5 ms·

So, what's up with these insane hours? You've written about the need for working long hours, but aren't Michael Parkatti and Mike Marrone taking it a bit too f

So, what's up with these insane hours? You've written about the need for working long hours, but aren't Michael Parkatti and Mike Marrone taking it a bit too far?

pg 18y ago
As far as I can tell, how hard people work has little correlation with whether they have follower-type personalities. It does, however, have quite a high correlation with working on a startup. So my guess is the cause is that they're working on a startup.
- danielharan 18y ago
  So do you condone working such long hours that founders are routinely sleep deprived?
  - ed 18y ago
    Quit trolling. Clearly it's the founder's decision how many hours to work, not PG's.
  - staunch 18y ago
    "Even during Viaweb I still slept 8 hours a night (roughly 3-11). The most productive people rarely have more than 6 hours or so of really concentrated work per day, except in emergencies. If you can ensure you get that every day, you don't need to economize on sleep..." -- by pg 358 days ago http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39778 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39778
    - gojomo 18y ago
      So Say We All.
  - icey 18y ago
    If you're going to troll, I want disclosure. How many times have you applied to YC and been rejected?
    - danielharan 18y ago
      Never applied, although encouraged others to do so. If people working insanely long hours is actually mythology, that actually hurts YC: sane people will avoid applying in the first place. If the long hours is really true, then people aren't being productive, also hurting YC. Either way, call me a troll but this is something YC should be making clear.
      - mattmaroon 18y ago
        YC doesn't dictate how many hours you work. They aren't project managers or pointy haired bosses. They're investors. Your biggest mistake is taking the blog entry of one startup out of 100 or so that they've funded and assuming that what they do is typical and/or directed by YC.
        danielharan 18y ago
        I wish it were selection bias. Unfortunately, every time I hear about a YC company they seem to brag about the hours they work. Are there numbers about this? A survey of average hours worked in YC startups (ideally separating code / biz time) would be helpful to give people a realistic idea of what they're signing up for when they apply.
        icey 18y ago
        Now I'm positive you're trolling. Kudos to you for a troll well executed.
        mattmaroon 18y ago
        No it wouldn't, because again, YC doesn't dictate the hours. You're signing up for whatever you want to sign up for. It's not as if you punch a time card and PG looks at them. People work so hard because they want to do well on demo day. Other than that one day, I don't know of any way to pitch to all of the top investors in the industry at once. You'd be a fool to not try to maximize your productivity with that in mind.
bfioca 18y ago
I'd like to point out that I've never been entirely the type to put in insane work hours. To be fair, I've probably always worked more than the average person, but my particular peak efficiency (as I've been able to see while using RescueTime) comes when I work for bursts and then rest. All of that being said, ever since I've been a founder (and especially during YC), I've noticed my work time shooting off the charts compared to how I used to work for other companies. I know why this is for me: it's simply because I know that every minute I'm not working is a minute that I'm subtracting from the company's success timeline. People talk about compressing your career into the span of 4 years as a founder, and yeah that's really what's going on. The reason is because if you don't work on your startup, there literally is nobody else that will. And for me, it feels like I'm costing myself money when I'm not working, and that takes a while for people like me to figure out how to balance. I have found that it gets easier after you've reached a more stable 1.0 of your product, but it's always a challenge. I must say, though, that the idea that YC is a cult is pretty ridiculous.

So, what's up with these insane hours? You've written about the need for working long hours, but aren't Michael Parkatti and Mike Marrone taking it a bit too far?

pg 18y ago

As far as I can tell, how hard people work has little correlation with whether they have follower-type personalities. It does, however, have quite a high correlation with working on a startup. So my guess is the cause is that they're working on a startup.

danielharan 18y ago
So do you condone working such long hours that founders are routinely sleep deprived?
- ed 18y ago
  Quit trolling. Clearly it's the founder's decision how many hours to work, not PG's.
- staunch 18y ago
  "Even during Viaweb I still slept 8 hours a night (roughly 3-11). The most productive people rarely have more than 6 hours or so of really concentrated work per day, except in emergencies. If you can ensure you get that every day, you don't need to economize on sleep..." -- by pg 358 days ago http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39778 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39778
  - gojomo 18y ago
    So Say We All.
- icey 18y ago
  If you're going to troll, I want disclosure. How many times have you applied to YC and been rejected?
  - danielharan 18y ago
    Never applied, although encouraged others to do so. If people working insanely long hours is actually mythology, that actually hurts YC: sane people will avoid applying in the first place. If the long hours is really true, then people aren't being productive, also hurting YC. Either way, call me a troll but this is something YC should be making clear.
    - mattmaroon 18y ago
      YC doesn't dictate how many hours you work. They aren't project managers or pointy haired bosses. They're investors. Your biggest mistake is taking the blog entry of one startup out of 100 or so that they've funded and assuming that what they do is typical and/or directed by YC.
      - danielharan 18y ago
        I wish it were selection bias. Unfortunately, every time I hear about a YC company they seem to brag about the hours they work. Are there numbers about this? A survey of average hours worked in YC startups (ideally separating code / biz time) would be helpful to give people a realistic idea of what they're signing up for when they apply.
        icey 18y ago
        Now I'm positive you're trolling. Kudos to you for a troll well executed.
        mattmaroon 18y ago
        No it wouldn't, because again, YC doesn't dictate the hours. You're signing up for whatever you want to sign up for. It's not as if you punch a time card and PG looks at them. People work so hard because they want to do well on demo day. Other than that one day, I don't know of any way to pitch to all of the top investors in the industry at once. You'd be a fool to not try to maximize your productivity with that in mind.

bfioca 18y ago

I'd like to point out that I've never been entirely the type to put in insane work hours. To be fair, I've probably always worked more than the average person, but my particular peak efficiency (as I've been able to see while using RescueTime) comes when I work for bursts and then rest. All of that being said, ever since I've been a founder (and especially during YC), I've noticed my work time shooting off the charts compared to how I used to work for other companies. I know why this is for me: it's simply because I know that every minute I'm not working is a minute that I'm subtracting from the company's success timeline. People talk about compressing your career into the span of 4 years as a founder, and yeah that's really what's going on. The reason is because if you don't work on your startup, there literally is nobody else that will. And for me, it feels like I'm costing myself money when I'm not working, and that takes a while for people like me to figure out how to balance. I have found that it gets easier after you've reached a more stable 1.0 of your product, but it's always a challenge. I must say, though, that the idea that YC is a cult is pretty ridiculous.