How to Start Google

Post by lupire » Tue, Mar 19, 2024, 8:57 PM UTC

gizmo wrote: post #335

babl-yc wrote: post #317

I couldnt finish reading the essay because I was distracted by the generally smug tone of it. 99.99% of people who read this article are not going to start the next Google. Being a successful entrepreneur requires an incredible amount of luck, timing, skill, and risk taking. If you choose that path, great, but that in no way devalues the skill building, network building, and predictable income of working for someone…

The tone isn’t smug. pg simplified his language for a teenage audience. Simple arguments made simply can come across as smug because they lack caveats and polite hedging, but I don’t think the accusation of smugness sticks in this case. I also disagree about the incredible qualities entrepreneurs need and hardships they have to endure. Many incredible businesses are just good product + good distribution. Many kids th…

Post by smokel » Tue, Mar 19, 2024, 9:00 PM UTC

echelon wrote: post #322

hbn wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like all the successful rappers who go on about how "I wanted to be a rapper when I was a teenager, and my guidance counsellor told me it's not realistic, and that I should settle down with a safe, normal job. Now look where I am!" Your guidance counsellor told hundreds of kids the same thing, and it was good advice for basically all of them. For every guy who made it rich with some crazy risky stock trade, ther…

We're all already dead in geologic time. Why not shoot for the stars? There's a big difference between a casino and actively throwing yourself at problem gradients, learning, adapting.

Post by kla-s » Tue, Mar 19, 2024, 9:01 PM UTC

bronco21016 wrote: post #173

awesomeMilou wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His dad wasn't "just" a computer scientist, he was a professor for computer science and artificial intelligence at Michigan State. Sergey Brin's father was equally a professor in mathematics at the University of Maryland. > It's obvious in retrospect that this was a great idea for a startup. It wasn't obvious at the time. It may not have been obvious, but the decision was damn well near as engineered with data as it…

> Their success story is imo one of the most blatant examples on how privilege really does give you a boost in life. I am not arguing that anyone could have done it, but I do wonder how the world would look like if we were all kids of academics with a successful career, with a relatively safe, secure and stable childhood home and a family background that really incentivizes learning and academic success over succumbi…

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 19, 2024, 9:02 PM UTC

neilv wrote: post #225

light_triad wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully 2 Stanford CS PhD students hacking on their project would be funded by YC today :) You bring up a good point about starting from the tech rather than the problem. Usually the advice from VCs is to start from the problem and iterate on the tech until you solve it. What was very fortunate for Google is that the tech translated into a great business problem. Open up any CS textbook and 'Search' is always a maj…

> Hopefully 2 Stanford CS PhD students hacking on their project would be funded by YC today :) Around the dawn of YC, IIRC, when PG did the "summer founders" or something like that, a group of 4 of us Lisp hackers applied as a team. No response. We were mostly in grad student-like lifestyle modes, and not tied down, were energetic, and already had various applicable experience. But I think PG was mostly looking for b…

Post by lupire » Tue, Mar 19, 2024, 9:06 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #202

romeros wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the VCs trust you to a large extent and they can't delve into the nitty-gritty of daily operations. If they do they will develop a bad reputation. Your boss's job is to oversee the minutiae of your day-to-day activities. Like in most workplaces, you can't choose to just chill for a few days, work only at night, or choose to avoid meetings for a few days, etc. You will have a level autonomy and the ability to…

A good manager is going to trust you to a large extent and not delve into the nitty-gritty of daily operations. With typical reporting loads in knowledge industries, they can’t - a manager with 10 reports realistically has 1-2 hours/week to spend on their projects once all the team overhead is taken care of. My reports absolutely can chill for a couple days, work only at night, or skip meetings. My job is to get them…