Paul Graham’s Startup School Recap
Weblog reader Keith Casey, who originally signed up because of a post he read here, has made a report on his experiences at Paul Graham’s Startup School. It sounds like he had an excellent time, and has loads of good advice to share. Here’s how he described Paul Graham’s presentation:
Next, was the nearly infamous Paul Graham. He didn’t have any slides, but gave a pretty detailed treatise on innovation, how people can come up with “good” ideas, and why he focuses on college students/recent grads. The discussion tied together a few of his recent essays and it made a compelling case. Basically it boils down to “who has the least to lose and the most to gain” and the answer is “the person who is intelligent, works hard, has few financial and personal responsibilities, and is used to a simple lifestyle”. Taking a risk for a year or five is different when you’re already living on Ramen, sharing an apartment with a friend, and can hack all day and night than when you have to make a house payment, provide food and clothes for a growing child, and have a spouse. Is it impossible? No, it’s just different.
One of the most interesting things during the Q/A for this session was when a gentleman in the back stood up and said something along the lines of “But some of us older people don’t want to be in a position where our kid asks ‘What do you do daddy?’ and the answer is ‘Some shitty job that I hate because I was afraid to take risks’.” The applause was huge.
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