I don't really agree with Mr. Horror, but sometimes I do wonder what PG does to, shall we say, "stay challenged". Surrounding yourself with younger, less experienced people (albeit very smart ones) who owe you is not an environment I would think of as one likely to create a lot of pushback. Maybe it shouldn't, either, as that's not what YC is for, but you do need that kind of thing from somewhere in your life if you wish to continue your intellectual growth.
Surrounding yourself with younger, less experienced people (albeit very smart ones) who owe you is not an environment I would think of as one likely to create a lot of pushback.
Oh yeah? It does when they're the type of people who want to start startups.
The main thing we look for in founders is spirit and determination. We have to, because that's what makes startups succeed. And dealing with the group of people this produces is not like being a professor, believe me.
Point being, though, is that the group you're dealing with sounds like a great deal of fun, and doubtless provides a lot of intellectual stimulation - no question about that. What they probably don't have, though, is a very dissimilar view of certain things to your own - you hand pick them after all (and vice versa). Also, in the end, to be blunt, you're the guy giving them money, and even if you try to get around it, that conditions relationships between people.
It's sort of like this site - most of us found it and got into it because we like your writing and attitude, so it's not likely to be a source of wildly different opinions either. That's not entirely a bad thing - keeping points of contention to a minimum is probably a good way of keeping the community from imploding.
Anyway, this isn't meant to be a critique of YC in any way, just my hope that you find ways to look at the world from a completely different point of view from time to time. Thinking about my own sources of information, it's probably something that everyone needs to try and do more often.
I didn't get the impression that the Zenters' comment meant they didn't push back. Rather, they had an objective way of testing out suggestions: "Let's try it and find out." And they sought out input whenever possible. Any startup founder should be the same.
There've been plenty of times (mostly in my volunteer projects, but occasionally in my startup too) where I implemented something I didn't agree with just to see what it'd look like when it's done. And in a majority of those cases, it turned out the other person was right, and their suggestion was better than what I had in mind.
Paul says: "I had no idea the Zenters used to leave our meetings disagreeing with all my suggestions". That's "not pushing back", and of course that regards something more or less technical where they could have, pretty easily. But what I think I'm trying to get at is a general world view that really has nothing to do with YC. It's easy in SV to get kind of lost in the region's distorted reality field, and it's healthy to get out and see something else once in a while.
I certainly don't know PG well enough to know what he does and what he thinks... but while I did like the recent jobs essay, I agree that there's a hint of getting a bit wrapped up in the startup world.
But then again, it would be pretty boring to read about "different kinds of jobs are good, and so you should choose the job best for you", wouldn't it.
