

Like Sports, Startups Have Leagues - andrewhyde
http://scalablestartup.berkeley.edu/2013/10/01/like-sports-startups-have-leagues/

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cortesoft
This question presents a very false dichotomy: "Is the startup world a
meritocracy, or are there leagues in startups?"

If we are making a sports analogy, then having different leagues does NOT
imply that it is not a meritocracy. The very best (judged from merit) end up
in the top leagues. Sports is the ULTIMATE meritocracy, in fact, because there
is a simple and fair way to judge who is better.

Leagues just form so that that similarly talented people face each other in
fair competition.

~~~
andrewhyde
Perhaps the BCS is a great analogy: there is a seemingly fair competition but
luck, tradition and money sure help you get into the championship game.

~~~
cortesoft
Ah yes, the most unsporting system in sports!

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theboss
I have to at least somewhat agree with the article. I'm on the outside looking
in, and to me it looks almost like working in the Federal Government, how once
you're in then "you're in" for life with the Big League Startups.

Startups love to talk about their work as extremely technically challenging
when in reality the developers I know who work at startups are generally no
better or working on no harder problems than people not working at startups or
working at startups that aren't very well known or 'in the big leagues'.

I think it really has to deal with the mentors the startups end up with and
the funding, and together these help the "Big League" startups continuously be
successful. Also, startups that are invested in by places like YCombinator
naturally get more press and their business will have a higher chance for
success (when combined with excellent mentors)....

You're free to disagree or correct me if I have any obvious
misconceptions...Like I said..I'm on the outside looking in.

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conrey
Hard to argue with this post. It really breaks out the "everyone can start a
company" myth into something I've been trying to explain for a while.

The analogy I've been working with is comparing startups to the mid 2000s
Poker boom - once the internet made it easier for anyone to play competitive
poker, more and more people started doing it. Once one "regular guy" \- Chris
Moneymaker - won the WSOP and ESPN televised the hell out of it, poker rooms
were flooded.

But who did you see still sitting back there taking in this new money? The
same old guys who had been grinding out livings on the card table for years.
The same guys you see regularly placing in the top 20 at WSOP events around
the occasional flash in the pan newbies who get a hot streak.

~~~
andrewhyde
It is really odd to think of the skill development it takes to be in the top
20 of poker, or your niche league. Does this have anything to do with 10k
hours of development time or being built as a 6'9" athlete (or the
intellectual, or drive equivalent).

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Udo
You don't know what league you're in until you try. With sports, it's
relatively easy to see why someone isn't a pro player - startup founders are
harder to judge. In fact, judging the potential league of a startup is such a
hard problem that even VCs, who are in the business of making such judgements,
have to make a lot of rather unsafe bets.

How's a person to know they're not good enough? Should everyone who doesn't
come into the game already rich and well-connected just stay away?

~~~
theboss
I don't think you're right. Even in professional sports, bad scouting reports
happen just like when VCs make the wrong call.

Sometimes a persons particular skill-set scales really well at the next level
and scouts and VCs may not expect that (Tom Brady 6th round pick versus a VC
who says wow I wish I invested in ____).

Sometimes a persons particular skill-set looks like they will play really well
in the big leagues but they never really do, or a well-funded startup never
really gets traction for whatever reason.

I think the sports to startup analogy might actually be quite good.

~~~
Udo
Okay, so while you disagree with me and the article about the sports analogy,
you seemingly still agree with me about startups (which was the central point
of my post).

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rokhayakebe
The saddest thing about the little tech world we live in, the one only WE care
about, is that somehow seemingly smart people have managed to convince
themselves that 1)this is a zero sum game, 2) you need rock star _any
/everything_ (what ever that means).

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prostoalex
It is a zero-sum game if you're hiring.

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rfnslyr
I can't stand reading posts like this anymore on HN. The title is literally
the entire article.

Who knew the harder you work the more successful you are? I wish there were
some sort of hypothesis. Grouping startups together, identifying what's
unique/different, talking about founders, etc.

~~~
andrewhyde
The point of the article is the notion that you might not be able to graduate
to another league by effort.

~~~
rfnslyr
So this article introduced me to the concept of luck? Ok..

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SomeCallMeTim
Not necessarily luck. Innate skill is another option.

