
Paul Graham on Startups, Innovation, and Creativity (2009) [audio] - tosh
http://www.econtalk.org/graham-on-start-ups-innovation-and-creativity/
======
tosh
10 years later the observations from 2009 still hold up or even snowballed:

* starting a startup got even cheaper

* there are even more lego bricks

* more & better angels & super angels

* more & better founder-led vcs

* still (even more?) difficult to tell which (stupid) ideas will work

* good strategy: iterate & adapt (ooda, explore & exploit, …)

* early stage investment works on reputation (founders do due diligence & due diligence got easier)

* immigration of talent/founders helps the US, visas are challenging

~~~
quickthrower2
* starting a startup got even cheaper

Is that true in general, when you factor in the cost of a developer's time,
now they can get paid a few mill instead from FAANG over those years each.

~~~
kweinber
This is an excellent point. Since 90+% of those startup people will end up
with peanuts or debt, nearly any other job would have put them way ahead...
not just FAANG jobs.

Startups are a rich person’s game....either from the VC perspective or the
Zuckerbergs or Gates, etc etc who already have the nest egg and time to tough
it out.

I’ve seen a lot of harm come to young people who feel like they should risk it
all to fit into a VC’s portfolio and driven like a slave while bearing the
lion’s share of the risk.

~~~
Old_Thrashbarg
Just from own experience, startups these days pay quite well.

At my own startup, I just tell engineers I'll pay as much as their current
company (excludes some of the salaries at the FAANG companies though) just
that they will get much more equity that could become large.

Strictly better expected value.

Even so, very hard to recruit folks to early stage startups. I feel like
there's much less appetite for risk these days. (Or perceived risk since we
pay just as much so there's really not much on the line)

I had one former colleague turn down my request because his current company
gives great health insurance and 401k contributions. I was like "you are 22
years old! Take a tiny risk!"

~~~
solipsism
_Or perceived risk since we pay just as much so there 's really not much on
the line_

 _I had one former colleague turn down my request because his current company
gives great health insurance and 401k contributions. I was like "you are 22
years old! Take a tiny risk!"_

Don't you realize you've contradicted yourself here? Perhaps you've failed to
consider that great health insurance and 401k plans are part of the total
compensation package. If you're matching base salary but ignoring other
benefits, you're not matching anything.

~~~
Old_Thrashbarg
> Don't you realize you've contradicted yourself here?

I think "there's really not much on the line" and "take a tiny risk" are
consistent.

We have solid health insurance (not like the top plan), but no 401k
contributions and therein lies the "risk" I refer to.

This tweet comes to mind:
[https://twitter.com/downloadcue/status/1160254519592144896](https://twitter.com/downloadcue/status/1160254519592144896)

~~~
ericd
Personally, I would much prefer a company that offered a match that allowed me
to get the full 401k amount pretax ($56k) over one that offered the equivalent
in salary. Might want to look into it. If you don’t have a 401k at all, you
should really look into it. Time in the market, and all.

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bjornsing
I’m so tired of audio files on websites and HTML players with no reasonable
controls... If playback dies 30 min in, am I supposed to reload the page,
press the 2x button and wait for 15 min to get back where I were...? What if I
want to switch to listening through my chromecast when I get home? Impossible?

How do I listen to stuff like this without losing my sanity? :P I’ve tried
downloading podcast apps on my iPhone, but I can never find the episode
through them... :/

~~~
simongray
[http://files.libertyfund.org/econtalk/y2009/Grahaminnovation...](http://files.libertyfund.org/econtalk/y2009/Grahaminnovation.mp3?_=1)

~~~
bjornsing
Well, that gives me random access to the audio, but I still can’t chromecast
it to my TV... Is this 2019? :/

Thanks though.

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calclimate
I was struck by his comments on the un-wisdom of many cities' efforts to
create their own local silicon valley, that they don't seem to take a critical
look at what would make such projects succeed or not.

This essay on his website was interesting - saying maybe you could do it, if
you funded a critical mass of startups, "for the cost of a stadium".
[http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html)

And I know he wrote later about being impressed by Detroit. (I thought there
was a whole essay, but all I'm coming up with is this:
[https://twitter.com/paulg/status/595736193297457152](https://twitter.com/paulg/status/595736193297457152)
)

~~~
calclimate
It was Pittsburgh, not Detroit.
[http://www.paulgraham.com/pgh.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/pgh.html)

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pinouchon
Talking about facebook creating the "social media" genre and taking over (at
18:58):

> It makes you wonder what else is coming [...] The impulse is "there won't be
> something like that ever again". But of course there will be in about 3
> years probably. Whatever it is, it's probably being built now. You just
> can't tell what it is. And you know what I can't tell either.

This has been recorded in 2009, the year bitcoin has been released as open
source software. So PG was pretty spot on that great stuff was being built as
they speak.

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JesperJ1
Very interesting talk indeed.
[https://analyseskolen.dk](https://analyseskolen.dk)

------
itcrowd
[audio], no transcript available?

~~~
baby_wipe
[http://www.econtalk.org/graham-on-start-ups-innovation-
and-c...](http://www.econtalk.org/graham-on-start-ups-innovation-and-
creativity/#audio-highlights)

