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Paul Graham's Mixergy interview - How YC helped 172 startups take off
- covercash 17y agoBe sure to check out PG's q&a in the live announcement discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1112617 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1112617
- fbu 17y agoThat's a terrific interview, but now I'd want an interview of Jessica Livingstone as she appears to have the nag to spot what makes great founders.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- aaronblohowiak 17y agothe knack ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/knack http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/knack ) , not the nag ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nag http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nag ). They mean very different things.
- fbu 17y agoThanks for the english, always good to know
- btilly 17y agoThe biggest surprise for me is that Paul claims he personally has to look the Y-combinator pattern up on Wikipedia. Though I suspect some false modesty here because he didn't want to side track the interview. As for the rest, lots of interesting details in the general theme that I've come to expect from him. The phrase I like that sums it up is Ready! Fire! Aim! (Add appropriate discussion of tracer bullets.)
- felideon 17y agoI'm not sure he actually said he looked it up on Wikipedia. Just that he always had to look it up. (I'd have to re-watch it to be sure.) The interviewer was the one who said he had read the definition on Wikipedia. Unless pg was also implying that.
- btilly 17y agoThe automated transcript said that Paul said it. I did not listen to the presentation, so I don't know whether the automated transcript was wrong.
- harman 17y agoInteresting interview, nice to hear from PG, how Y Combinator evolved. Look forward to have something like Y Combinator in India.
- icey 17y agoThere is something like YCombinator in India: http://iaccelerator.org/ http://iaccelerator.org/
- chaosprophet 17y agoAnd it drew a lot of flak for trying to compare itself to YC [http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=842882 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=842882]
- sushi 17y agoNobody has heard of this Indian version and more than that: 1)What are the credentials of the guy/organization who started it? Well IIM, the parent behind this clone produces managers and in Tech World, Managers are not good at anything. As Jason Fried said in that bigthink interview, the managers just interrupt and don't let the real doers do their job. 2)How many companies they have invested in? Well, not many. 3)Look at the portfolio and tell me if you have heard of any company. I live in India and I have not heard of single one myself. let alone someone far away in US. Just like PG himself mentioned in the interview that you can go to The Valley and pitch for your idea. Many people from other countries go to the camp. I for one, won't waste my time with any Indian or Asian version. I want real stuff else I am OK without it.
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- medianama 17y agoyou don't have to be so harsh. At least they are trying. Better than nothing.
- amohr 17y agoMoral of the story: If you get an interview, be really nice to Jessica.
- weaksauce 17y agoAs an aside, I cannot stand people being rude to people that they perceive as the receptionist or somehow lesser in stature to them. Take someone out to lunch and watch how they interact with the waiter and that will tell you a lot about their character.
- Brushfire 17y agoCouldn't agree more. Its amazing how entitled some people feel. Restaurants are probably the best example, especially when people are outrageous to the waiter, hostess, or barback when problems are clearly outside of their control (kitchen issues, staffing issues). Other good places to judge this characteristic: Taxi Cabs and customer-support calls (you dont need to be on the call, simply listening to the person will tell you enough). Also, to be clear, that doesnt mean that people have to be doormats - just not a complete asshole. Empathy goes a long way. I try to avoid doing business with people who fail this test - is usually means they are highly emotional / rash about decisions, or that they don't mind badgering other people to get their way. Both are bad.
- patio11 17y agoTrue story: recently, I was having dinner with a young lady and she discovered a hair in her food. She said "Call the waiter over and chew him out for me." If dates could be awarded Darwin Awards, that line won two.
- yannis 17y agoNice story, I hope you said 'sorry love that's mine' and poked your fingers in her food to take it out:)
- cakesy 17y ago
- patio11 17y agoWorth the hour of your time. One of many interesting tidbits was what personality traits predict success in YC founders (positive: determination, raw intelligence, and ability to sell $30,000 of Obama-branded cereal boxes, negative: meek body language).
- fleaflicker 17y agonot to mention that the reddits won jessica over by being "cute"
- gcheong 17y agoThe muffins!
- kn0thing 17y agoI wanted to read these comments before watching the interview... big mistake.
- kn0thing 17y agoOK, I'm listening to the interview. And confirming that everyone now knows about "the muffins." Andrew, I love what you're doing at Mixergy, but you weren't giving enough credit to Steve. I hope I didn't say in our interview that there was something in me that made YC call us back or something in me that they saw. If I did (sorry, it's late here and I'm too lazy to relisten to our interview) I'm taking this comment field to correct myself and stress that for whatever reason we got called back (evidently it's a muffin-ness thing, that is, who we were - not our idea) was at the very least because of Steve and me and at most because of Steve alone. Keep in mind, I was the only non-technical co-founder during that first round of YC. If only I (or me and my clone) had applied to YC, I can guarantee I/we wouldn't have even gotten invited for an interview.
- kn0thing 17y agoedit for clarity: >[...] was either because of Steve and me OR because of Steve alone.
- antidaily 17y ago"And, like, who gives a fuck about China? When did [google] make the decision to make their search engine work on a whole bunch of crappy cheap computers? That's important!" I loved that.
- alabut 17y agoI know I'm not the only poker player on here that loved that Matt Maroon was the first person PG thought of when singling out characteristics of founders. And even better - now it makes our biweekly YC poker game actually feel productive. I'm only half-joking. I definitely don't think it's a coincidence that I started playing the game over the same period of years that I grew the itch to join and launch startups. It can be just a fun way to blow off steam but as someone born to very non-entrepreneurial parents, it also taught me a whole bunch of lessons that I never got from school or other jobs: * how to read people and situations * combine gut instincts with rational analysis * understand other people's motivations * do it all quickly, with money on the line and while keeping the fun party atmosphere going by not being a hypercompetitive dick.
- fleaflicker 17y agoi thought he mentioned matt as somebody easily capable of duping him in the interview
- alanthonyc 17y agoIs it all hold-em all the time, round robin, dealer's choice, or what?
- alabut 17y agoNo limit holdem, the only game worth playing :)
- 17y ago
- a123b 17y agoPaul, if you're here and have the time, can you define what you mean by "wimps"?
- dabent 17y agoI loved the way Paul seems to concentrate on his strengths and works with other people who have strengths where he doesn't. He can concentrate on turning a startup into a winner, knowing he's got good legal advice and someone to judge people in 10 minutes flat.
- gridspy 17y agoI think that is an important strength in any successful entrepreneur, leader or manager. I love the whole "hire experts and get out of the way" approach to team building.
- amohr 17y agohere's the docs page he mentioned: http://ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html http://ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html
- wallflower 17y agoAndrew, thanks for the shout out. I like your interview style because it is you, especially because you're always trying to improve your interviewing skills.
- gridspy 17y agoAndrew: I love your "Home of the ambitious Upstart" along with a great deal of praise for your interviewing style. I look forward to being a success and doing an interview with you. Paul: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. I really enjoyed meeting you in video form and hope that we can chat sometime. I love HN and thanks for investing your time in this "time sink" (as you described it). I for one spend a lot of time thinking about YC, even though I am way too busy making Gridspy work to come out and do a YC round.
- apgwoz 17y agoI really enjoy Mixergy interviews. Andrew is doing an incredible job--this was no exception. I'm also enjoying The Changelog, which is similar, though they interview people who contribute to OOS. I think my favorite quote has to be: "You're in Beunos Aires? That's the Internet for you."