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After reading some of his books, essays and hearing people talking about him, I think Graham is first and foremost a nerd and hacker, the other stuff is seconda
by capableweb 5y ago
After reading some of his books, essays and hearing people talking about him, I think Graham is first and foremost a nerd and hacker, the other stuff is secondary. At least that's how it looked before the last couple of years, his view on things seems to have slightly changed recently, so not sure anymore actually.
- mcguire 5y agoHe certainly started that way; his Common Lisp stuff is interesting, although I don't usually agree that it's the best approach. But as far as I know, the only technical thing he's done since selling Viaweb is ... this forum. You apply to YC for money and for contacts---exactly what dealmakers do.
- wmil 5y agoHe's done internal software to manage YC. YC itself was born out of an attempt to hack the hack the VC funding system. Shift things to be more friendly to technical types. So it was an attempt to improve a complex system as opposed to focussing on making deals. Systems focussed instead of people focussed.
- mckeed 5y agoI think the idea is that some people are naturally dealmakers, and the whole idea of YC was technical-minded people taking over the job that would normally be done by social-minded people and doing it better.
- SyzygistSix 5y agoSame with artists; the ones who became famous or at least successful in their lifetime were good at making deals. And self-promotion. The ones who could not fit in socially, not so much.
- bombcar 5y agoNerds didn't spring fully formed with the invention of the transistor - they have always existed in various forms throughout history. But it has also been true that moving to a dealmaker provides more impact, especially once you get past a certain point.
- dang 5y agoHe worked on this for several years after leaving YC: http://www.paulgraham.com/bel.html http://www.paulgraham.com/bel.html Not sure how that doesn't count as technical.
- capableweb 5y agoI think "Hackers & Painters" was after ViaWeb as well, a book I'd consider technical. I'm sure there are more technical things he been doing since ViaWeb also.
- pseudalopex 5y agoThey said as far as they know. More likely they never heard of it.
- mcguire 5y agoWhatever happened to Arc?
- dang 5y agoIt's doing fine and is happy powering this site. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20arc&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
- npsimons 5y agoYeah, given that we're talking about the guy who wrote "On Lisp" I think it's fair to say he has technical credibility. He may be a dealmaker these days, but that doesn't take away that he is a luminary in the nerd community.