8 ms·
Paul Graham on Mixergy, today 2pm EST/11am PST
- ANH 17y agoAndrew Warner (founder of Mixergy) has a great interviewing style. Should be good.
- acangiano 17y agoI think Andrew is doing an amazing job. My respect for him skyrocketed when I watched his interview with the bribe kid. He handled that extremely professionally.
- iconfinder 17y agoHe's really great at interviewing these guys. I always have an interview ready on my iPod. I hope he keep doing this.
- bendtheblock 17y agoAbsolutely - he always seems to ask what I want him to ask next. And a podcast a day - astonishing output and great interviewees. The advice in these interviews, along with advice on HN, constitutes my main source of not-on-the-job entrepreneurial learning, a sort of 'startup MBA'.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- staunch 17y agoI just hope it's a lengthy interview. I don't think I've ever seen an in-depth interview with PG.
- bootload 17y ago"...I don't think I've ever seen an in-depth interview with PG. ..." I've seen one. The interview was by David Weinberger and you can see it here (16:52) ~ http://media-cyber.law.harvard.edu/VideoBerkman/paul_graham_2006-11-08.mov http://media-cyber.law.harvard.edu/VideoBerkman/paul_graham_... Interesting & talks about YC, Taste for makers.
- AndrewWarner 17y agoI'm aiming for about an hour. I haven't seen lengthy interviews with pg either, which made my research harder.
- loganfrederick 17y agoHere is a one-hour interview (audio) Paul Graham did with EconTalk on Startups: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/08/graham_on_start.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/08/graham_on_start.htm...
- AndrewWarner 17y agoIf you have any questions, add them here. I'll check these comments about 10 minutes before we go live. The focus is the biography of Y Combinator. Along the way I'd like to learn how pg gives the kind of insight that past Mixergy guests said turned their businesses around.
- todd3834 17y agoHow much time should be invested in an idea before approaching YC for seed funding (or more importantly the mentorship) and if rejected once does it hurt your chance at being accepted a second, third of fourth try with different ideas?
- pg 17y agoYou should talk to us when you're ready to go fulltime on the startup; it doesn't matter how much time you've spent thinking about the idea. We often fund people on the second or third try.
- todd3834 17y agoAs a programmer with a decent design ability... what talents should be sought after in a co-founder when building a web application. My gut feeling is a UEX/Design expert would provide the most benefit.
- pg 17y agoDetermination.
- iamwil 17y agoWhat's usually the biggest mental hurdle for hackers to transition into entrepreneurs? An understanding of their market? An empathy for users? How to tell a compelling story about their product? Were past YC alumni who were more hacker-ish molded into entrepreneurs through YC, or did they already come in with such a mindset?
- 17y ago
- icey 17y agoI'd like to know who the first company that YC wanted to invest in was - whether or not they were able to and if it worked out (in case it's a company we don't know the name of). I'd also like to know if there are parallels in running an venture firm to running a startup. Does it take the same kind of guts? Do you get discouraged from a lot of failures? etc
- pg 17y agoThere were 8 simultaneously in the first cycle. Some definitely worked out: Reddit (which was a merger of 2 from that batch), Loopt, Textpayme (the first YC funded startup to be acquired), and Kiko (which was not itself a big success, but afterward the founders started Justin.TV).
- maxklein 17y agoMy questions: - Is he always calm? Does he ever get angry and throw things around? - Has he ever 'cut off' a YC company from access to YC? - What is the current relationship between YC and the early successful companies like reddit and loopt. Is there any? Do they call ever now and then? - What proportion of YC applicants come from name-brand universities? - If a YC company becomes a lifestyle company, does YC still profit? Or does YC only profit on a big sale? - If a YC company folds and significantly changes, like DraftMix, is YC still involved in the new company, or do they lose their 6% when the company changes? - What mobile phone does he use? - Would he accept a patch to get rid of the tables on news.ycombinator and change to css?
