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Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

startupclass.samaltman.com

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Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#41

Post by [deleted] »

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #35
Oculus wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most corporations in the US are incorporated in Delaware. Whenever the question of incorporation arises, the answers is always in Delaware as a C-corp. PG's comment was a nod to that. http://blakemasters.com/post/21742864570/peter-thiels-cs183-... (Look at point #2 - "You Should Be a Delaware C-corp")

> Whenever the question of incorporation arises, the answers is always in Delaware as a C corp. Yes, if you raise venture money, you will need a Delaware C-corp. But the percentage of companies that are successful in raising venture capital is extremely low. How low? Probably lower than Y Combinator's acceptance rate. For entrepreneurs serious about building a real business, entity selection should be based on what's…

[deleted]

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#42

Post by sbisker »

rileyjshaw wrote: post #11

Loved this quote: ...this is exacerbated by the existence of this term "growth hacks"... whenever you hear anybody talk about "growth hacks", just mentally translate it... to "bullshit".

A counterpoint: https://medium.com/designing-for-results/if-by-growth-hackin...

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#43

Post by akbar501 »

giulianob wrote: post #19

I live outside of a town with a large tech culture. I often wonder if a large part of success is just being around the right community. So you are getting a lot of feedback and have real connections to gain information from. I wonder what the best way to find/make a community like that in my area would be or if I am just out of luck and should be somewhere that already has a large tech culture. I am in South FL btw.

To quote Guy Kawasaki, "Geography is destiny."

Personally, I think living near the action is the way to go. And yes, moving to where a large tech culture already exists helps.

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#44

Post by prostoalex »

sbisker wrote: post #38
prostoalex wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strictly speaking, a corporate recruitment process will peg and interview you based on your experience level. 3 years at a failed startup are likely to be equivalent to 3 years at a large established company, you'll go through the same interview process, be asked the same questions, and presented with the same offer. From a rational standpoint, having even a mild level of success that ends up in an acqui-hire instead…

I have to disagree here. Folks with failed startups are as diverse as the startups they built (or just as often, struggled to build). The simple reason why is because while a startup is the best place to learn how to start a startup, it isn't always the best place to learn how to be an engineer. At least, not the sort of robust engineering (hopefully) done at established companies, where you have to understand existi…

That is true, I almost put a caveat there that small startups (or schools) teach programming, while large companies teach software engineering, but nowadays most large technology companies have onboarding/mentoring process designed around that, as a lot of the processes tend to be company-specific.

> many acqui-hire employees themselves have to go through interviews at the acquiring company, finding themselves on the bottom of the pecking order at their new companies

Employees yes, from OP's wording I understood the question was in regards to the founder. An acqui-hirer is likely to sweeten the offer for the founding team, otherwise why even pursue an acqui-hire.

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#45

Post by buro9 »

sbisker wrote: post #36

Am I the only person who ever found the course list for an MBA genuinely interesting ? Like, intellectually so. I get the general usefulness of advising undergraduates that MBAs are, in general, a bad idea for them. They're certainly about as poor of a financial investment these days as a degree in English. But the hopeless idealist in me asks if it isn't possible to get an MBA to actually try to theorize about custo…

The issue is whether the person with an MBA can apply their learning to provide value to a startup.

What's that Einstein attributed quote?

    In theory, theory and practice are the same.
    In practice, they are not.
I believe the same is true of CompSci graduates as not all are capable of taking their learning and figure out how to apply it to get things done. But for us as technical people, it's easier to spot those who cannot.

One of the things I focus on when interviewing is whether they are passionate about their craft, have an interest in their trade. There's a huge difference between the CompSci graduate who studied because of a love of computer science and programming, and the one who did it because they are motivated by an above average salary.

With MBAs, it's extremely hard to determine those who care about the theory and craft, those who will theorise and adjust the application of their knowledge and experience. If the motivation was merely "My salary will be $(n)k greater" then they are likely to apply the formula they learned without caring about how it applies in the given case.

Not all MBAs are bad, but we are poorly qualified to separate the good from the bad. And given that the bad choice could be an early employee, a bad mistake here could be the end of the company.

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#46

Post by outrightfree »

mhartl wrote: post #17

I share pg's distaste for the mouthful that is "entrepreneurship" ( http://youtu.be/ii1jcLg-eIQ?t=30m35s ). How about resurrecting the root, and using "enterprise" instead? Moving a language as big as English is a Brobdingnagian task, but few people are as well-positioned as pg to (re)introduce "enterprise" as a more economical alternative to "entrepreneurship".

