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A recent PG essay[0] was revealing about why colleges are so prominent on those profiles and more generally about YC's thinking: > At this point I'm going to t

A recent PG essay[0] was revealing about why colleges are so prominent on those profiles and more generally about YC's thinking: > At this point I'm going to tell you something you might not want to hear. It really matters to do well in your classes, even the ones that are just memorization or blathering about literature, because you need to do well in your classes to get into a good university. And if you want to start a startup you should try to get into the best university you can, because that's where the best cofounders are. It's also where the best employees are. [0]: https://www.paulgraham.com/google.html https://www.paulgraham.com/google.html

neilv 2y ago
I have to partly disagree with him there. My schools included MIT and Brown. And I generally really liked the students at both. And I would hire many of them. But I've also hung out in other circles that attract smart people, where I'd selectively hire first, before prioritizing random people from the fancy-pants schools. And I've worked too many places where some of the smartest and most accomplished people came from BFE schools. Also, note that undergrad programs have gotten insane with the gaming and the hoop-jumping. Even worse than when it was helicopter parents merely sending kids to prep schools, SAT prep, and the checkoff extracurriculars (e.g., "volunteering"). And that insanity can select for what you don't want to hire, to do actual work. If you want "How to Start Google [where everyone focuses on the entrance exam, and then on gaming their promotions]" then you absolutely should hire Stanford students, who had to exercise very similar thinking to get into Stanford at this point. Or, if you want to run a startup investment scam, where you need to apply some similar thinking of the appearance of accomplishments, and knocking down ducks lined up for you. But if you want to solve problems, or build something that's not just headed for a financial exit, then Stanford-track kind of thinking seems probably counterproductive. Imagine getting a new hire at an early startup, and they innately think that their job is to knock off sprint tasks, and have other appearances of performance. And when you try to explain thinking about the organization's goals, and that their job is to help the team collectively achieve that... they think you're just spewing empty platitudes, like they were taught to spew for college application personal statements and job interviews. You would've been so much better off hiring the scrappy person from the community college who hasn't had Stanford-track BS baked into them since grade school.
- throwaway444441 2y ago
  You sound like the kind of person I'd actually want to start a business with. Maybe cofounder matching should be a HN feature instead of a tinder clone.
  - carabiner 2y ago
    [flagged]
- ra0x3 2y ago
  Wow super insightful comment. Particularly this excerpt: > If you want "How to Start Google [where everyone focuses on the entrance exam, and then on gaming their promotions]" then you absolutely should hire Stanford students, who had to exercise very similar thinking to get into Stanford at this point. I realize that this applies to Google post-2015, but do you think it also applies to early Google? Where you actually had to get things done?
  - cmrdporcupine 2y ago
    First few employees at Google? Stanford yes because that's where they got the business/investment connections. Clearly, because L&S both came from that background as did family, and the whole Susan W's garage thing, etc. etc. After that? Actually building the thing? Not really? Jeff Dean: University of Minnesota, B.S. Computer Science and Engineering (1990) University of Washington, Ph.D. Computer Science (1996) Tho I guess Sanjay was more "ivy league" (correct me where I'm off thing, I'm Canadian and don't understand the American obsession with "brand name" on schools): Cornell University (SB, 1987) MIT (SM, 1990; PhD, 1995) I guess Urs was Stanford, though. But I would insist that 1996 is a lot different from 2024. And, honestly, pardon me, but YCombinator isn't funding the next Google. They're trying to fund the next Uber or whatever. I don't get the impression they have the guts to invest in kind of long-play deep tech infrastructure like a Google. It all seems like "X but for Y" Web2.0ish companies.
    - all2 2y ago

neilv 2y ago

I have to partly disagree with him there. My schools included MIT and Brown. And I generally really liked the students at both. And I would hire many of them. But I've also hung out in other circles that attract smart people, where I'd selectively hire first, before prioritizing random people from the fancy-pants schools. And I've worked too many places where some of the smartest and most accomplished people came from BFE schools. Also, note that undergrad programs have gotten insane with the gaming and the hoop-jumping. Even worse than when it was helicopter parents merely sending kids to prep schools, SAT prep, and the checkoff extracurriculars (e.g., "volunteering"). And that insanity can select for what you don't want to hire, to do actual work. If you want "How to Start Google [where everyone focuses on the entrance exam, and then on gaming their promotions]" then you absolutely should hire Stanford students, who had to exercise very similar thinking to get into Stanford at this point. Or, if you want to run a startup investment scam, where you need to apply some similar thinking of the appearance of accomplishments, and knocking down ducks lined up for you. But if you want to solve problems, or build something that's not just headed for a financial exit, then Stanford-track kind of thinking seems probably counterproductive. Imagine getting a new hire at an early startup, and they innately think that their job is to knock off sprint tasks, and have other appearances of performance. And when you try to explain thinking about the organization's goals, and that their job is to help the team collectively achieve that... they think you're just spewing empty platitudes, like they were taught to spew for college application personal statements and job interviews. You would've been so much better off hiring the scrappy person from the community college who hasn't had Stanford-track BS baked into them since grade school.

throwaway444441 2y ago
You sound like the kind of person I'd actually want to start a business with. Maybe cofounder matching should be a HN feature instead of a tinder clone.
- carabiner 2y ago
  [flagged]
ra0x3 2y ago
Wow super insightful comment. Particularly this excerpt: > If you want "How to Start Google [where everyone focuses on the entrance exam, and then on gaming their promotions]" then you absolutely should hire Stanford students, who had to exercise very similar thinking to get into Stanford at this point. I realize that this applies to Google post-2015, but do you think it also applies to early Google? Where you actually had to get things done?
- cmrdporcupine 2y ago
  First few employees at Google? Stanford yes because that's where they got the business/investment connections. Clearly, because L&S both came from that background as did family, and the whole Susan W's garage thing, etc. etc. After that? Actually building the thing? Not really? Jeff Dean: University of Minnesota, B.S. Computer Science and Engineering (1990) University of Washington, Ph.D. Computer Science (1996) Tho I guess Sanjay was more "ivy league" (correct me where I'm off thing, I'm Canadian and don't understand the American obsession with "brand name" on schools): Cornell University (SB, 1987) MIT (SM, 1990; PhD, 1995) I guess Urs was Stanford, though. But I would insist that 1996 is a lot different from 2024. And, honestly, pardon me, but YCombinator isn't funding the next Google. They're trying to fund the next Uber or whatever. I don't get the impression they have the guts to invest in kind of long-play deep tech infrastructure like a Google. It all seems like "X but for Y" Web2.0ish companies.
  - all2 2y ago