

It's a long life in the small Valley - nottombrown
http://waxman.me/its-a-long-life-in-the-small-valley

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coderdude
There's good advice in here and he makes some good points. I'll try to share
my (somewhat rambling) take on this.

>Sometimes in the chaotic trenches of a startup people make bad decisions.
Your company seems like the only thing in the world and you’re willing to do
anything to ensure its survival. You’re stressed and overworked. It can be a
recipe for disaster.

In my short experience running a business I've learned that it is indeed very
stressful, most of the time. You get it from all angles and chances are you're
working day and night at weird hours. You begin to form a bubble around you
because all you think about is the company and its success. It's easy to lose
sight of other important things like the people around you and the people you
interact with. Certainly a recipe for disaster. It is absolutely critical that
you keep a level head. Maintain your mental health and don't let things get to
you too much. (Thanks go to jacquesm, who helped me with this during a
particularly troubling time.)

>At the time it might feel pragmatic [...]

Sometimes I find myself making what I consider to be 'tough calls' or
difficult decisions. Often times just trying to go by the book (or the
policies I've set). Occasionally the decisions I make leave a bad taste in my
mouth. Not because they were necessarily wrong or heavy handed at all. Just
that they could have been more right... if that makes sense. It's more than
just doing what is pragmatic or technically correct. It is people you're
dealing with, after all. There are feelings to take into account.

>You should always treat people with respect, first and foremost because this
is how fellow human beings deserve to be treated. But you should also remember
that it’s a long life in the small valley.

This is a really important thing to remember. It's easy to get caught up in
the heat of defending your position or policies. Nearly all tech startups must
work with many people on the web at large. There may be thousands, even tens
or hundreds of thousands of individuals that your startup(s) will encounter
along the journey. If you really want to cover your bases for your future then
be respectful to everyone. (I am also reminding myself here.)

That said I'm not a big fan of the Valley, its relatively small number of
players, or the cabals. I wish less advice pretended like it's the only place
in the whole wide world. (Then again, if that is your only experience to draw
upon I can see why you'd talk about it like that.)

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jhuckestein
Well said. I'll add that this is true for all parts of life, not just silicon
valley.

I can't recall a situation where I wish I had been less respectful of another
person, but there's quite a few in which I should have been more so. This is
probably true for everyone.

~~~
WalterSear
I can, but the number is dwarfed by the number of people I wish I had not
pissed off.

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bitsweet
_It’s never worth maximizing this round at the expense of all future rounds._

Couldn't say it any better myself

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anxman
This is great advice. Most tech companies are built by the same people, over
and over again. The real "Valley" is an incredibly small group of people.

~~~
ChuckMcM
One of the guys who helped get Sun off the ground used to joke that there were
about 150 people in the valley who actually created the companies, they would
go somewhere, build a company then move on.

It does feel like that sometimes. It was more like that when you would get one
big company every 3 - 5 years versus two or three in 2 or 3 years.

One key observation over the years is that the same person who sucks in one
job can be a superstar in another job. The 'fit' is as much about
responsibility, management, duties, and infrastructure as it is the
individual. We hired an engineer at Sun once who came to us via HP and was
highly decorated, he was a 'legend', but he could not get anything done at Sun
without having his own admin (which is something Sun didn't do). I watched
excellent engineers waste away at Google because they didn't have the
political skills to avoid having their progress blocked, and watched as really
poor engineers benefited out of proportion to the circumstance rather than
skill.

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irelayer
I like this article but I found myself kind of weirded out by the introduction
(so here is my version of the intro).

I started using a computer when I was 7. I knew nothing and virtually nobody.
It was 1988 and it wasn't easy to learn the ropes back then. This was before
much of today's infrastructure existed. There was no broadband or world wide
web or wifi or AOL. This was before VGA graphics and the Pentium processor.
CompuServe still had more users than AOL. Windows was just getting started.

~~~
da02
This is hilarious and insightful. I feel stupid for not seeing this while
reading the OP article.

(Why the throwaway account?)

~~~
irelayer
Thanks! It's not a throwaway, I've just been lurking for a few years and never
needed to comment before.

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ajaymehta
I always could tell that Michael had some sort of preternatural gift for great
startup advice and just being a generally nice dude, but I had no idea that
part of that was from starting a tech company back when he was 19.

Looking back, it makes total sense...

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ojbyrne
All well and good, but there are people in the valley who interpret any
criticism of their ideas, or even insufficient fawning over them, as a
personal attack, and immediately label you as a "hater."

~~~
entropy_
There are insecure people everywhere, not just in the valley

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gwil
Great article.

note to svbtle: the typekit font css is returning a 403.

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jaymoorthi
Great post. When I started working in Silicon Valley over a decade ago, as a
fresh graduate from college, I heard, "It's a small Valley" more than I can
count. I smiled and nodded, and I didn't really understand how true this
statement is.

Every year my career continues, I appreciate it more. Technology companies --
successful ones, at least -- are built around the magic of assembling
extremely talented people and focusing their attention on the same set of
problems. Companies don't last, but talent usually does, and people grow.

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simonbarker87
I forget where I heard this saying but I try to live by "you never know who
someone will be". I always make a point of being respectful to all members of
the team on the other side of the table regardless of weather they are making
the coffee, taking the notes or they are the guy holding the purse strings. I
think people too often forget that it is possible to get the best outcome from
a situation without being an arse.

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timcederman
Nitpicky, but no Twitter or Y Combinator? That's not right. Also Hacker News
started early 2007, so wasn't far off.

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tt
Also, do not curse out your competitors. You may end up being partners one
day, or worse, get acquired by them! I have seen the latter happen and feel
embarrassed for those who disrespected others.

~~~
nicholassmith
I had it happen on Twitter recently after me and someone else were tweeting
about Spotify UX choices, I had to chastise the guy from a rival service (I
won't say which) and said "If you have to put your competitor down instead of
praising them and telling me why you're better, you've failed."

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mycodebreaks
Great advice for everyone, even for those who do not have their own start-ups.

Be resourceful in every situation possible and do not cross line.

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technotony
I'm curious, what company did you found?

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benmathes
Just a heads up, it's "AngelList".

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dm8
But what if someone is "dick" to you? How do you handle that? Ignore?

~~~
benmathes
Ignore their dickishness, if not whatever content may be wrapped up in it.

Don't argue with the fool/dick/control-freak/etc., you'll have to stoop to
their level and they'll beat you on experience.

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datalus
It's a long life and at 25, you've still got a ways to go :)

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sbarg
Words to live by...

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jamespollack
waxman is good people. fact.

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jcampbell1
> but it’s a horribly bad idea, because, in the language of Game Theory, the
> startup world is a repeated game.

It is only a repeated game if you fail. If you succeed, then all your "I'm
CEO, Bitch" moments will be seen as a sign of confidence and a positive
stepping stone on you path to success. If you don't plan to fail, sending
stupid email doesn't feel a shortsighted, which is why it happens so often.

