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While I agree with a lot of the criticisms that have been posted here (first and foremost that it is exceedingly bad advice to take advice on being successful f

While I agree with a lot of the criticisms that have been posted here (first and foremost that it is exceedingly bad advice to take advice on being successful from someone who is like six sigmas to the right of the curve on how their efforts were rewarded - it's like reading from Taylor Swift or Simone Biles or Usain Bolt about "to succeed you just need hard work and to believe!". As it's taken many, many years of therapy for me to internalize, if you get the majority of your self-worth through what you do, you're gonna have a bad time...) I think it's also a good idea to keep in mind the general HN guideline of "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says." In that sense, I do strongly agree with the overall conclusion, "That's it, just two things, build stuff and do well in school." Building stuff for your own edification, and soaking up as much knowledge and relationships while you're in school, is really sound advice that works regardless of your end goal.

pavel_lishin 3y ago
> soaking up as much knowledge and relationships while you're in school A family friend was recently admitted to a magnet school - it's not like an Ivy League level institution, but it's fairly prestigious in the area, and not easy to get to. I need to make sure to remind him that while it's good that he's feeling academically challenged, he should also focus on building friendships with people who are statistically likely (much as he is, tbh) to be successful in life - they can help pull him up when he's down, and he can do the same for them. I didn't get that much out of college, academically - but the relationships I built there got me my first two jobs, and I still treasure the friends I made there.
- w10-1 3y ago
  Aristotle said friendships were the best example of happiness in life - not fame or success which rarely lead to happiness or even social benefit. Friendship is the best example because that's the only way to not only exercise your curiosity and virtues, but do so in knowing concert with people who understand and appreciate what you're doing, who are entirely different beings. I would hope that even high-achieving friendships can be built not on mutual utility but on common interest and expression.
DonsDiscountGas 3y ago
> I think it's also a good idea to keep in mind the general HN guideline of "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says." "strongest" is highly subjective. I also don't think we should make things up and pretend the other person said them, which is much more commonly used to strawman, but steelmanning involves the same process.
- kdfjgbdfkjgb 3y ago
  you can steelman and still be explicit that you're steelmanning and how you're interpreting what you think they meant
eloisant 3y ago
Also "the standard way to get rich"... It's much easier to get rich by getting hired at a FAANG than starting your own company. You only get rich by starting your own company if you win the startup lottery. Otherwise you're better off getting a high paid job.
- jjackson5324 3y ago
  That depends entirely on your definition of rich. PG's definition of rich is probably 100x what yours is.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - eloisant 3y ago
    My point is that the probability of getting that rich is really low. You need to combine hard work with incredible luck. A very few percentage will get 100x richer than a FAANG engineer. A typical founder, 10 years in, is less rich than he could have been if he had taken a high paid tech job. But anyway, PG is saying the same thing he's been saying for years. He wants people to launch startups, and he wants them to shoot for the moon with VC money. He has no interest in bootstrapped companies. Because he's a VC, so he's talking in his own interest first and foremost.
    - jjackson5324 3y ago
      I agree with you, but PG’s definition of rich in the article is people worth $10 billion dollars plus. I don’t think he’s being malicious. I think he genuinely just doesnt see a $5-10m NW as rich.
- joshuahutt 3y ago
  There are very different definitions of "rich." Take the old comparison between Gates and Jordan. "If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 450 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has today." You can become wealthy and comfortable working for a salary. But, the canonical way to get "FU money" is to win the lottery.

pavel_lishin 3y ago

> soaking up as much knowledge and relationships while you're in school A family friend was recently admitted to a magnet school - it's not like an Ivy League level institution, but it's fairly prestigious in the area, and not easy to get to. I need to make sure to remind him that while it's good that he's feeling academically challenged, he should also focus on building friendships with people who are statistically likely (much as he is, tbh) to be successful in life - they can help pull him up when he's down, and he can do the same for them. I didn't get that much out of college, academically - but the relationships I built there got me my first two jobs, and I still treasure the friends I made there.

w10-1 3y ago
Aristotle said friendships were the best example of happiness in life - not fame or success which rarely lead to happiness or even social benefit. Friendship is the best example because that's the only way to not only exercise your curiosity and virtues, but do so in knowing concert with people who understand and appreciate what you're doing, who are entirely different beings. I would hope that even high-achieving friendships can be built not on mutual utility but on common interest and expression.

DonsDiscountGas 3y ago

> I think it's also a good idea to keep in mind the general HN guideline of "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says." "strongest" is highly subjective. I also don't think we should make things up and pretend the other person said them, which is much more commonly used to strawman, but steelmanning involves the same process.

kdfjgbdfkjgb 3y ago
you can steelman and still be explicit that you're steelmanning and how you're interpreting what you think they meant

eloisant 3y ago

Also "the standard way to get rich"... It's much easier to get rich by getting hired at a FAANG than starting your own company. You only get rich by starting your own company if you win the startup lottery. Otherwise you're better off getting a high paid job.

jjackson5324 3y ago
That depends entirely on your definition of rich. PG's definition of rich is probably 100x what yours is.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- eloisant 3y ago
  My point is that the probability of getting that rich is really low. You need to combine hard work with incredible luck. A very few percentage will get 100x richer than a FAANG engineer. A typical founder, 10 years in, is less rich than he could have been if he had taken a high paid tech job. But anyway, PG is saying the same thing he's been saying for years. He wants people to launch startups, and he wants them to shoot for the moon with VC money. He has no interest in bootstrapped companies. Because he's a VC, so he's talking in his own interest first and foremost.
  - jjackson5324 3y ago
    I agree with you, but PG’s definition of rich in the article is people worth $10 billion dollars plus. I don’t think he’s being malicious. I think he genuinely just doesnt see a $5-10m NW as rich.
joshuahutt 3y ago
There are very different definitions of "rich." Take the old comparison between Gates and Jordan. "If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 450 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has today." You can become wealthy and comfortable working for a salary. But, the canonical way to get "FU money" is to win the lottery.