6 ms·

PG, I would be really interested in your experiences teaching people to relentlessly resourceful. How have you brought out resourcefulness in your startup found

by chris11 18y ago

PG, I would be really interested in your experiences teaching people to relentlessly resourceful. How have you brought out resourcefulness in your startup founders?

pg 18y ago
Me: Why don't you just do x? Founders: Could we really do x? Me: Sure, why not? Can't hurt to try. How hard can it be to do at least version 1 of x? Founders: Ok [dubiously] we'll try it. A few days later: Founders: Pg, check out this demo of x. It was a lot harder than we expected, but we just got it working. While we were working on it, we thought "what if we did y..."
- chris11 18y ago
  Thanks for replying. I guess I usually see someone accomplish some really hard task I assume they have some high level of innate ability or other advantage, when what really happens is that that they just started it and then dealt with any problems as they came up. Hopefully I'll keep this in mind when ever I'm tempted to think that I need some big break or big idea to accomplish a goal.
  - pg 18y ago
    We may help out with the occasional idea too. I don't mean to suggest that the preceding conversation is the only one. There so many different types of conversations about so many different problems. It's not just me, either. There are also the other three YC partners, plus a constant stream of outside experts who meet with all the startups and talk to them about what they're working on.
- mrbuwch 18y ago
  It sounds like you're saying that these particular founders don't have confidence in their ability to do x and are pleasantly surprised when, after a little push, they achieve it (even if it did turn out to be harder than they thought). From achieving x, they uncover the virgin territory of y. So: is gaining greater confidence in one's ability to achieve stuff part of becoming relentlessly resourceful?
  - ericb 18y ago
    Y Combinator probably makes up the 6% on the confidence boost associated with being selected, alone. Makes it hard to compare unselected/selected companies, I imagine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect
    - time_management 18y ago
      Probably much higher. I'd bet that it's 50% at least. Aside from health insurance, one of the biggest hurdles to startup generation is the uncertain career effect. Being YC-funded essentially means that Paul Graham is vouching for your time. Think about college. Aside from the independently wealthy, no one would dedicate 4 years of life to study, given what would be the career costs of doing so-- an empty resume, a younger boss-- except for the fact that a prestigious institution is willing to sign for the time, making it a career-advancing endeavor. In this case, people are actually willing to pay for it. While there are some glaring inefficiencies in the college model, most would argue that it's a good thing for people to be better educated. The effect of Y-Combinator is similar. YC is the Harvard of angel investors, and no one who has heard of YC would discredit a founder for time at a YC startup, even if it failed. The result of it is that more people are willing to do startups due to the reduced career risk-- a very good thing.
      - pg 18y ago
        Actually this has started to become a problem for us. When we first started and had no reputation, the only people who applied for funding were people who really wanted to start startups. Now we get people who are attracted by the idea of "getting into" YC. And it can be tempting to accept them, because people who've been using this m.o. tend to have accumulated impressive resumes. But when we do accept them they often do badly, partly because they didn't really want to be starting a startup, and partly because real world users are a different type of test than they're used to.
- froo 18y ago
  One of my alltime favourite quotes that I think is relevant is: "I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment. I am never satisfied with my work. I resent the limitations of my own imagination" - Walt Disney Also, perhaps this one might work too, also by Walt. "Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C's. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way." - Walt Disney
  - cosmo7 18y ago
    That's surprisingly ironic considering Disney's attitude towards the public domain and copyright extension.
    - wyday 18y ago
      You're confusing the "secret" Walt is referring to. He's not talking about intellectual property. He's talking about the so called "secret to success".
    - HeyLaughingBoy 18y ago
      "Disney" is a Corporation. Walt Disney was a (human) person.
    - froo 18y ago
      ... That's actually a result of everything that's happened since Walt's death in 66, especially the terrible reign of Michael Eisner from 84 to 05 which nearly killed Disney's animation. There's a book called "The Illusion of Life" that was written by Two of the "Nine Old Men" of animation who were with Walt from the early days. When you read some of the early chapters, Disney held a lot of the values that many Hackers hold including iterating quickly, being open with information (within his own organisation that is) and always pushing the envelope with what was possible.
      - anamax 18y ago
- gcheong 18y ago
  Do people call you "PG" in real life?
  - pg 18y ago
    Yep. Rtm and Tlb get called by their usernames too.
    - dfranke 18y ago
      This seems like an MIT/Harvard thing. I've noticed that the people who call me 'dfranke' IRL, you included, tend to be affiliated with one of the two. I think RTM is pretty much universally RTM though, whether or not the speaker has any Cambridge ties. I don't think I've ever heard any spoken reference to his full name.
    - tlrobinson 18y ago
      I've never heard anyone call Jessica "x" though...
    - gcheong 18y ago
      I'm tempted to change my username to "gc", but I'm afraid I wouldn't get called.

