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Consider how ineffective this advice is then. What decisions can you make? You could take this to mean that you should follow your gut, or not. Does it share

by lumost 4y ago

Consider how ineffective this advice is then. What decisions can you make? You could take this to mean that you should follow your gut, or not. Does it share anything useful for formulating a decision? And why is this approach better than the alternatives?

startupdiscuss 4y ago
The point is, this was not meant to be advice! This was anti-advice. You can't use the criterion: if it is insightful it has to be actionable on an insight that says "I have no actions for you". The difference is, it is not trying to trick you.
- jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
  It's just empty self aggrandizement. "Be the right sort of person and you'll have the right hunches" is transparent nonsense.
  - tomhoward 4y ago
    It's not nonsense, it's an obviously-tautological statement, made with the full awareness that it's not helpful advice, but used to explain the point. It's one sentence out of a long essay. Later in the essay he provides recipes for coming up with startup ideas, even though he warns that that approach is suboptimal. What more could be asked of him?
  - ProblemFactory 4y ago
    It's not empty, it's just way, way! too politely phrased. It's not advice on how to find ideas or how to become that person, but advice on who is ready to give founding a startup a try. During my career I did freelance mobile app and web development for about 10 years. In that time I came across many people who wanted to found a tech startup because "that's where the money is" and being a tech startup founder being a status symbol. Some enthusiastic youngsters, but mostly people who had a successful non-tech small business. And they were not the right sort of person and did not have the right hunches, they didn't use what they learned from their non-tech business, but instead sat down over a beer with friends to brainstorm "social-local-viral" app ideas. The advice instead should be that if you are struggling to come up with startup ideas, you probably aren't the right sort of person at this time. You should do something entirely different for a while until you find a product that just has to exist. Unfortunately, they had never read HN or PG, nor could I do more than politely refuse their business.
tomhoward 4y ago
The problem with the OP's criticism and yours is that it starts from the assumption that PG has set out to "sell" the reader faux-actionable insights. What he's really doing is answering the question "how can I come up with startup ideas?", which has always been asked of him and the other YC partners frequently. And his answer is: you shouldn't try to come up with startup ideas; that's not how it works. Instead you should just notice if/when they appear before you. He's clearly not claiming to be doing what the author is accusing him of trying to do. He's just explaining something he'd noticed after (at that time) 7 years of funding/advising some of the most successful startups. (That said, later in the essay he goes on to offer actionable recipes for formulating startup ideas anyway). In answer to your question: you can take his advice, or not, to stop trying to confect startup ideas, and instead just pay attention to the opportunities you notice from your own experience.
- planarhobbit 4y ago
  This is why I don’t get the recent pg hate that’s been happening on HN. He’s always done this, but now people are saying he’s out of touch because he’s rich/white/old. Majority of things he’s blogged are no-nonsense observations.
  - trwhite 4y ago
    I think one has to take his writing of late with a pinch of salt because he writes things that only a rich, white and old guy could write. But the earlier stuff is still great. Hackers & Painters is still a wonderful book.

by lumost 4y ago

startupdiscuss 4y ago

The point is, this was not meant to be advice! This was anti-advice. You can't use the criterion: if it is insightful it has to be actionable on an insight that says "I have no actions for you". The difference is, it is not trying to trick you.

jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
It's just empty self aggrandizement. "Be the right sort of person and you'll have the right hunches" is transparent nonsense.
- tomhoward 4y ago
  It's not nonsense, it's an obviously-tautological statement, made with the full awareness that it's not helpful advice, but used to explain the point. It's one sentence out of a long essay. Later in the essay he provides recipes for coming up with startup ideas, even though he warns that that approach is suboptimal. What more could be asked of him?
- ProblemFactory 4y ago
  It's not empty, it's just way, way! too politely phrased. It's not advice on how to find ideas or how to become that person, but advice on who is ready to give founding a startup a try. During my career I did freelance mobile app and web development for about 10 years. In that time I came across many people who wanted to found a tech startup because "that's where the money is" and being a tech startup founder being a status symbol. Some enthusiastic youngsters, but mostly people who had a successful non-tech small business. And they were not the right sort of person and did not have the right hunches, they didn't use what they learned from their non-tech business, but instead sat down over a beer with friends to brainstorm "social-local-viral" app ideas. The advice instead should be that if you are struggling to come up with startup ideas, you probably aren't the right sort of person at this time. You should do something entirely different for a while until you find a product that just has to exist. Unfortunately, they had never read HN or PG, nor could I do more than politely refuse their business.

tomhoward 4y ago

The problem with the OP's criticism and yours is that it starts from the assumption that PG has set out to "sell" the reader faux-actionable insights. What he's really doing is answering the question "how can I come up with startup ideas?", which has always been asked of him and the other YC partners frequently. And his answer is: you shouldn't try to come up with startup ideas; that's not how it works. Instead you should just notice if/when they appear before you. He's clearly not claiming to be doing what the author is accusing him of trying to do. He's just explaining something he'd noticed after (at that time) 7 years of funding/advising some of the most successful startups. (That said, later in the essay he goes on to offer actionable recipes for formulating startup ideas anyway). In answer to your question: you can take his advice, or not, to stop trying to confect startup ideas, and instead just pay attention to the opportunities you notice from your own experience.

planarhobbit 4y ago
This is why I don’t get the recent pg hate that’s been happening on HN. He’s always done this, but now people are saying he’s out of touch because he’s rich/white/old. Majority of things he’s blogged are no-nonsense observations.
- trwhite 4y ago
  I think one has to take his writing of late with a pinch of salt because he writes things that only a rich, white and old guy could write. But the earlier stuff is still great. Hackers & Painters is still a wonderful book.