6 ms·

How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

84 points by holychiz 16y ago

If you're in the Bay Area, dying to sit down w/ Paul Graham, here's one quick and easy way to get what you want and help out a worthy cause at the same time. Bing Nursery School, affiliated with Stanford University and 1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US, is holding its annual Autumn fundraising auction on Sat. Nov. 13, 6pm, to raise money for scholarship fund, helping poor families to send their kids to Bing. Item #406 on the silent auction block is "Talk About Your Start-up w/ Paul Graham"!, estimate value is $500. The starting bid however is around $10. The auction is open to public. Here's a partial description of the item: "In this amazing opportunity, Paul will take you to lunch and spend an hour talking with you about your startup idea, or help you come up with an idea that is suited to you. Don't miss this once in a lifetime chance to help make your dream a reality!" http://www.stanford.edu/dept/bingschool/giving_harvestmoon.html Please help this worthy cause. Bing is an awesome school and I wish every parent can send their kids to Bing. Every year Bing staffs and parents put in so much efforts to raise around $300,000 so Bing can offer more scholarship to deserving families. This is your chance to help and get some help for yourself. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/bingschool/index.html Disclaimer: I'm a Bing parent and volunteering on the Solicitation team for this Bing auction. If you need help in either attending or bidding, please contact the school or PM me directly. Thanks. More disclaimer: Paul Graham has nothing to do with this submission. Add: if you want to bid and can't be at the auction, please contact Bing Nursery, they'll be happy to make arrangements for your bid.

