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I recall seeing a comment by Paul Graham somewhere to the effect that Zuckerberg set off his "founder detector" very strongly. This was after Zuckerberg was su

I recall seeing a comment by Paul Graham somewhere to the effect that Zuckerberg set off his "founder detector" very strongly. This was after Zuckerberg was successful, admittedly, but it at least gives some suggestion that someone skilled at recognizing founders would have seen his potential.

deleted 9y ago
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TheCowboy 9y ago
Unless you saw something else, he was making a joke about having his own biases, not that he could identify Zuckerberg due to keen founder detection instincts: > And Graham knew that he had his own biases. “I can be tricked by anyone who looks like Mark Zuckerberg. There was a guy once who we funded who was terrible. I said: ‘How could he be bad? He looks like Zuckerberg!’ ” http://www.paulgraham.com/tricked.html http://www.paulgraham.com/tricked.html
- ScottBurson 9y ago
  No, it wasn't that. I don't see it on paulgraham.com. It was probably an HN comment.
  - Janessa345 9y ago
    I get paid over $95 per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I'd be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless. Heres what I've been doing, •••••••••>>http://www.joinmate2.com http://www.joinmate2.com
  - TimJRobinson 9y ago
    You're probably thinking of this interview at startup school: https://youtu.be/MGsalg2f9js https://youtu.be/MGsalg2f9js (7:40)
deleted 9y ago
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dharmon 9y ago
It wasn't a comment on HN, but during an interview (video) he did with MZ on YC. I don't have a link, but that may help. Zuckerburg was telling a story of how he built a "social" website to share notes for an art history class, except he didn't have any notes himself but got everyone to share theirs so he could pass his exam. This supposedly was an early experience that started him thinking about social websites and sharing online. PG then commented how his internal alarm was going off saying "fund him. Fund him", and how even though it was too late he can't shut off his brains instinct to sniff out good founders.
- lazyjones 9y ago
  > Zuckerburg was telling a story[...]PG then commented how his internal alarm was going off saying "fund him. Is this a story about PG's amazing "founder detector" or perhaps one about the learnable skill of telling a good story to potential investors?
  - srtjstjsj 9y ago
    It's a story of how PG loves people who are "naughty" and know how to combine technical chops with an "screw over everyone around me to get ahead" attitude. AirBnB is the quintessential YC story.
- TimJRobinson 9y ago
  Video is https://youtu.be/MGsalg2f9js https://youtu.be/MGsalg2f9js at 7:40

deleted 9y ago

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TheCowboy 9y ago

Unless you saw something else, he was making a joke about having his own biases, not that he could identify Zuckerberg due to keen founder detection instincts: > And Graham knew that he had his own biases. “I can be tricked by anyone who looks like Mark Zuckerberg. There was a guy once who we funded who was terrible. I said: ‘How could he be bad? He looks like Zuckerberg!’ ” http://www.paulgraham.com/tricked.html http://www.paulgraham.com/tricked.html

ScottBurson 9y ago
No, it wasn't that. I don't see it on paulgraham.com. It was probably an HN comment.
- Janessa345 9y ago
  I get paid over $95 per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. I never thought I'd be able to do it but my best friend earns over 10k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The potential with this is endless. Heres what I've been doing, •••••••••>>http://www.joinmate2.com http://www.joinmate2.com
- TimJRobinson 9y ago
  You're probably thinking of this interview at startup school: https://youtu.be/MGsalg2f9js https://youtu.be/MGsalg2f9js (7:40)

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

dharmon 9y ago

It wasn't a comment on HN, but during an interview (video) he did with MZ on YC. I don't have a link, but that may help. Zuckerburg was telling a story of how he built a "social" website to share notes for an art history class, except he didn't have any notes himself but got everyone to share theirs so he could pass his exam. This supposedly was an early experience that started him thinking about social websites and sharing online. PG then commented how his internal alarm was going off saying "fund him. Fund him", and how even though it was too late he can't shut off his brains instinct to sniff out good founders.

lazyjones 9y ago
> Zuckerburg was telling a story[...]PG then commented how his internal alarm was going off saying "fund him. Is this a story about PG's amazing "founder detector" or perhaps one about the learnable skill of telling a good story to potential investors?
- srtjstjsj 9y ago
  It's a story of how PG loves people who are "naughty" and know how to combine technical chops with an "screw over everyone around me to get ahead" attitude. AirBnB is the quintessential YC story.
TimJRobinson 9y ago
Video is https://youtu.be/MGsalg2f9js https://youtu.be/MGsalg2f9js at 7:40