I enjoyed the article, but I worked for a startup in 1999 that was funded by a technology accelerator. So it would appear Ycombinator wasn't the first, unless this is meant in some more specific way.
Grow the Puzzle Around You
21–30 of 57 posts
Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
You have to watch out for the "water dowser" effect. If you're in front of a group of people who have no ability to check your answers, it's very easy to convince them that you're always right. If a trusted person with good social skills came in and said, "don't work with him he's not earnest," how would the room ever find out whether he was or not? They'd be unlikely to trust him enough to end up in a situation wher…
It's also impossible to know if she's "set right". It's not enough to never pick a "bad" team if you're also turning away 9 out of every 10 good ones.
That all depends on the return you get from the 1/10 good ones. If you do great with that one good team, it could be totally worth it. I could definitely imagine a scenario where picking no bad teams has higher value than picking more both good and bad.
Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the issue is that there’s a kind of Jim Crow discrimination if we try to act as if “technical” is a valid filter for whether someone is recognized as making a clear contribution. If women are less likely to make technical contributions, and we only recognize technical contributions, then we’re de facto minimizing crucial contributions of women. Also, what does “technical” even mean? Why is setting up the lega…
Had it been early years of YC, this post of explaining herself could have made sense. After so many years of being at the helm of YC, who is a nut to doubt her? Or is it that she is still insecure and any indirect reference to her capability, she begins to explain herself. I am speculating and I would be really happy to be proven wrong!
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Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#24If you've spent any time working with stage managers, this isn't counterintuitive at all. Complex human endeavor runs more smoothly with a skilled and dedicated operator systematically clearing the logistical and interpersonal hurdles, creating a conducive space for the "real" work. We've known this for a while in performing arts. I hope call-outs like this will bring tech around to the role’s importance.
As a person with a theatre background now doing startup tech work, I agree the magic of “the show must go on” is unparalleled.
Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#25> I read the book Startup by Jerry Kaplan, about his pen computing company called GO, and I was immediately hooked.
Incidentally, I read Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston back in my college senior year in 2012 and, as she put it, was immediately hooked.
Thanks for writing that book, and for everything else you've done for the startup world.
Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
You have to watch out for the "water dowser" effect. If you're in front of a group of people who have no ability to check your answers, it's very easy to convince them that you're always right. If a trusted person with good social skills came in and said, "don't work with him he's not earnest," how would the room ever find out whether he was or not? They'd be unlikely to trust him enough to end up in a situation wher…
I wonder how much of the "social radar" reputation came from her just being a woman in a team of men. I don't know the gender breakdown in those days at YC but I'd be concerned that Livingston is elevating a socially ambiguous and widespread female trait — making normative intuitive judgements — into some kind of superpower. Women are socialized to do this, to make judgements of value based on scant information. Men,…
The world operates on value judgements with scant information. I'm not sure why this is being dismissed as inferior.
Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#27It is interesting that someone who works at the forefront of startups which thrive on adoption and change makes an argument that if you read between the lines, it's essentially an argument for Nature in the good ol' Nature vs Nurture debate.
Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#28First of, thanks for being part of YC and making it such a great place. I've never been there, but the whole spirit is healthy and that I very much appreciate. >I looked at qualities of the applicants my cofounders couldn't see. Did they seem earnest? Were they determined? Were they flexible-minded? And most importantly, what was the relationship between the cofounders like? I second this. People who say soft skills…
>People who say soft skills are dead Are you sure people actually say that? This struck me as odd because it seems to be the total opposite of what people say. It seems virtually everyone stresses "soft skills" repeatedly. But I have no proof of this so I just did a quick search of Google's 130 trillion pages to try and get a sense if people out there are really saying that soft skills are useless: "soft skills are d…
"soft skills are dead" is not expressed that way. It's expressed as "the cofounders should be tech", and other such advice which emphasizes the technical capabilities of the cofounders and early hires, and to not trust "suits". Not taking a side here, but just saying that the valley does tend to emphasize a lot on tech over other aspects of running a business.
Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#29Jeez, how painful to think that she has to explain her role regularly just because she is a woman. My wife and I are both software developers, and recently moved from Helsinki to Berlin, with two kids. If you could see the faces when we tell people how we moved here, "with _her_ job" :D First they look at her, like "does she look the part", and then looking at me, like "what does he really do?" It's actually fun, and…
I half took it was your meaning as well, and I guess it's good that we are recognizing this as a potential issue.
The other way of looking at it is that PG was definitely the front-man, you kinda got an idea of what he did.
If I had met Trevor or Robert (or if somebody had asked me who they were), I'd probably ask the same question.
In fact, if you asked me "who started YC?", I'd probably say "PG & Jessica".
Re: Grow the Puzzle Around You
#30Reading this gave me goosebumps. Bravo Jessica, you should be increbily proud of your work and what you’ve helped others achieve.
Photo of Alexis Ohanian at dinner in first batch is classic!