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At certain point in the article, he describes her aversion to give talks and talk to the press. This makes me think that YC Combinator should upgrade from a sc

by motoboi 11y ago

At certain point in the article, he describes her aversion to give talks and talk to the press. This makes me think that YC Combinator should upgrade from a school of entrepreneurs to a school of entrepreneurs advisers (which will create their own school of entrepreneurs). Something like going from a simple school to a school that trains teachers and them to a school that trains teachers how to train a new teacher of teachers. At this point, you can achieve self-sustenability. Wouldn't be great if YC model was replicated around the world (given the basic pre-requisites)? TL:DR It would be nice if YC Combinator tought people how do what Paul Graham does, the whole package.

josephpmay 11y ago
I think YC does that already, just not particularly publicly. I think the effects of the YC network are a good indicator that this is going on.
itchyouch 11y ago
As rare as good founders are to find, i'd argue that it's even rarer to find founder founders like PG & Jessica. Not to say that people like PG & Jessica are so rare that it couldnt happen via an institution, (i'd ague that most of the yc alumni could become founder founders), but the circumstances to become a PG & Jessica require a rare blend of both personal character development beyond just authenticity and a perfect alignment of opportunity to make for such an incubator. As soon as the process of an art form is institutionalized, one of the first things to go tend to be authenticity to the form of process and policy. It isn't that there is anything inherently wrong with institutionalizing something, but that authenticity and relationship development inherently do not scale, and the simplest way to make it scale is to exchange relationships for process & policy. Many day to day decisions could be made into an algorithm optimizing for the greater good, yet opportunities would be lost to scenarios akin to that of the scene in iRobot where the robot saves the adult man instead of the young girl from drowning because the robot calculated that the man had a higher chance of survival. decisions like these are where character is paramount.
theoh 11y ago
Jesus. Yes, there are different roles. The whole point of the original link is to acknowledge the contribution of Jessica Livingston in a maybe intuitive "tacit knowledge" register. So multiple divergent roles need to be cultivated. But please, this is not a "Futamura projections" scenario where building factories to build factories is called for. It would be the first time in the history of the world... right? http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.219431.12& http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.219431....
chejazi 11y ago
> It would be nice if YC Combinator tought people how do what Paul Graham does, the whole package. Paul Graham is NOT the whole package when it comes to YC - as stated in the essay.

by motoboi 11y ago

josephpmay 11y ago

I think YC does that already, just not particularly publicly. I think the effects of the YC network are a good indicator that this is going on.

itchyouch 11y ago

As rare as good founders are to find, i'd argue that it's even rarer to find founder founders like PG & Jessica. Not to say that people like PG & Jessica are so rare that it couldnt happen via an institution, (i'd ague that most of the yc alumni could become founder founders), but the circumstances to become a PG & Jessica require a rare blend of both personal character development beyond just authenticity and a perfect alignment of opportunity to make for such an incubator. As soon as the process of an art form is institutionalized, one of the first things to go tend to be authenticity to the form of process and policy. It isn't that there is anything inherently wrong with institutionalizing something, but that authenticity and relationship development inherently do not scale, and the simplest way to make it scale is to exchange relationships for process & policy. Many day to day decisions could be made into an algorithm optimizing for the greater good, yet opportunities would be lost to scenarios akin to that of the scene in iRobot where the robot saves the adult man instead of the young girl from drowning because the robot calculated that the man had a higher chance of survival. decisions like these are where character is paramount.

theoh 11y ago

Jesus. Yes, there are different roles. The whole point of the original link is to acknowledge the contribution of Jessica Livingston in a maybe intuitive "tacit knowledge" register. So multiple divergent roles need to be cultivated. But please, this is not a "Futamura projections" scenario where building factories to build factories is called for. It would be the first time in the history of the world... right? http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.219431.12& http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.219431....

chejazi 11y ago

> It would be nice if YC Combinator tought people how do what Paul Graham does, the whole package. Paul Graham is NOT the whole package when it comes to YC - as stated in the essay.