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Quotes From PG’s FBFund Talk From Today

61 points by jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

dannyr 17y ago
One more: "Work on hard problems. Keep trying things."
mynameishere 17y ago
“one thing at YC we learned that determination matters FAR more than intelligence.” There's an insult somewhere in that quote.
- knightinblue 17y ago
  Not if you realize that determination is just one factor in the path to success. A founder could push his determination to the absolute limit and still fail, since there are so many other variables at play.
- aaronblohowiak 17y ago
  another way of viewing this is: "we screen suitably for intelligence but have not thus far screened [effectively] for determination."
zck 17y ago
This is interesting, but the 1337speak makes them somewhat hard to read.
mattmaroon 17y ago
I know PG well enough to know he never said "u" instead of "you".
- michaelfairley 17y ago
  These are just a collection of some raw tweets by someone who was at the event.
  - nailer 17y ago
    I have the somewhat incongruous vision of PG speaking like a 14 year old girl.
    - pg 17y ago
      OMG, I would so never do that.
waleedka 17y ago
What I found encouraging and enlightening was knowing that most startups go through the "Trough of Sorrow" (the time after launch when you don't get any users and things look really bad). Just knowing that you're not alone makes it so much easier to go through it.
paul9290 17y ago
I like the quote about no technical founder. I meet many people who are doing start-ups & they have no techical background or those who want to do a start-up have no skill. IT's not impossible, but almost and it's tiring and progress is slow! I am sorta one of these people who is now learning back end code (some) along with the hack web design skills I picked up(average web designer now). I look forward doing another start-up where I am doing back and front end. As oppose to just front end and relying on a consultant/partner in India who cared some for our product, but no way had the same passion i did/do. Learn how to code if you want to start a start-up, also find partners who are as crazy focused as you are.
ynniv 17y ago
I know that tweeting is all the rage, but these would sound less childish rewritten with proper spelling and grammar. I doubt that the tweets were direct quotes in the first place.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
pg 17y ago
These are pretty far from verbatim. Way far in some cases. I never said anything about board meetings, for example. I said it was good to keep in touch with your investors, but I assume most of a startup's investors won't be on the board.
10ren 17y ago
“Pattern recognition is what you fall back on when you don’t quite understand something…” - I've heard this one applied to neural networks. “Startups rarely die from competitors. They die of SUICIDE.” (stupidity, lack of money, lack of customers) - I wouldn't call it suicide (misquote?), but it's a great point that you don't need to worry about relative market share when you're small. You just have to worry about getting some market share (i.e. some customers). There's plenty enough available if you're small and don't need that many.
ggruschow 17y ago
"we’ve learned if yr talking 2 bunch startup founders & can’t tell who leader is, that means there isn’t one." Is this damning?
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
khangtoh 17y ago
“Startups rarely die from competitors. They die of SUICIDE.” (stupidity, lack of money, lack of customers)" Startups do die from competition. Kiko is one example straight out of PG's book.
- justin 17y ago
  As one of the two founders from Kiko, I can say that we had ideas for how to sustain the company and try different routes, but instead decided to shutter and move on to something else (which turned out to be Justin.tv). I think that scenario is actually a perfect example of what PG is talking about: a startup that possibly could have made it by iterating, but instead gave up b/c the founders decided to move on. Competition may have caused the depression, but the founders themselves loaded the shotgun and pulled the trigger.

One more: "Work on hard problems. Keep trying things."

“one thing at YC we learned that determination matters FAR more than intelligence.” There's an insult somewhere in that quote.

knightinblue 17y ago
Not if you realize that determination is just one factor in the path to success. A founder could push his determination to the absolute limit and still fail, since there are so many other variables at play.
aaronblohowiak 17y ago
another way of viewing this is: "we screen suitably for intelligence but have not thus far screened [effectively] for determination."

zck 17y ago

This is interesting, but the 1337speak makes them somewhat hard to read.

mattmaroon 17y ago

I know PG well enough to know he never said "u" instead of "you".

michaelfairley 17y ago
These are just a collection of some raw tweets by someone who was at the event.
- nailer 17y ago
  I have the somewhat incongruous vision of PG speaking like a 14 year old girl.
  - pg 17y ago
    OMG, I would so never do that.

waleedka 17y ago

What I found encouraging and enlightening was knowing that most startups go through the "Trough of Sorrow" (the time after launch when you don't get any users and things look really bad). Just knowing that you're not alone makes it so much easier to go through it.

paul9290 17y ago

I like the quote about no technical founder. I meet many people who are doing start-ups & they have no techical background or those who want to do a start-up have no skill. IT's not impossible, but almost and it's tiring and progress is slow! I am sorta one of these people who is now learning back end code (some) along with the hack web design skills I picked up(average web designer now). I look forward doing another start-up where I am doing back and front end. As oppose to just front end and relying on a consultant/partner in India who cared some for our product, but no way had the same passion i did/do. Learn how to code if you want to start a start-up, also find partners who are as crazy focused as you are.

ynniv 17y ago

I know that tweeting is all the rage, but these would sound less childish rewritten with proper spelling and grammar. I doubt that the tweets were direct quotes in the first place.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

pg 17y ago

These are pretty far from verbatim. Way far in some cases. I never said anything about board meetings, for example. I said it was good to keep in touch with your investors, but I assume most of a startup's investors won't be on the board.

10ren 17y ago

“Pattern recognition is what you fall back on when you don’t quite understand something…” - I've heard this one applied to neural networks. “Startups rarely die from competitors. They die of SUICIDE.” (stupidity, lack of money, lack of customers) - I wouldn't call it suicide (misquote?), but it's a great point that you don't need to worry about relative market share when you're small. You just have to worry about getting some market share (i.e. some customers). There's plenty enough available if you're small and don't need that many.

ggruschow 17y ago

"we’ve learned if yr talking 2 bunch startup founders & can’t tell who leader is, that means there isn’t one." Is this damning?

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

khangtoh 17y ago

“Startups rarely die from competitors. They die of SUICIDE.” (stupidity, lack of money, lack of customers)" Startups do die from competition. Kiko is one example straight out of PG's book.

justin 17y ago
As one of the two founders from Kiko, I can say that we had ideas for how to sustain the company and try different routes, but instead decided to shutter and move on to something else (which turned out to be Justin.tv). I think that scenario is actually a perfect example of what PG is talking about: a startup that possibly could have made it by iterating, but instead gave up b/c the founders decided to move on. Competition may have caused the depression, but the founders themselves loaded the shotgun and pulled the trigger.