5 ms·

The take away for me is no matter how good you are, you still need to sell yourself.

dmix 11y ago
*if you care about public recognition from journalists (or bloggers might be the better word) who fail to properly research their subjects.
dasil003 11y ago
In my estimation the desperate desire to be recognized is behind some of the worst cultural shift in SV in the last 20 years. The article even states specifically how Jessica's very strengths would be undermined by becoming more visible. If your comment is because you failed to recognize Jessica's talents, you should ask yourself whether that has negatively impacted her life in any way?
- kelukelugames 11y ago
  What? I have no idea what your question is getting at.
talsraviv 11y ago
I understand why you might arrive at that conclusion, but think about another level: What did Jessica Livingston lose or miss out on by not promoting herself to the public? I would argue that she missed out on nothing that matters.
- nostrademons 11y ago
  I think that's the calculus that she figured on when she made the decision not to be a public figure. I suspect that the recent articles playing up her role are because she & YC realized that there is something they're missing out on: millions of potential female founders are not starting companies because they don't have strong role models. This hurts YC in a financial sense, but even beyond that: if your mission is to increase the amount of startups and innovation in the world, then having half the world's population disqualify themselves because they don't have many good examples of it being done before is losing out.
zodiac 11y ago
How so? It seems from this essay that Jessica achieved a lot of goals she wanted to achieve without having to sell herself.
whatever_dude 11y ago
I believe you have missed the point. You should think about reading the article again. The fact that "she failed to be recognized because she doesn't sell herself" does not translate into "she should sell herself", because the very act of doing so can undermine what makes her be so good at what she does. And in fact, a lot of people don't care about selling themselves well, so why put so much effort and time into something a) they don't like b) they don't need?

dmix 11y ago

*if you care about public recognition from journalists (or bloggers might be the better word) who fail to properly research their subjects.

dasil003 11y ago

In my estimation the desperate desire to be recognized is behind some of the worst cultural shift in SV in the last 20 years. The article even states specifically how Jessica's very strengths would be undermined by becoming more visible. If your comment is because you failed to recognize Jessica's talents, you should ask yourself whether that has negatively impacted her life in any way?

kelukelugames 11y ago
What? I have no idea what your question is getting at.

talsraviv 11y ago

I understand why you might arrive at that conclusion, but think about another level: What did Jessica Livingston lose or miss out on by not promoting herself to the public? I would argue that she missed out on nothing that matters.

nostrademons 11y ago
I think that's the calculus that she figured on when she made the decision not to be a public figure. I suspect that the recent articles playing up her role are because she & YC realized that there is something they're missing out on: millions of potential female founders are not starting companies because they don't have strong role models. This hurts YC in a financial sense, but even beyond that: if your mission is to increase the amount of startups and innovation in the world, then having half the world's population disqualify themselves because they don't have many good examples of it being done before is losing out.

zodiac 11y ago

How so? It seems from this essay that Jessica achieved a lot of goals she wanted to achieve without having to sell herself.

whatever_dude 11y ago

I believe you have missed the point. You should think about reading the article again. The fact that "she failed to be recognized because she doesn't sell herself" does not translate into "she should sell herself", because the very act of doing so can undermine what makes her be so good at what she does. And in fact, a lot of people don't care about selling themselves well, so why put so much effort and time into something a) they don't like b) they don't need?