cperciva 16y ago
1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US Ok, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Who the hell goes across the country compiling a list of the top ten nursery schools? I'm not convinced that such ratings are useful for universities, never mind high schools or lower tiers of education. The concept of a top-ten list of preschools just blows my mind. (I still think it's great that PG is contributing to this in such a unique fashion, though.)
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- ibejoeb 16y ago
  Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite experience for success. We call them the formative years for a reason, right?
  - rick_2047 16y ago
    okeyyyyy.... if you want to be reasonable try compiling a list of successful people who went to a top ten/100/1000 pre-school. If the number is significant then we will agree if not then we will not. (Btw, I don't think such a list would exist as it really doesn't matter.)
    - araneae 16y ago
      That doesn't control for wealth.
  - cperciva 16y ago
    I'm sure early education is very important, yes. But ranking universities is much easier than ranking preschools, for the simple reason that universities are big and few in number while preschools are small and plentiful.
    - j_baker 16y ago
      On the other hand, you don't have much educational data after university. You have 12 years of it after preschool.
  - mahmud 16y ago
    You're both off-topic and dead wrong. Don't you know there are tons of successful people who taught themselves everything from basic literacy to advanced sciences later in their life? Not even talking about "late bloomers", rather, people who lived illiterate well into their teens and twenties. How do you explain this ability to learn?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- geden 16y ago
  It's probably not the ideal thread, but this pushed me over the edge on education. The current education system is a dire sad long term problem that is writing off a large portion of society. I believe something more sensitive and human can grow out of it. Ken Robinson talks super lucidly about the destruction of creativity in children and the wider problems in schooling. That's great and the problem is now quite well defined. But we now need enlightened individuals to step up with solutions. We need to recognise it's the core problem humanity faces. We can't solve hard problems like energy and environmental degradation without first tackling the social problems perpetuated by Victorian schooling. Someone with a bunch of cash needs to step up and help get the ball rolling. - Define the desired outcome (ie. providing space and nurturing for the expression of individual talent) - Pick the best parts of the existing schooling methods/models (Victorian / Steiner / Montessori / Summerhill / Home Schooling) - Roll it out. Iterate. Recognise that educational needs are unique and change constantly. - People will come. I'm a parent of three kids. Almost all our friends (especially teachers!) would run at something - if relatively large scale and supported. Contact me if interested - maybe it's a startup! I'm really surprised there isn't more concerted action in this space.
  - asolove 16y ago
    I agree that something should be done to improve education, but am not convinced by this proposal. We want creative adults. The solution is not simply to "nurture expression" in children. Most of the creative output of world history came from adults who were schooled rigorously in the techniques of their field. Having creative adult mathematicians relies on developing skills and intuitions through rigorous training. You cannot "nurture" a child to do this. Unsurprisingly, then, having brilliantly creative composers, painters, politicians and business professionals also requires difficult training first. Our current educational system seems to over-emphasize the motions of developing analytical skills (without necessarily the rigor of showing that your analysis is right) and offers no opportunities to develop spatial skills. I don't mean the touchy-feely "modes of learning," I mean seriously being able to look in front of you and accurately discern the spatial relationships of the objects you see. So my suggestion would be: - Arts education beginning with basic drawing courses and branching out into other media. Studying art history to see how artists expressed themselves through styles of iconography, realism, expressionism, etc. But seriously, there are schools that do roughly what we are both talking about, and the key idea at all of them is to avoid this idea of a messianic administrator to lead them. At really good schools, administrators are just teachers of teachers (like Plato) and the teachers have the full power to do what they need.
- zmitri 16y ago
  A year at a "top" nursery school in New York City, can cost more than my entire university education (McGill University). Pretty scary thought right?
  - run4yourlives 16y ago
    Not really. PT Barnum and all.
  - infinite8s 16y ago
    You think that's bad? A year of daycare in NYC for a 1 year old costs about $24K. What's sad is the childcare FSA is indexed to the cost of living (it's only 5K).
kapitalx 16y ago
You'd probably raise more money if this specific item was an online auction.
- chrischen 16y ago
  Yea if it were online I'd bid my life savings (around $60 at the moment).
PStamatiou 16y ago
Link to donate directly (not related to the auction with pg): https://pgnet.stanford.edu/give/home?mop=CC&gfty=G&pgnTPC=75&stp=98&gdso=5&tgso=6&cturl=close&olc=10969 https://pgnet.stanford.edu/give/home?mop=CC&gfty=G&p...
dotBen 16y ago
Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most young startup founders that YC attracts are likely to have limited funds and putting everything into their startups? I guess I forget trust funds, "daddy's money" etc]
- olalonde 16y ago
  Up voted you because I agree that people who would really benefit this most likely don't have 500$ to spend. However, you're implying the 20k$ startups get from YC represents all the value derived from being a YC startup. If I ever apply to YC, it will be for press coverage, the YC network and sound advice.
  - dotBen 16y ago
    So, it's a bit of a long-running thing with me... that I continue to comment that YC = $20k + all the extra benefits. The issue I have with YC is that I think the 'extra benefits' can be gained in other ways that doesn't require you to put a valuation on your company. I've been living here in SF for many years and I feel I have access to many of the 'extra benefits' YC gives through my own network (without having to take a specific route of funding)
- JCThoughtscream 16y ago
  The valuation for his advice may be at $500, but it's pretty arbitrarily assigned, I suspect, and more to illustrate the perceived worth than to actually drive the auction for it to $500 or more.
- wlievens 16y ago
  Not really. If you have reasonable savings, but lots of doubts about any idea you can come up with, you fit in this category. I do. I would probably donate up to $500 for this prize, but mr Graham would have to fly to Europe :-)
hollywood7 16y ago
Related item?: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=444696 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=444696
chadp 16y ago
Do people think that this auction will only fetch $500? I would have thought it will be bid up to several thousand..
ig1 16y ago
Not to take away from the cause, but I'm guessing if you emailed PG during a quiet period and offered to buy him a $500 lunch he'd take you up on the offer :-)
sintesoro 16y ago
I find a little childish the phrase: Take you to lunch, it sound very passive, like taking a dog for a walk. It would be better something like: How to meet P.G. for discussing about your startup. Simple and effective.
- brudgers 16y ago
  "Take you to lunch" is a common phrase in American business (and social relations in general). The taker buys lunch for the taken. The implication is that the taker is making life easy for the taken, all the taken has to do is show up.
  - sintesoro 16y ago
    Thanks for the information about this American business phrase. The implication on an invitation is that who invites is trying to sell you something (there is no free lunch in business).
    - brudgers 16y ago
      Your correct that it is often a situation where the taker is selling. It can also be an expression of gratitude for a favor. However, there is another business scenario in which a mentor uses lunch as the opportunity to schedule time with their mentee. Sharing a meal often provides a less formal setting and fosters the personal relationship. This case appears to be a combination of the second and third scenarios.
ashleyreddy 16y ago
Ask PG: PG would you consider a 10 minute phone call for a $100 donation of the charity of your choice? I can't fly out to Palo Alto.
auctionmom 16y ago
If someone wants to bid on this item (or any others), he or she will need to attend or have someone attending bid on their behalf. The school will not be able to help remote bidders.
andrewcooke 16y ago
heh. in how many different ways is this rich people helping rich people stay rich?