by chris11 18y ago

PG, I would be really interested in your experiences teaching people to relentlessly resourceful. How have you brought out resourcefulness in your startup founders?

pg 18y ago

Me: Why don't you just do x? Founders: Could we really do x? Me: Sure, why not? Can't hurt to try. How hard can it be to do at least version 1 of x? Founders: Ok [dubiously] we'll try it. A few days later: Founders: Pg, check out this demo of x. It was a lot harder than we expected, but we just got it working. While we were working on it, we thought "what if we did y..."

chris11 18y ago
Thanks for replying. I guess I usually see someone accomplish some really hard task I assume they have some high level of innate ability or other advantage, when what really happens is that that they just started it and then dealt with any problems as they came up. Hopefully I'll keep this in mind when ever I'm tempted to think that I need some big break or big idea to accomplish a goal.
- pg 18y ago
  We may help out with the occasional idea too. I don't mean to suggest that the preceding conversation is the only one. There so many different types of conversations about so many different problems. It's not just me, either. There are also the other three YC partners, plus a constant stream of outside experts who meet with all the startups and talk to them about what they're working on.
mrbuwch 18y ago
It sounds like you're saying that these particular founders don't have confidence in their ability to do x and are pleasantly surprised when, after a little push, they achieve it (even if it did turn out to be harder than they thought). From achieving x, they uncover the virgin territory of y. So: is gaining greater confidence in one's ability to achieve stuff part of becoming relentlessly resourceful?
- ericb 18y ago
  Y Combinator probably makes up the 6% on the confidence boost associated with being selected, alone. Makes it hard to compare unselected/selected companies, I imagine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect
  - time_management 18y ago
    Probably much higher. I'd bet that it's 50% at least. Aside from health insurance, one of the biggest hurdles to startup generation is the uncertain career effect. Being YC-funded essentially means that Paul Graham is vouching for your time. Think about college. Aside from the independently wealthy, no one would dedicate 4 years of life to study, given what would be the career costs of doing so-- an empty resume, a younger boss-- except for the fact that a prestigious institution is willing to sign for the time, making it a career-advancing endeavor. In this case, people are actually willing to pay for it. While there are some glaring inefficiencies in the college model, most would argue that it's a good thing for people to be better educated. The effect of Y-Combinator is similar. YC is the Harvard of angel investors, and no one who has heard of YC would discredit a founder for time at a YC startup, even if it failed. The result of it is that more people are willing to do startups due to the reduced career risk-- a very good thing.
    - pg 18y ago
      Actually this has started to become a problem for us. When we first started and had no reputation, the only people who applied for funding were people who really wanted to start startups. Now we get people who are attracted by the idea of "getting into" YC. And it can be tempting to accept them, because people who've been using this m.o. tend to have accumulated impressive resumes. But when we do accept them they often do badly, partly because they didn't really want to be starting a startup, and partly because real world users are a different type of test than they're used to.
froo 18y ago
One of my alltime favourite quotes that I think is relevant is: "I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment. I am never satisfied with my work. I resent the limitations of my own imagination" - Walt Disney Also, perhaps this one might work too, also by Walt. "Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C's. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way." - Walt Disney
- cosmo7 18y ago
  That's surprisingly ironic considering Disney's attitude towards the public domain and copyright extension.
  - wyday 18y ago
    You're confusing the "secret" Walt is referring to. He's not talking about intellectual property. He's talking about the so called "secret to success".
  - HeyLaughingBoy 18y ago
    "Disney" is a Corporation. Walt Disney was a (human) person.
  - froo 18y ago
    ... That's actually a result of everything that's happened since Walt's death in 66, especially the terrible reign of Michael Eisner from 84 to 05 which nearly killed Disney's animation. There's a book called "The Illusion of Life" that was written by Two of the "Nine Old Men" of animation who were with Walt from the early days. When you read some of the early chapters, Disney held a lot of the values that many Hackers hold including iterating quickly, being open with information (within his own organisation that is) and always pushing the envelope with what was possible.
    - anamax 18y ago
gcheong 18y ago
Do people call you "PG" in real life?
- pg 18y ago
  Yep. Rtm and Tlb get called by their usernames too.
  - dfranke 18y ago
    This seems like an MIT/Harvard thing. I've noticed that the people who call me 'dfranke' IRL, you included, tend to be affiliated with one of the two. I think RTM is pretty much universally RTM though, whether or not the speaker has any Cambridge ties. I don't think I've ever heard any spoken reference to his full name.
  - tlrobinson 18y ago
    I've never heard anyone call Jessica "x" though...
  - gcheong 18y ago
    I'm tempted to change my username to "gc", but I'm afraid I wouldn't get called.