Or perhaps a Sisyphean task?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#47

Post by bira »

jonalmeida wrote: post #16
bira wrote: post #7

Here you have some notes on the lecture. By the way, we are a couple of italian friends building FlashUp, a platform for sharing notes on lectures, videos, books, panels so other people can enjoy the nitty-gritty without having to spend hours and hours glued to their screens. Any feedback is appreciated. --- NOTES: --> Startups are very counter-intuitive – if you trust and never question your intuition you will make…

You're notes in Markdown: http://markdownshare.com/view/c97aed92-513d-46f0-b097-0fb12e...

Appreciated.

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#48

Post by johan_larson »

akbar501 wrote: post #39
sbisker wrote: post #36

Am I the only person who ever found the course list for an MBA genuinely interesting ? Like, intellectually so. I get the general usefulness of advising undergraduates that MBAs are, in general, a bad idea for them. They're certainly about as poor of a financial investment these days as a degree in English. But the hopeless idealist in me asks if it isn't possible to get an MBA to actually try to theorize about custo…

> But the hopeless idealist in me asks if it isn't possible to get an MBA to actually try to theorize about customer behavior, economic structure, supply chains, what have you and build part of ones academic foundation around it? Yes, an MBA will help you understand many of our societal, economic, and business constructs. I did not find an MBA to be particularly helpful in understanding customer behavior, but it's de…

   However, I would not get an MBA with a goal of middle
   management as the focus of most programs is on getting
   you ready for upper management decision making. For middle
   management in a large company skills 
   such as project management, people management, scheduling,
   delegation and communication are more 
   important than high level strategic thinking.
Perhaps it would be better if the training were divided into different (shorter) programs undertaken at different stages of a career. There might be a short program of basic business skills, appropriate for people just starting out and taking worker/analyst jobs; another for people stepping up into leadership positions, dealing with project and people management; and a final one for senior management, focused on strategic issues.

The military typically does it this way. What you learn in Officer Candidate School is different from what they teach you at the War College.

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#49

Post by karim_roushdy »

sbisker wrote: post #38
prostoalex wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strictly speaking, a corporate recruitment process will peg and interview you based on your experience level. 3 years at a failed startup are likely to be equivalent to 3 years at a large established company, you'll go through the same interview process, be asked the same questions, and presented with the same offer. From a rational standpoint, having even a mild level of success that ends up in an acqui-hire instead…

I have to disagree here. Folks with failed startups are as diverse as the startups they built (or just as often, struggled to build). The simple reason why is because while a startup is the best place to learn how to start a startup, it isn't always the best place to learn how to be an engineer. At least, not the sort of robust engineering (hopefully) done at established companies, where you have to understand existi…

I left my corporate job which I have been working in for 3 years to focus on my startup (www.voise.co). So I have been on both sides & I need to say It is a choice you make. Some people it fits them to be in a corporate job while others would excel with something they do on their own. Obviously not everyone will succeed but if you are still at a young age and willing to take the risk, try a different path that might be a better fit for you, I do not see the problem. Life goes own and you still can prove yourself. Also the reasons for failure of a startup would make a difference. Sometimes it is just out of your hands. I have gained tremendous experience with my startup. As I have learned to be multi skilled, which is something a lot of multinational jobs look for these days. I believe it always comes down to you as a person. How you represent and how confident you are with what you did, doing and will do in the future.

Re: Lecture 3: How to Start a Startup

#50

Post by kristiandupont »

sbisker wrote: post #36

Am I the only person who ever found the course list for an MBA genuinely interesting ? Like, intellectually so. I get the general usefulness of advising undergraduates that MBAs are, in general, a bad idea for them. They're certainly about as poor of a financial investment these days as a degree in English. But the hopeless idealist in me asks if it isn't possible to get an MBA to actually try to theorize about custo…

Even though it's just a website, I think of HN as a community that I am part of. And as such, I am always saddened to see how people in here talk about MBAs. Sure, there are those that just want to get into business to make quick bucks but there are also smart, good people who want to create a business that just happen not to be technical. But who have skills that many developers don't (and often, I think, skills that developers don't realize that they lack).

And I have to say that one of my MBA friends who frequents HN (he might be reading this but I won't name names) frequently laughs at blog posts about great insight that some developer-entrepreneur had about customers or markets etc. that is considered really basic knowledge to him.

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