- mpstx 17y agoAdditionally: - What is his opinion of the risk/reward trade-off in attempting to do lots of co-marketing between early stage companies? - Is any publicity good publicity when you're small?
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- pg 17y agoOnly my eyebrows; we once sold our stock in one; we talk quite frequently to the Reddit and Loopt founders; I'm not sure, maybe 1/3; we only make money if there's an exit; it depends whether the new idea is the same company-- bluefrog is; some crappy old Motorola flip phone; you would have to reach deep into the Arc libraries to do that.
- padmanabhan01 17y agoWhat's the reason behind using the motorola phone? to avoid distractions?
- pg 17y agoYou mean not getting an iPhone? Yes, because I already spend too much time online. The last thing I need is for it to follow me out into the world.
- wallflower 17y agoHow do you gauge how well founders gel/get along/chemistry/rapport? Is there hope for non-technical founders? How do you redefine failure?
- pchristensen 17y agoRE non-technical founders: the first part of building a company is building a successful product/service, and technical founders can do that with sweat equity. Non-technical founders can still add value, but they need technical people to make the product. Spencer Fry of CarbonMade has written some great stuff about duties for non-technical founders: http://spencerfry.com/whats-a-non-programmer-to-do http://spencerfry.com/whats-a-non-programmer-to-do
- antidaily 17y agoMy question: Consulting treadmill - how do I get off it without a killer app idea?
- mrduncan 17y agoApply to YC.
- jasonkester 17y agoI never understood why people consider consulting to be a "treadmill". For me, a consulting gig is an instantaneous injection of capital and another 6-9 months runway for the entrepreneurial stuff. I mean, a 1-month gig will pay your rent for the year. Another one will pay for your servers, hosting, dev machine and food. The rest of the time is yours to spend as you like. Is it possible that people are doing "consulting" work for <$50/hr and mistaking it for the real thing? That, in my mind, is not consulting but rather "being taken advantage of." Especially if you do it in an office surrounded by other employees in a similar position.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- antidaily 17y agoConsulting is a pie-eating contest where the reward is more pie. If you're good, you get just enough work to keep you from doing something else. I know I'm not alone here.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- btilly 17y agoReduce your personal expenses and you can acquire a surplus. If you let your personal expenses expand to meet your cash flow, you'll never have excess cash flow to do with as you please.
- jasonkester 17y ago
- edw519 17y agoMy questions: - What advice would pg (2010 instance) give to pg (2004 instance)? - What property of the 4 yc partners, if removed, would do the most damage? - What has surprised you the most? - What is the biggest mistake people have made? - What is the biggest thing that will have to be different (about yc) in the future? - What kind of yc startup is most likely to hit a grand slam home run?
- pg 17y agoWow, these are good questions. But it's 10:58 so I'll try to answer them afterward. Edit: Answers: 1. Not to be influenced by credentials. Where people went to school in particular. 2. Our own determination, probably. We need it too, not just the founders. 3. How many people just give up. 4. That founders have made? Building stuff users don't really care about. 5. Doing everything on a larger scale. 6. The kind with the right founders.
- adrianwaj 17y agoPeople are hard-wired to give up. There has to be a carrot, stick or both to overcome it. Ideally, just wanting to make a change, or being really excited by something is what keeps people going against the odds: like Steve Jobs. Developers are basically problem solvers, I suspect giving up occurs when a certain set of problems seem or have proven to be insurmountable.
- JimFMunro 17y agoYou've had quite a few guests on Mixergy that started their own businesses solo, without partners. PG has repeated that most of the companies he's looked at have at least 2 founders. Has he changed his views on this any or is this still the main advice? Either way, what would he look for in a single-founder startup (besides being Relentlessly Resourceful).
- pg 17y agoNot much different than we'd look for in founders generally.
- marciovm123 17y agoAndrew Warner: "how does a talk start a revolution?" (re: pg's talk at harvard that led to YC) pg: "hmmmmmm (laughs)" That would have been an awesome talk to have attended...
