
Paul Graham and Y Combinator are on the cover of June's Inc Magazine - jasonlbaptiste
http://garry.posterous.com/paul-graham-and-y-combinator-are-on-the-cover
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johnnybgoode
I'm sure this is the magazine's fault, but the headline could easily be
misconstrued: "Paul Graham has launched 145 companies. His formula? Smaller
Cheaper Faster"

I guess it depends on what you mean by "launched", but if I didn't know about
this stuff already, I'd think they were trying to tell me PG literally started
145 companies as a founder.

Again this is a knock on the magazine and not PG. They're probably just trying
to sell more copies.

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jrockway
I agree. "Paul Graham gave 3 months of rent to some people" doesn't sound
quite as nice.

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grinich
I'm pretty sure YC does more than that...

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ube
Congrats PG!

And what a suave picture :-)

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pg
Thanks. The guys who took those pictures were really impressive. They had a
monitor displaying pictures as they were taking them, and the quality was
amazing.

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ableal
Reminder: children pictures by a professional photographer are really worth
the money ...

(Personal experience opinion department, not even personally acquainted with
one, used sparingly, not a 10k camera owner.)

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ableal
Would you please not be so gutter-minded - I have two young ones, and the
professional pics I have of them are worth every penny. The reminder is for
those in the same boat that may want to spend the money instead of relying on
their own N megapixel camera ...

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bpyne
Hopefully "Smaller Cheaper Faster" resounds in the minds of Inc's readership.
Perhaps they will even take the time to read some of his essays where he
expands on this perspective.

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vaksel
the description is pretty link bait, he didn't launch 145 companies, YC just
invested in them.

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gojomo
Ever hear of "the face that launched a thousand ships"?

Well, she didn't push the ships off, either. In fact, she was far away and
didn't even know they were launching!

Figurative speech -- which is fair to use on a magazine cover -- needn't be
judged on a literal basis.

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falsestprophet
Journalism isn't meant to be epic poetry.

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anigbrowl
Headlines aren't journalism, particularly on a magazine.

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khandekars
Congratulations Paul. It will be nice to have a prominent page on
ycombinator.com that links to all launched startups. Edit: Found the link --
<http://ycombinator.com/faq.html>

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iamelgringo
It was a pretty good article, too. Too bad it's not on the website yet. It's
worth picking up in dead tree form if you're interested.

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azsromej
I read the thing cover to cover a few days ago, and I never think to post - I
think Inc set me mine early. It's a good article.

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andrewhyde
Congrats! Looks fantastic.

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Ardit20
Wow Paul Graham Looks quite American. Not far off from what I imagined he
looked like tho, quite a father figure :)

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mahmud
268 days on this site and you don't know what he looks like? btw, the
buttoned-up, black-sweater look is not "American", but straight up San
Francisco. The man sold out; his earlier MIT/Boston/East-Coast look was the
traditional "Lisper" look (i.e. wife-beater and bandanna)

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davidw
What sort of surprised me was hearing pg talk in some video. I'd been reading
his stuff for years, and the voice is completely unlike what I'd imagined.

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mahmud
Yeah, he sounds normal doesn't he? Previously, all my contacts with "business
gurus" have been hyper-agitated, super-excited sales guys, motivational
speakers and the like; think Jack Welch.

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davidw
I hope he won't take offense at my dissecting it, but he sounds more ... hrm,
I'm not sure what the accent is... it reminds me a bit of Dave Sifry,
actually. You could really hear it when he said "so" in this video, which
tended to be a bit drawn out: "seeeewwww". I expected something a little bit
more clipped and neutral.

Perhaps the difference is that he spends a lot of time getting his essays
'just right' whereas speaking is a bit more of an off-the-cuff affair.

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bdmac97
Very nice!

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poub
Bravo!

PG and YC need more of those cover stories to spread their message.

One step at a time :-)

And the picture really look good.

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TriinT
Please note that YC is a company, not a cult. I don't see the need to "spread
the message". WTF is the "message"? Whoever has the "right stuff", will find
YC or similar companies. It's that simple. PG's essays are all the marketing
that YC needs. Your "fanboyism" makes you look like you're 12 years old...

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drusenko
more mainstream publicity should be a good thing. it's not a cult, and it's
not like only the "anointed ones" with the "right stuff" should know about YC.
spreading the startup "message" -- that you can start your own company,
instead of slaving away at a BigCo -- should be a good thing, so i'm a bit
confused as to where your animosity comes from.

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TriinT
I remember that Marc Andreessen was on the cover of _Time_ or _Newsweek_ back
in 1996. The internet was starting to take off, and a bunch of really young
guys became instant millionaires thanks to mega-hyped IPOs. Seriosly, does one
need publicity more mainstream than this? Everyone knows Gates, Ellison,
Andreessen, etc.

Everyone can dream of starting a company, few can do it. I lost the count of
how many smart guys I met who talked about big ideas and "thinking outside the
box" (whatever that is), and being entrepreneurial and how taking risks was
sooo cool... only to join a safe, cushy job at a management consulting firm as
soon as they graduated. They may have the smarts, but they could not face the
constant emotional terror of running a startup. Dreaming and talking is the
easy part. The difficult part is to walk the walk, the commitment and
persevering on the face of hardships. Some will succeed, most will fail.

I am sorry if I sound bitter. I have worked at a couple of startups which
failed. You know... you think you can beat the odds, but the odds end up
beating you. I get upset when I see these young kids thinking that the startup
world is a "movement" and that there's preaching to be done. I used to be
exactly like that, and it's a waste of time. The startup world is brutal.
There's a tiny chance you will succeed, and a huge chance you'll grow old,
bitter and burnt-out. Pick your battles carefully. Sometimes your dreams cost
you too much.

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drusenko
fair enough. but in my book, success or failure, quality of life is so much
higher at a startup (whether your own or not) than at a BigCo that if you're
qualified, i'm honestly not sure why you wouldn't.

sure, there are perhaps only so many years of your life that you can live on
"ramen noodles", but even after that, working at a funded, 20-50 person
company sure beats the alternatives, and you still get to be involved in the
"creation" part, even if you didn't start it.

to each his own, i suppose. after a bunch of bad experiences, i can understand
how you'd be burnt out.

