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How to Start Google

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Start Google

#451

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

richardw wrote: post #260
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…

If 10000 more kids shoot for the moon they’ll build a lot of skills that the equivalent lifers won’t. He’s saying things like: - Get good at tech - Build projects that you want - Get good grades and into the best university you can I really hope my kid does that. I tried incredibly hard at projects I loved. That built me untold skills. Who cares if they start Google, or fail and get a job or get aquihired, they’ll be…

Fine. I share similar goals and dreams with my kids (who are all grown adults now). But what's the point of dangling "start Google" as some sort of imaginary incentive for this, when the real incentives and benefits almost certainly come from elsewhere.

Re: How to Start Google

#452

Post by gizmo »

lupire wrote: post #341
gizmo wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It's a little easier if you are a PhD study at Stanford, or, in pg's case, friends with a famous genius at MIT. Starting is trivial. Succeeding is in fact practically impossible.

Today it's a lot easier to match the level of success pg had with viaweb back in the 90s. No MIT genius required.

Re: How to Start Google

#453

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

csallen wrote: post #295
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…

Starting a successful company is not an essentially impossible pipe dream. There are literally millions of businesses in the US that are generating millions in revenue. Sure, they aren't all mega behemoth tech companies, but what of it? Setting your ambitions high when you're young is still worth it. It can be a major difference maker in motivating you to learn the skills necessary to build a successful business, and…

> If you believe you can, you might try, and you might make it.

The statistics are pretty clear that you almost certainly will not.

So by all means give it a shot if you can do so without screwing your chance at whatever you'll do if/when it fails.

People deserve dignity and meaning no matter what work they do. This should not be reserved to the folks who manage to start unicorns (let alone Googles).

Re: How to Start Google

#454

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

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…

People deserve dignity and meaning from their labor no matter what sort of work they do. This should not be reserved for those who manage to start unicorns (let alone Googles).

It might interest you to know what I was employee #2 at amzn.

Re: How to Start Google

#455

Post by Solvency »

xeonmc wrote: post #423
justsocrateasin wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he answers the second point of "not every company can be a Google" though. He says this will get you to the point where your company could be a Google, but makes no promises that it will be one. I agree with the first point. I do think that the experience would nonetheless be valuable, though, to pilot a failed company.

“Not every company can become a Google; but a Google can come from anywhere. ” - Peter O’Toole, probably.

"Not every company can become a Google, but a Google can come from any incredibly wealthy, well-connected, elite nepo baby."

Re: How to Start Google

#456

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

landryraccoon wrote: post #354
pickledish wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I truly can't imagine a life where my father/mother would only hammer in the fact that I am just an average joe and should stick to climbing the corporate ladder. Such an uninspiring take, this one. Depressing. That is depressing! But also not what the parent comment said -- you seem to have accidentally taken a much more severe meaning from that comment (than I did, at least). The top-level comment is just talking…

The fundamental disagreement I have with the post is the idea that you're foolish for doing something because it probably won't pan out. So what? Why be so terrified of failure? I think it's better if kids learn to be brave, and pick themselves up in life after they stumble. Living life in utter fear of failing at anything seems like a terrible way for your children to start off life. Besides for which few things are…

My call was not that you're foolish for doing something because it won't pan out.

It was that it is foolish to tell/teach/encourage people to expect that things like "start Google" have any reasonable likelihood of succeeding.

And it is even worse when that encourages people to fail to organize, vote, protest, push for better work and better working conditions for everybody who are not founders of unicorns.

Re: How to Start Google

#457

Post by Solvency »

emseetech wrote: post #437
codethatwerks wrote: post #416

What is the parallel advice for a 40 year old? I guess the programming and tinkering stuff still applies. But university cannot be redone. Sure I can study but I wont have any connection to most young people. I’ll be the old guy. And this assumes I can afford the loss of income. I assume a lot of start ups are started by older people too. I think for older people an advantage is to solve older people problems. Like h…

Less startup, more starting a business. The older I get the less I want to build a startup and more I want to start a business. Something that takes a little bit of capital, lots of hard work, gets some customers and provides goods or services, without venture capital firms and 100x returns and everything that comes with that, just a standard business. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI1SLHEC98I

That's a romantic idea until you realize you're now dealing and subservient to the dredges of society, the worst kinds of customers, the worst kind of people. Far worse than a niche market specialized technology sales prospect. Get ready to have a new contempt for humanity. Get ready to be raked over the coals by Yelp.

Re: How to Start Google

#458

Post by onthecanposting »

suyash wrote: post #18

Ok, so I am having a hard time buying the idea that just make a fun project if you want to create a something like 'Google'. Startup 101 teaches us that you need to solve a painful problem that lot of people have, that is the best way to create 'Google', so isn't the advise contradictory?

I am not seeing any mention of a certain US security state 'investor'that gave them a bunch of money and PR, either in the article or in comments. I suppose it's uncouth within polite company to speak of such things.

We now have a single organization shaping the information access patterns of the people all over the world ostensibly paid by ads. Right.

Re: How to Start Google

#459

Post by Solvency »

xyzelement wrote: post #435
batshit_beaver wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the super power of 35-year-olds? Arthritis?

Compared to my 25 and 15 year old self, my 35 (now 40) self is a lot wiser in terms of dealing with people, applying humility and being crisp on the wide gulf between "what I find is worth doing at the moment" and "what's valuable." I think these are all hugely valuable and serve me well.

LLMs are increasingly good at your 40 year old soft social skills like humility, so don't bank on that being worth much very long.
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