- ericd 17y agoYeah, it was a (I believe related) talk of his at MIT that really got me thinking seriously about rejecting the big cubicle farms and doing a startup... before that, it was just an unrealistic-seeming dream. I'm still amazed by the effect he had with one speech, but it was just what I needed to hear.
- quellhorst 17y agoMy question: Why does Paul Graham think you must be in silicon valley when doing an Internet startup? Living expenses there are expensive, broadband is available everywhere, and many people are outside the valley and successful.
- pchristensen 17y agoCommunity, getting away from "home" helps with intense concentration, more access to mentorship, investors, partners, etc.
- abossy 17y agohttp://www.paulgraham.com/revolution.html http://www.paulgraham.com/revolution.html
- DanielBMarkham 17y agoFrom a Y Combinator's "customer's" standpoint, (the new companies applying) with all the iterations and increased class sizes, what's to keep the magic sauce from disappearing? Can larger class sizes get the same attention from you guys as founders did during the first session?
- pg 17y agoWe can measure that. Founders book office hours online. We know the founders are getting enough attention (by their standards) if not all office hour slots get taken.
- DanielBMarkham 17y agoJust out of curiosity, how many hours do you guys keep open each week for office hours? Or is that something you'd rather not say?
- pg 17y agoDepends on the time of year. People want to talk a lot more the week before Demo Day than in April. On average I'd guess 10-15 hours a week. But I also talk to startups outside office hours; e.g. at the dinners, which span about 6 hours each.
- xiaoma 17y agoI know YC recruits founders from all over. However as someone in Asia seeing more and more great Chinese web services, I'd love to know if any YC companies primarily serve a non-English speaking market.
- pg 17y agoI think iJigg does.
- vaksel 17y agocan a mod edit out the title since the interview is over?
- adamsmith 17y agoI was able to get (at least the beginning) to play at the archive: http://www.justin.tv/mixergy/archive http://www.justin.tv/mixergy/archive
- covercash 17y agoFrom the interview: Jessica Livingston is working on a second edition of Founders At Work.
- icey 17y agoThis was a great interview; I can't wait until it's available online to watch again. I had to take a few phone calls during it so I missed a few things.
- nkh 17y agoTo rewatch, or see for the first time, here is the link: http://www.justin.tv//mixergy#from=11.00%252CFebruary-9-2010&r=171fziU http://www.justin.tv//mixergy#from=11.00%252CFebruary-9-2010...
- pg 17y agoThat link doesn't seem to work.
- nkh 17y agoWhen I paste the following in Chrome it works: http://www.justin.tv//mixergy#from-11.04,February-9-2010 http://www.justin.tv//mixergy#from-11.04,February-9-2010 The link changes after the pages loads
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- Sukotto 17y agoLink doesn't work. "Sorry, we couldn't understand the date and time '11.00%2CFebruary-9-2010'." Click the link under the video pane to get to the archives... archive for Feb 9 is 10 minutes of some guy with super-short hair looking into the camera and drinking from a cup... with wacky indian-ish background music. The picture almost completely obscures some kind of moving text... with an occasional glimpse of the phrase "Paul Graham" ... WTF? Searching for "mixergy" in the justintv search box comes back with no results and a suggestion to watch a video about Bioshock 2
- philwelch 17y ago"archive for Feb 9 is 10 minutes of some guy with super-short hair looking into the camera and drinking from a cup... with wacky indian-ish background music" Yeah, that's exactly what was on the channel post-interview. "Some guy" is actually Andrew Warner, though.
- deleted 17y ago
- AndrewWarner 17y agoThe video is edited and posted along with an MP3 download & transcript. http://mixergy.com/y-combinator-paul-graham/ http://mixergy.com/y-combinator-paul-graham/
- patio11 17y agoThanks Andrew. I didn't get to see it live, but that is my favorite interview you've done (and that is in a group of quite interesting ones). Also thanks to pg.
- orionlogic 17y agoGlad Y-combinator think about graphic designer. it reminds my post a few years ago http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50375 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50375