3 ms·

There are way too many straw man examples in this article that it distracts from the point the author is trying to make. A former jazz pianist and Buddhist mon

There are way too many straw man examples in this article that it distracts from the point the author is trying to make. A former jazz pianist and Buddhist monk who used psychedelics, the Spanish-speaker trying to sell into a Chinese-speaking market, the introvert selling to enterprise buyers who love going to steakhouses and watching the Yankees from box seats, etc. Interestingly, two words that aren't mentioned even once in this entire article: "co-founder" and "hire". Very few people singlehandedly build the type of businesses the author is talking about. They team up with and recruit other people to join them so that they can focus on what they do best and fill in the gaps with other people's talent.

theahura 3mo ago
> Interestingly, two words that aren't mentioned even once in this entire article: "co-founder" and "hire" I actually debated including this! But I ended up not doing so, because your co-founder and the people you hire will end up being more aligned to you (your values, judgements, whatever) than even the market you end up in, especially early on. And if they don't, that's an even bigger problem. Founder breakups are the #1 cause of startup death. Also, agreed, all of this is out the window once you _already_ have the ability to hire a bunch of other people, but that rarely happens right out the gate, which is where most of my interest lies > straw man examples not straw men, all real but unnamed examples (also not really what a straw man is but whatever)
- ElProlactin 3mo ago
  > But I ended up not doing so, because your co-founder and the people you hire will end up being more aligned to you (your values, judgements, whatever) than even the market you end up in, especially early on. Your article comes off as very confident about the way things are, and your comment does too, but your perspective doesn't match what I've seen in over 30 years in this industry, which is that tons of companies are started by founders and early employees who compliment each other and fill in each other's gaps. > all real but unnamed examples Real Buddhist monks typically don't use mind-altering substances (it's a violation of the Fifth Precept), but in any case, following on my point above, your "unnamed examples" read like caricatures. Great for trying to make your blog post convincing; not great for building arguments that align to what's typical in the real world.
  - theahura 3mo ago
    Next time I'll hedge more

theahura 3mo ago

> Interestingly, two words that aren't mentioned even once in this entire article: "co-founder" and "hire" I actually debated including this! But I ended up not doing so, because your co-founder and the people you hire will end up being more aligned to you (your values, judgements, whatever) than even the market you end up in, especially early on. And if they don't, that's an even bigger problem. Founder breakups are the #1 cause of startup death. Also, agreed, all of this is out the window once you _already_ have the ability to hire a bunch of other people, but that rarely happens right out the gate, which is where most of my interest lies > straw man examples not straw men, all real but unnamed examples (also not really what a straw man is but whatever)

ElProlactin 3mo ago
> But I ended up not doing so, because your co-founder and the people you hire will end up being more aligned to you (your values, judgements, whatever) than even the market you end up in, especially early on. Your article comes off as very confident about the way things are, and your comment does too, but your perspective doesn't match what I've seen in over 30 years in this industry, which is that tons of companies are started by founders and early employees who compliment each other and fill in each other's gaps. > all real but unnamed examples Real Buddhist monks typically don't use mind-altering substances (it's a violation of the Fifth Precept), but in any case, following on my point above, your "unnamed examples" read like caricatures. Great for trying to make your blog post convincing; not great for building arguments that align to what's typical in the real world.
- theahura 3mo ago
  Next time I'll hedge more