What I Didn't Say • Hacker News Board

Re: What I Didn't Say

#521

Post by mathattack » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 2:31 PM UTC

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #284

mjburgess wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fine, he was mischaracterized and he replied. But jesus, > pg's response is actually priceless: it is like a soft-spoken witness upending a bullying lawyer who had just viciously attacked him, leaving the attacker reeling for all to see. What's with the almost cult-like reverence for this largely pseudo-intellectual entrepreneur?

You mean like the cult-like reverence for the pseudo-intellectual issues commentary on Twitter and Medium? The people who have less than a decade in the industry but are experts on compensation, ocracies, power dynamics, and psychology? The ones who work at Silicon Valley startups and lecture the entire industry about how things work, then surround themselves with like-minded people to have strength in numbers? You a…

What people (entrepreneurs, other investors, the public market) respect about PG is his judgment and pattern recognition. This comes from starting a few companies, and more importantly having the best seat in the house for watching new companies sprout and grow. This gives him pattern recognition well beyond most people. And this is why people respect what he has to say about both starting companies, and the raw inputs (people, ideas and money) needed to create them.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#522

Post by hrkristian » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 2:47 PM UTC

ryguytilidie wrote: post #418

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like the cult-like reverence for the pseudo-intellectual issues commentary on Twitter and Medium? The people who have less than a decade in the industry but are experts on compensation, ocracies, power dynamics, and psychology? The ones who work at Silicon Valley startups and lecture the entire industry about how things work, then surround themselves with like-minded people to have strength in numbers? You a…

I don't mean to get in the way of your hyperbole, but the person above you seemed to have no objection to "respecting" pg, he was taking issue with this: "pg's response is actually priceless: it is like a soft-spoken witness upending a bullying lawyer who had just viciously attacked him, leaving the attacker reeling for all to see." Which you don't mention at all in your response... "If you're under 40, I'm largely u…

I find there's some truth to his philosophy, though. There doesn't seem to go even a week between my having said or thought something, and then realising I've been a fool or at best not quite correct in my reasoning.

I'm 25 years old, and it's been one of -if not the- most important discovery of my life so far that compared to those older than me, I know hilariously little about (all aspects of) life.

Of course young people add value, we do after all make our own world by our subjective views, but those older than you generally have had more time to explore more of those views, and have a much richer notion of how things are and can be.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#523

Post by ericabiz » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 2:48 PM UTC

reallyseriously wrote: post #470

jusben1369 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey I think your intentions are in a good place but I think you're placing the onus on the wrong party. @ericabiz is very open, transparent and direct about what she has seen and heard. It sounds like she's quite talented and had a choice available to her in the marketplace. Based on her market research she went with what she believed to be the better option for her situation. It's possible that she may have decided…

"@ericabiz is very open, transparent and direct about what she has seen and heard." Really? Sounds like she just sat around with some friends who all agreed with each other without any knowledge of anything. Erica: "I've talked to many female founders and YC does have a reputation as a "frat house" "Genuine question: Did you reach out to any female founders who went through YC to ask about their experience?" Erica: "…

Those statements don't conflict. Not surprisingly, the female founders I talked to who felt that YC is a "frat house" did not apply or go to YC.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#524

Post by marcosdumay » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 2:51 PM UTC

pjscott wrote: post #429

apsec112 wrote: post #62

"I think everyone should have the media perform a hatchet job on them at least once. It’s this really scary feeling when you know you’re trying to be honest and do the right thing, and yet you see how easy it is for a hostile writer to cast every single thing you do as corrupt and destructive. And how quick everyone is to believe them. And how attempts to set the record straight get met with outraged “how dare you gi…

Even regular, non-hatchet-job journalism is usually pretty bad. Being reported on is a profoundly weird experience: open the paper, and see your day-to-day life distorted beyond recognition! It's pretty eye-opening. I think the best solution is to avoid most journalism altogether, and get news from blog posts by people who know what they're talking about, care about it, and have no reason to lie.