84 points by holychiz 16y ago

cperciva 16y ago

1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US Ok, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Who the hell goes across the country compiling a list of the top ten nursery schools? I'm not convinced that such ratings are useful for universities, never mind high schools or lower tiers of education. The concept of a top-ten list of preschools just blows my mind. (I still think it's great that PG is contributing to this in such a unique fashion, though.)

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
ibejoeb 16y ago
Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite experience for success. We call them the formative years for a reason, right?
- rick_2047 16y ago
  okeyyyyy.... if you want to be reasonable try compiling a list of successful people who went to a top ten/100/1000 pre-school. If the number is significant then we will agree if not then we will not. (Btw, I don't think such a list would exist as it really doesn't matter.)
  - araneae 16y ago
    That doesn't control for wealth.
- cperciva 16y ago
  I'm sure early education is very important, yes. But ranking universities is much easier than ranking preschools, for the simple reason that universities are big and few in number while preschools are small and plentiful.
  - j_baker 16y ago
    On the other hand, you don't have much educational data after university. You have 12 years of it after preschool.
- mahmud 16y ago
  You're both off-topic and dead wrong. Don't you know there are tons of successful people who taught themselves everything from basic literacy to advanced sciences later in their life? Not even talking about "late bloomers", rather, people who lived illiterate well into their teens and twenties. How do you explain this ability to learn?
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
geden 16y ago
It's probably not the ideal thread, but this pushed me over the edge on education. The current education system is a dire sad long term problem that is writing off a large portion of society. I believe something more sensitive and human can grow out of it. Ken Robinson talks super lucidly about the destruction of creativity in children and the wider problems in schooling. That's great and the problem is now quite well defined. But we now need enlightened individuals to step up with solutions. We need to recognise it's the core problem humanity faces. We can't solve hard problems like energy and environmental degradation without first tackling the social problems perpetuated by Victorian schooling. Someone with a bunch of cash needs to step up and help get the ball rolling. - Define the desired outcome (ie. providing space and nurturing for the expression of individual talent) - Pick the best parts of the existing schooling methods/models (Victorian / Steiner / Montessori / Summerhill / Home Schooling) - Roll it out. Iterate. Recognise that educational needs are unique and change constantly. - People will come. I'm a parent of three kids. Almost all our friends (especially teachers!) would run at something - if relatively large scale and supported. Contact me if interested - maybe it's a startup! I'm really surprised there isn't more concerted action in this space.
- asolove 16y ago
  I agree that something should be done to improve education, but am not convinced by this proposal. We want creative adults. The solution is not simply to "nurture expression" in children. Most of the creative output of world history came from adults who were schooled rigorously in the techniques of their field. Having creative adult mathematicians relies on developing skills and intuitions through rigorous training. You cannot "nurture" a child to do this. Unsurprisingly, then, having brilliantly creative composers, painters, politicians and business professionals also requires difficult training first. Our current educational system seems to over-emphasize the motions of developing analytical skills (without necessarily the rigor of showing that your analysis is right) and offers no opportunities to develop spatial skills. I don't mean the touchy-feely "modes of learning," I mean seriously being able to look in front of you and accurately discern the spatial relationships of the objects you see. So my suggestion would be: - Arts education beginning with basic drawing courses and branching out into other media. Studying art history to see how artists expressed themselves through styles of iconography, realism, expressionism, etc. But seriously, there are schools that do roughly what we are both talking about, and the key idea at all of them is to avoid this idea of a messianic administrator to lead them. At really good schools, administrators are just teachers of teachers (like Plato) and the teachers have the full power to do what they need.
zmitri 16y ago
A year at a "top" nursery school in New York City, can cost more than my entire university education (McGill University). Pretty scary thought right?
- run4yourlives 16y ago
  Not really. PT Barnum and all.
- infinite8s 16y ago
  You think that's bad? A year of daycare in NYC for a 1 year old costs about $24K. What's sad is the childcare FSA is indexed to the cost of living (it's only 5K).

