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How to Start Google

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Start Google

#241

Post by bearjaws »

LarsDu88 wrote: post #226
keiferski wrote: post #182

“Learn to code and surround yourself with smart people” is good advice, but it’s kind of funny that Google was used as the example of peak success for a group of 15 year olds. I’m fairly willing to bet that most of them think of Google as boring and old, and not exciting or innovative. How to start TikTok or Minecraft would have probably been a more inspiring example.

Folks underestimate how incredibly skilled Notch was and is. Unfortunately ludum dare has taken down its historical compo pages, but I remember that he had several games built from scratch in 24 hours which were mind boggling impressive. One had a full 3d rendering engine implemented in Dartlang written in 48 hours. Another was a minecraft top down rpg clone. Dude is the Bobby Fischer of tech

He also wrote Wurm Online with Rolf Jansson, all in Java OpenGL. Was a bit of a mess of a game but it still has an engaged community.

Re: How to Start Google

#242

Post by awesomeMilou »

volkk wrote: post #236
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #219

Totally insane. 99% or more of the people who enable Google to do what Google does are employees of Google. Same with every other company. The odds of being the founder of a successful company are probably worse than being a professional sportsball player (if only because they turn over more frequently). Does anything good come from encouraging kids to think that they will manage to sail through life as a successful…

> Does anything good come from encouraging kids to think that they will manage to sail through life as a successful business founder rather than an employee? I would imagine dreaming big is pretty good for children. A big reason for why I'm optimistic in life is because I have hope for achieving something. I truly can't imagine a life where my father/mother would only hammer in the fact that I am just an average joe…

> I would imagine dreaming big is pretty good for children.

I would rather have my children dream of becoming astronauts than becoming the next Steve Jobs.

Re: How to Start Google

#243

Post by mdgrech23 »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #219

Totally insane. 99% or more of the people who enable Google to do what Google does are employees of Google. Same with every other company. The odds of being the founder of a successful company are probably worse than being a professional sportsball player (if only because they turn over more frequently). Does anything good come from encouraging kids to think that they will manage to sail through life as a successful…

That is such a good point. It distracts us from thinking about what our industry really needs right now which is unionization and regulation. The risk of off shore outsourcing and AI and imminent. These kind of posts provide false promises of riches.

I also want to point out it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that most founders come from well off backgrounds. Their parents can essentially foot the bills while they're getting things off the ground combined w/ the natural access to capital growing up in wealthy circles provides.

Re: How to Start Google

#244

Post by a_n »

lol why do so many people here have such a loser/average mindset, you can literally achieve anything, literally anything, just because you don’t want to work hard, you don’t gotta be so discouraging to other people, well I guess people who wanna achieve great things probably don’t care about the stupid lazy people, so it’s whatever But the fact is you can literally do anything, you just gotta give it your all…

Re: How to Start Google

#245

Post by brigadier132 »

rrdharan wrote: post #174
brigadier132 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, ive played professionally. To be charitable I’ll explain it to you. In poker you play a massive number of hands and if you are good you play a preplanned strategy and sometimes when following that strategy you lose but over the long run, assuming you are playing a winning strategy, you make money. The luck is seen in the short term fluctuations but over the long run when executing your strategy there is no luck.…

In this analogy, the VCs are playing poker. The hands (or the cards dealt to the VC player in that hand) are individual startups. Yes you can win if you are a VC. Less clear what to do if you’re just a card.

Founders can take multiple shots too. Everyone is playing poker to an extent. VCs are playing cash games and founders are playing tournaments.

Re: How to Start Google

#246

Post by csa »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #219

Totally insane. 99% or more of the people who enable Google to do what Google does are employees of Google. Same with every other company. The odds of being the founder of a successful company are probably worse than being a professional sportsball player (if only because they turn over more frequently). Does anything good come from encouraging kids to think that they will manage to sail through life as a successful…

> Does anything good come from encouraging people to ignore the actual situation that the overwhelming majority of the population finds itself in, and instead focusing on some essentially impossible pipe dream?

If one is trying to recruit future Sergeys Larrys, then it’s prudent to write to a very narrow audience.

This article addresses that audience perfectly well, imho.

> The absolute worst of SV thinking, personified.

… or maybe the best.

This is not “general life advice from pg”. It’s highly targeted and narrow.

That’s ok. That needs to be ok. It’s one of those things that makes SV unique and uniquely strong, imho.

Edited to add the following:

The advice goes from broad (you don’t have to get a job, you can start your own company) to very specific (how to start a hypergrowth startup), with lots of other (good, imho) advice in between.

This will resonate with some folks in the (ostensibly high school) audience, many of whom may be unfamiliar with startups, the startup world, and maybe even the tech world in general. It will fall on deaf ears for most of the rest, because that’s not the life or lifestyle they are looking for.

Re: How to Start Google

#247

Post by volkk »

awesomeMilou wrote: post #242
volkk wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does anything good come from encouraging kids to think that they will manage to sail through life as a successful business founder rather than an employee? I would imagine dreaming big is pretty good for children. A big reason for why I'm optimistic in life is because I have hope for achieving something. I truly can't imagine a life where my father/mother would only hammer in the fact that I am just an average joe…

> I would imagine dreaming big is pretty good for children. I would rather have my children dream of becoming astronauts than becoming the next Steve Jobs.

i'd argue that's entirely up to the child to dream how they see fit, and up to the parent to support them, build them up and keep a pulse on what the thing is they're focusing on

Re: How to Start Google

#248

Post by scarface_74 »

ericd wrote: post #136
scarface_74 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the secret of being able to fail at a startup is being able to sponge off of other people who do have jobs at the types of companies you want to avoid working for?

Well, I didn't fail in that case, the company started making money, and they were repaid handsomely. But yeah, having a familial, social, or financial safety net is pretty important. If you never want to have to depend on anyone, or can't for whatever reason, then sure, play it safe. Sounds like you'd judge yourself harshly for taking this sort of risk.

You just admitted that in no case whether you succeeded or failed were you in any danger of being homeless and hungry because you were being supported by people who were willing to “grind it out” in corporate America.

You were never not “safe”

Re: How to Start Google

#249

Post by hintymad »

gumby wrote: post #188

> If you look at the lists of the richest people that occasionally get published in the press, nearly all of them did it by starting their own companies. Actaally if you look at those lists, the largest number made it by choosing their parents correctly.

I guess luck plays a big role in one's success. That said, pg's points still hold, as he is telling us how to maximize our chance of success despite of what we are born with.

Re: How to Start Google

#250

Post by paulpauper »

n0us wrote: post #196

In the YC Youtube videos it's amusing that they (Jason and the other guy) almost always reference Google and Facebook despite the fact that neither of those companies were YC companies and none of the YC companies out of 4000+ funded (not even Stripe) come close to the scale or valuation of either Google or Facebook. https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/valuation

Google and Facebook had 2 decades. Even the most successful of YC companies had a little over a decade. Not a valid comparison. And $100+ billion for Coinbase, Stripe, Dropbox is still huge.
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