I was congratulated by a newspaper once. Scaring is a huge understatement, I avoid any interaction with formalized media since then.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#525

Post by 14113 » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 2:51 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #344

mjburgess wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're under 40, I'm largely uninterested in your take on the world. pg isnt peddling his "take on the world". He talks about serious academic topics in a chronically under and misinformed way. My 50 year old plumber knows jack about Metaphysics, Quantum Field Theory or Abstract Expressionism despite - as in a Louis CK bit - his seeing a dead body "one time". If you want to have a fire-side chat with him - be my…

> My 50 year old plumber knows jack about Metaphysics, Quantum Field Theory or Abstract Expressionism despite - as in a Louis CK bit - his seeing a dead body "one time". Well, most of the stuff guys "under 40" think they know about "Metaphysics, Quantum Field Theory or Abstract Expressionism" are a half-understood mismash too (I'm not talking about someone with a PhD in Physics here). And, as some they will find out…

>(I'm not talking about someone with a PhD in Physics here)

But that's kind of the point isn't it? We should judge people on their qualifications and achievements, not their age.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#526

Post by baudehlo » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 3:00 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #432

theorique wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's with the almost cult-like relevance for this largely pseudo-intellectual entrepreneur? - Founded a successful web apps company back in the 1990s when that wasn't common, and sold it to Yahoo - Founded Y Combinator to advise and invest in startups - Smart investor with substantial success and track record (Dropbox, AirBnB, etc) In other words, he's earned a reputation for doing some very smart things, and docum…

And was one of the first people to use probabilistic methods to fight spam, which is what finally made spam an almost non-issue.

For what it's worth, I wrote the code that did this in SpamAssassin just slightly before Pg published "A plan for spam". Although he had some very useful improvements to the algorithm which I rolled in.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#527

Post by argumentum » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 3:05 PM UTC

ericabiz wrote: post #523

reallyseriously wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"@ericabiz is very open, transparent and direct about what she has seen and heard." Really? Sounds like she just sat around with some friends who all agreed with each other without any knowledge of anything. Erica: "I've talked to many female founders and YC does have a reputation as a "frat house" "Genuine question: Did you reach out to any female founders who went through YC to ask about their experience?" Erica: "…

Those statements don't conflict. Not surprisingly, the female founders I talked to who felt that YC is a "frat house" did not apply or go to YC.

What does YC being a "frat house" have to do with applying though? I can understand why that perception may discourage someone from participating in YC, but the acceptance rate is so low that it seems like premature optimization to think beyond the application.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#528

Post by skylan_q » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 3:09 PM UTC

ericabiz wrote: post #32

As a female founder, I think this is a well-thought-out, articulate response, and I appreciate pg stepping up to say something about women in tech. In a similar vein, I'd love to see YC take on one or both of the following: 1) Do at least one application cycle completely blind. How could you accomplish this? Much like in the concert auditions where this was first tried, put people behind a curtain--and then use techn…

Publish more stats on the success of YC companies, and publish stats on % of female(, black, ...) founder applications submitted, % accepted, % funded after acceptance, etc.

Sorry, but this is a terrible route to go for YC as there's a huge risk of backlash to achieve nothing good. Say, for instance, that black co-founders had received more funding but achieved poorer returns on investment. A very simple interpretation of that data (not necessarily correct, but easy to formulate interpretation) would be that blacks are less successful than whites at getting a return on investment even with odds stacked in their favor. The conclusions and the data would then be deemed "racist" and YC would have shit all over its face. It doesn't even have to be right. There just has to be published data available for there to be a debate about race/sex, etc... leading to a toxic atmosphere around YC.

The reason data like this isn't collected is because VCs are interested in being politically neutral. Data on race and gender are a political powderkeg. PG said that women who haven't been hackers can't see the world as a hacker, and we see the shitstorm it's caused. Imagine if they were tracking stats based on race or gender? They'd be called nazis.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#529

Post by skylan_q » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 3:11 PM UTC

pdonis wrote: post #14

sillysaurus2 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little scary how powerful newspapers are at shaping public opinion. At least their reputation will be irreversibly damaged by breaking people's trust.

At least their reputation will be irreversibly damaged by breaking people's trust. I would love it if this were true, but I think it's way too optimistic.

It's not reputation that makes the media successful at programming people. It's the repetition and omnipresence of the repetition.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#530

Post by spajus » Tue, Dec 31, 2013, 3:13 PM UTC

1. Why is this so heavily upvoted? 2. How do you, startup people, find the time to write a novel in the comments of this "I didn't mean it" post? 3. Would you lick dirt off Paul's shoes if he allowed you?

Go write some code instead.