How Not to Die • Hacker News Board

Re: How Not to Die

#101

Post by pg » Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 1:54 PM UTC

juwo wrote: post #88

dfranke wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this talk didn't apply to people not accepted by YC, Paul wouldn't have bothered publishing it.

before you follow the herd and blindly down mod my comment: you dont have to get into YC to succeed, but understand he was talking at an exclusive event - the final YC dinner. Also understand the odds. He picks teams most likely to succeed. If he rates odds of success as 1/2 (or whatever the article said), and the odds of getting in are 20/400, then the odds of success for you and me, those who didnt get in, is 1/40.…

Only if you assume that you can't succeed unless you get funded by YC, which is rather flattering us.

Re: How Not to Die

#102

Post by thingsilearned » Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 3:51 PM UTC

augy wrote: post #77

thingsilearned wrote: post #63

Argh! I just moved back to Minnesota....

Tell that big company, with that cool project, you changed your mind X commit your life to startups X and move back to SF. If you don't you are going to lose that unusable VIP pass to her pants ; ) http://thingsilearned.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/the-dangers-o...

haha! It goes through my mind every day...

Re: How Not to Die

#103

Post by knewjax » Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 9:23 PM UTC

Nice essay. A nice moral booster.

Re: How Not to Die

#104

Post by ecuzzillo » Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 9:56 PM UTC

brlewis wrote: post #18

Thank you Paul. If we can be recipients of messages like this, I don't think any of us not funded by YC should feel like we're outside the club.

Except that for many people outside the club, what he says won't be true, since many people outside the club aren't actually that smart, and, worse, aren't actually working in a market where there is obviously something to be had.

Re: How Not to Die

#105

Post by objectoriented » Sat, Sep 01, 2007, 1:26 AM UTC

I figured out the part about distractions, because I kept doing it to myself, and I KNEW it. When I was back at the University and had a crusher class I wanted to escape. I caught myself once, and had this little chat "hmm...why do you just HAVE to change the oil NOW?' Now I'm being crushed alive in a startup and I know with absolute certainty that what I am doing is worth a hundred million, AND the only thing that will stop me is ME.

Re: How Not to Die

#106

Post by e40 » Sat, Sep 01, 2007, 2:44 AM UTC

> I realize this will sound naive, but maybe the linkage works in both directions. Maybe if you can arrange that we keep hearing from you, you won't die.

Or, maybe they stop communicating because they know they're going to die.

I love it when people take a statistic and try and "cheat" it.

For example: a report came out last year that statistically speaking most people that have dogs and cats have children that don't have allergies to dogs and cats. It may be that having dogs and cats around makes children not have the allergy. Or, since allergies to dogs and cats are hereditary, maybe only people that don't have the allergy get dogs and cats, and those people would be more likely to have children without the allergy.

That's how I feel about the "communicate you won't die" comment.

Re: How Not to Die

#107

Post by rms » Sat, Sep 01, 2007, 2:47 AM UTC

e40 wrote: post #106

> I realize this will sound naive, but maybe the linkage works in both directions. Maybe if you can arrange that we keep hearing from you, you won't die. Or, maybe they stop communicating because they know they're going to die. I love it when people take a statistic and try and "cheat" it. For example: a report came out last year that statistically speaking most people that have dogs and cats have children that don't…

Agreed. It's a lot more embarrassing for a founder to email and say "Yeah, another week and we have no users or funding or motivation or new features or incremental improvements" than to just not respond.

Re: How Not to Die

#108

Post by wcrosby » Sat, Sep 01, 2007, 4:43 AM UTC

I could hear PG's voice and speech patterns while I was reading this one. I even "heard" the pauses for audience laughter and impact. Nicely done.

Re: How Not to Die

#109

Post by Neoryder » Sat, Sep 01, 2007, 5:39 AM UTC

mynameishere wrote: post #44

jsjenkins168 wrote: post #13

I will say it plainly: This is the most influential, well written essay I have ever read. It hit a chord very deep with me..

I hate to always be the jerk on this board, but: 1) How can a just-now-released essay be influential at all? 2) At least half of pg's essays are better written than this, which to me seemed a little phoned-in. It's not really an essay anyway, but a peptalk. He didn't even have the usual cavalcade of proofreaders at the bottom. 3) The most influential essay I've ever read is the first essay of "Genealogy of Morals".

i think his use of influential is a on a more personal note.

Re: How Not to Die

#110

Post by sytelus » Sat, Sep 01, 2007, 6:10 AM UTC

I don't think that million dollars can ever replace those years that you could have rather spent at school. Is money is everything Paul wants everyone to run after. Is there a place for passion for creating things without worrying about money, learning new stuff or just plain old play a better idea to spend your ONE life than to keep worrying about creating something that you would bag a big fat ass beurocratic giant to buy out? Paul seems to think his success is repeatable 50% of the times and looks like he won't hesitate to sacrifice schoole years of these kids for his part of million.