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[YC partners are] outspoken, honest, straight-to-the-point and totally bullshit-free. You can...get encouragement from them in hard times. I'm wondering if th

[YC partners are] outspoken, honest, straight-to-the-point and totally bullshit-free. You can...get encouragement from them in hard times. I'm wondering if the first ever interferes with the second? E.g., if you worked hard on something and they tell you it's not good.

pmjordan 16y ago
Experiments often fail, no matter how hard you try. That doesn't mean there isn't anything encouraging left to say.
martinkl 16y ago
Honest criticism is encouraging, at least if you approach it with the right attitude. Sure, you might feel down for half an hour, but once you digest the criticism there are two possible responses: 1. "You have a point, I had a niggling feeling that my stuff wasn't good anyway, but now I have ideas on how to make it better."; or 2. "Thanks for your opinion, but you are wrong, and I'm going to prove it!" Both are motivating outcomes of honest criticism.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  Both are motivating outcomes of honest criticism. I just pointed a few things out to a potential partner and a fellow entrepreneur. Namely, that he might have good ideas, but that he's not a programmer and it shows. Some matters of fact from our conversation: - Does not know enough to know what's hard and what's a solved problem - Does not have a colleague or advisor he can hash these things out with in close collaboration and learn from - Wastes a lot of time with underlings who just tell him "well, if you can draw it out, we can implement it" but don't try to communicate with him further So I just up and told him those things. I told him he needs an equal who understands the implementation end, and that a good working relationship with such a person would save him lots of time, prevent costly mistakes, and result in unexpected synergies. In a moment, I decided that I want to see how this fellow reacts to getting a little truth-tap to the head. Unfortunately, I was disappointed, as he immediately started to puff himself up as a defense mechanism. Oh well, I guess I'll keep on looking.

pmjordan 16y ago

Experiments often fail, no matter how hard you try. That doesn't mean there isn't anything encouraging left to say.

martinkl 16y ago

Honest criticism is encouraging, at least if you approach it with the right attitude. Sure, you might feel down for half an hour, but once you digest the criticism there are two possible responses: 1. "You have a point, I had a niggling feeling that my stuff wasn't good anyway, but now I have ideas on how to make it better."; or 2. "Thanks for your opinion, but you are wrong, and I'm going to prove it!" Both are motivating outcomes of honest criticism.

stcredzero 16y ago
Both are motivating outcomes of honest criticism. I just pointed a few things out to a potential partner and a fellow entrepreneur. Namely, that he might have good ideas, but that he's not a programmer and it shows. Some matters of fact from our conversation: - Does not know enough to know what's hard and what's a solved problem - Does not have a colleague or advisor he can hash these things out with in close collaboration and learn from - Wastes a lot of time with underlings who just tell him "well, if you can draw it out, we can implement it" but don't try to communicate with him further So I just up and told him those things. I told him he needs an equal who understands the implementation end, and that a good working relationship with such a person would save him lots of time, prevent costly mistakes, and result in unexpected synergies. In a moment, I decided that I want to see how this fellow reacts to getting a little truth-tap to the head. Unfortunately, I was disappointed, as he immediately started to puff himself up as a defense mechanism. Oh well, I guess I'll keep on looking.