemingly fair competition but luck, tradition and money sure help you get into the championship game.

Ah yes, the most unsporting system in sports!

Re: Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues

#12

Post by theboss » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 12:12 AM UTC

I have to at least somewhat agree with the article. I'm on the outside looking in, and to me it looks almost like working in the Federal Government, how once you're in then "you're in" for life with the Big League Startups.

Startups love to talk about their work as extremely technically challenging when in reality the developers I know who work at startups are generally no better or working on no harder problems than people not working at startups or working at startups that aren't very well known or 'in the big leagues'.

I think it really has to deal with the mentors the startups end up with and the funding, and together these help the "Big League" startups continuously be successful. Also, startups that are invested in by places like YCombinator naturally get more press and their business will have a higher chance for success (when combined with excellent mentors)....

You're free to disagree or correct me if I have any obvious misconceptions...Like I said..I'm on the outside looking in.

Re: Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues

#13

Post by Udo » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 12:29 AM UTC

You don't know what league you're in until you try. With sports, it's relatively easy to see why someone isn't a pro player - startup founders are harder to judge. In fact, judging the potential league of a startup is such a hard problem that even VCs, who are in the business of making such judgements, have to make a lot of rather unsafe bets.

How's a person to know they're not good enough? Should everyone who doesn't come into the game already rich and well-connected just stay away?

Re: Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues

#14

Post by candybar » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 12:34 AM UTC

conrey wrote: post #2

Hard to argue with this post. It really breaks out the "everyone can start a company" myth into something I've been trying to explain for a while. The analogy I've been working with is comparing startups to the mid 2000s Poker boom - once the internet made it easier for anyone to play competitive poker, more and more people started doing it. Once one "regular guy" - Chris Moneymaker - won the WSOP and ESPN televised…

This isn't really true in poker - the online poker boom created tons of new poker celebrities and lots of online pros who are technically better and more profitable than old-school grinders.

Re: Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues

#15

Post by rokhayakebe » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 12:43 AM UTC

The saddest thing about the little tech world we live in, the one only WE care about, is that somehow seemingly smart people have managed to convince themselves that 1)this is a zero sum game, 2) you need rock star any/everything (what ever that means).

Re: Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues

#16

Post by theboss » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 12:47 AM UTC

Udo wrote: post #13

You don't know what league you're in until you try. With sports, it's relatively easy to see why someone isn't a pro player - startup founders are harder to judge. In fact, judging the potential league of a startup is such a hard problem that even VCs, who are in the business of making such judgements, have to make a lot of rather unsafe bets. How's a person to know they're not good enough? Should everyone who doesn'…

I don't think you're right. Even in professional sports, bad scouting reports happen just like when VCs make the wrong call.

Sometimes a persons particular skill-set scales really well at the next level and scouts and VCs may not expect that (Tom Brady 6th round pick versus a VC who says wow I wish I invested in ____).

Sometimes a persons particular skill-set looks like they will play really well in the big leagues but they never really do, or a well-funded startup never really gets traction for whatever reason.

I think the sports to startup analogy might actually be quite good.

Re: Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues

#17

Post by prostoalex » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:09 AM UTC

rokhayakebe wrote: post #15

The saddest thing about the little tech world we live in, the one only WE care about, is that somehow seemingly smart people have managed to convince themselves that 1)this is a zero sum game, 2) you need rock star any/everything (what ever that means).

It is a zero-sum game if you're hiring.

Re: Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues

#18

Post by Udo » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 7:01 AM UTC

theboss wrote: post #16

Udo wrote: post #13

You don't know what league you're in until you try. With sports, it's relatively easy to see why someone isn't a pro player - startup founders are harder to judge. In fact, judging the potential league of a startup is such a hard problem that even VCs, who are in the business of making such judgements, have to make a lot of rather unsafe bets. How's a person to know they're not good enough? Should everyone who doesn'…

I don't think you're right. Even in professional sports, bad scouting reports happen just like when VCs make the wrong call. Sometimes a persons particular skill-set scales really well at the next level and scouts and VCs may not expect that (Tom Brady 6th round pick versus a VC who says wow I wish I invested in ____). Sometimes a persons particular skill-set looks like they will play really well in the big leagues b…

Okay, so while you disagree with me and the article about the sports analogy, you seemingly still agree with me about startups (which was the central point of my post).