kapitalx 16y ago

You'd probably raise more money if this specific item was an online auction.

chrischen 16y ago
Yea if it were online I'd bid my life savings (around $60 at the moment).

PStamatiou 16y ago

Link to donate directly (not related to the auction with pg): https://pgnet.stanford.edu/give/home?mop=CC&gfty=G&pgnTPC=75&stp=98&gdso=5&tgso=6&cturl=close&olc=10969 https://pgnet.stanford.edu/give/home?mop=CC&gfty=G&p...

dotBen 16y ago

Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most young startup founders that YC attracts are likely to have limited funds and putting everything into their startups? I guess I forget trust funds, "daddy's money" etc]

olalonde 16y ago
Up voted you because I agree that people who would really benefit this most likely don't have 500$ to spend. However, you're implying the 20k$ startups get from YC represents all the value derived from being a YC startup. If I ever apply to YC, it will be for press coverage, the YC network and sound advice.
- dotBen 16y ago
  So, it's a bit of a long-running thing with me... that I continue to comment that YC = $20k + all the extra benefits. The issue I have with YC is that I think the 'extra benefits' can be gained in other ways that doesn't require you to put a valuation on your company. I've been living here in SF for many years and I feel I have access to many of the 'extra benefits' YC gives through my own network (without having to take a specific route of funding)
JCThoughtscream 16y ago
The valuation for his advice may be at $500, but it's pretty arbitrarily assigned, I suspect, and more to illustrate the perceived worth than to actually drive the auction for it to $500 or more.
wlievens 16y ago
Not really. If you have reasonable savings, but lots of doubts about any idea you can come up with, you fit in this category. I do. I would probably donate up to $500 for this prize, but mr Graham would have to fly to Europe :-)

hollywood7 16y ago

Related item?: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=444696 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=444696

chadp 16y ago

Do people think that this auction will only fetch $500? I would have thought it will be bid up to several thousand..

ig1 16y ago

Not to take away from the cause, but I'm guessing if you emailed PG during a quiet period and offered to buy him a $500 lunch he'd take you up on the offer :-)

sintesoro 16y ago

I find a little childish the phrase: Take you to lunch, it sound very passive, like taking a dog for a walk. It would be better something like: How to meet P.G. for discussing about your startup. Simple and effective.

brudgers 16y ago
"Take you to lunch" is a common phrase in American business (and social relations in general). The taker buys lunch for the taken. The implication is that the taker is making life easy for the taken, all the taken has to do is show up.
- sintesoro 16y ago
  Thanks for the information about this American business phrase. The implication on an invitation is that who invites is trying to sell you something (there is no free lunch in business).
  - brudgers 16y ago
    Your correct that it is often a situation where the taker is selling. It can also be an expression of gratitude for a favor. However, there is another business scenario in which a mentor uses lunch as the opportunity to schedule time with their mentee. Sharing a meal often provides a less formal setting and fosters the personal relationship. This case appears to be a combination of the second and third scenarios.

ashleyreddy 16y ago

Ask PG: PG would you consider a 10 minute phone call for a $100 donation of the charity of your choice? I can't fly out to Palo Alto.

auctionmom 16y ago

If someone wants to bid on this item (or any others), he or she will need to attend or have someone attending bid on their behalf. The school will not be able to help remote bidders.

andrewcooke 16y ago

heh. in how many different ways is this rich people helping rich people stay rich?