3 ms·
> "3. Founders themselves are far more savvy today, on average, than was the case a decade ago." I've heard this a bunch of times. Why is this the case? Is it
by dkasper 16y ago
> "3. Founders themselves are far more savvy today, on average, than was the case a decade ago."
I've heard this a bunch of times. Why is this the case? Is it the information available to founders, the quality of people choosing to do startups, or something else?
- vidar 16y agoIn part because of YC, but in general because of, well... the internet. Stories spread.
- grellas 16y agoI have worked closely with all sorts of founders over the years and can say that it is not the quality of the people choosing to do startups that is making the difference (though the current group is certainly as bright as any other). It is just that founders were pretty much in the dark about how startups worked and about a lot of the business principles that tend to promote success. Today, forums like HN (and many others as well), together with all the social networking services that connect people instantly, allow prospective founders to gather an enormous amount of information about such basic things as how companies are set up legally, how good business ideas are formed and executed upon, how marketing works, etc., etc., often tied directly to the very niche they are targeting. Founders also know a lot more about funding and funding options, where a decade ago most of them needed detailed explanations just to begin to understand what preferred stock or restricted stock or similar items even were. People make the same types of blunders today that they always did but, with the greater information available to them (and the network of people with whom they can readily connect), the smart ones don't need to sit on the sidelines guessing or trying to get an introduction to some remote and removed VC to try to figure it all out. This has indeed made a great difference in the relative bargaining power of founders today as opposed even to a few years ago.