
Andrew Mason at YC - twakefield
http://smandrew.com/blog/2013/5/16/yf3qah4f8p7oxvehlj0ib93jol421o
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andrew
Hi folks,

Good to be here!

To the Chicago-based commenters: if there's anything I can do to be helpful
before I leave, email me at andrew@ycombinator.com. I'm happy to hang out and
give "advice" if you'll make the haul up to Evanston and help me assemble a
ping pong table or cat habitrail or whatever my loser project of the week is.

Whoever said Chicago's challenge is one of talent network effects, I agree
(although it depends on the nature of your company - Chicago is great for
Groupon). I'd love to help solve it, but not enough to endure the handicap.
Building a company is hard enough as is. And if you're really intent on self-
inflicted pain for your startup, there are far more interesting ways to do it.

The album is real. Looking forward to more 50% off jokes! Can't wait!

Andrew

~~~
clobber
Please stay far away from the startup scene. You're toxic.

Edit: since the downvotes from assumed sycophants are pouring in, I'm not
afraid to defend my position: the story of the Groupon pump and dump is well-
known here and criticism has always been widely upvoted. But once the man is
right here in our midsts you retreat. This is essentially the same behavior we
see over and over of society promoting the psychopath. Others might have short
memories but I don't.

~~~
wikiburner
Please stay far away from HN. You're toxic.

 _\- clobber -_

created: 726 days ago

karma: 558

avg: 4.63

C'mon, you should know better.

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scottkduncan
"It was with this in mind that I spent a week in LA earlier this month
recording Hardly Workin', a seven song album of motivational business music
targeted at people newly entering the workforce."

I'm going to need at least a 50%-off coupon before I consider picking this one
up.

~~~
jfb
I had to read that three times to be sure it wasn't a terrible joke.

~~~
webwright
It is almost certainly a joke. Andrew will probably be grumpy that I'm
suggesting this, but try googling "Andrew Mason Yoga Video".

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2pasc
I am appalled by the lack of respect Andrew Mason gets on Hacker News. Sure
Groupon is the not the most impressive piece of technology built in the past
five years, but you can credit this guy for creating a billion dollar Company
with millions of customers in a pretty short time frame. They have made
mistakes along the way, but who doesn't? I also find his blogging style
refreshing compared to all the semi-famous startups CEOs pontificating about
stuff they have done. Next batch of YC will be lucky to have him around.

~~~
JoeKM
> _I am appalled by the lack of respect Andrew Mason gets on Hacker News._

What? Seriously. What the fuck? Am I viewing the same HN? Just about every
Andrew Mason related topic is bountiful of upvoted praise.

I'm appalled by your insinuation that respect is deserved and not earned.

~~~
2pasc
JoeKM. Look at many comments about the bad jobs Groupon has created etc... I
am not saying that respect is deserved, but that Andrew seems to have earned
respect based on actual achievements.

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chrisduesing
"As part of this, my wife and I are moving to San Francisco later this summer.
... Chicago is developing quickly as a technology hub, and I hope to continue
to find ways to support the amazing community of entrepreneurs here."

So stay! I understand you probably get nauseous every time you run in to
someone from Lightbank, but we could really use you here. The city has gotten
behind entrepreneurship, there are great mentors and accelerators. Tons of
businesses are getting started. But what we sorely lack is people who have
gone huge, took the big risks, learned a lot, made a bunch of money and now
want to dive in and give back. Obviously you want to do this, and YC is great,
but TechStars Chicago could use you a whole lot more.

~~~
tptacek
Can I say real quick on my way out the door that I've helped run a company
from Chicago since 2005, was born and raised here, and think it's a great
place to build from "startup scene" or no "startup scene", but that I have
absolutely no idea what it is Chicago does to foster startups or even know
what the scene here is?

We organize meetups every other month for people in my field (information
security) and get a strong turnout, but very few of them seem to be engaged in
any kind of startup scene here either.

Should we just be more involved in local Ruby and Python meetups?

~~~
brandnewlow
The city needs to 4x the amount of investment capital going into Chicago-based
companies. That's the real problem underlying everything. There's not enough
money.

It's too hard to raise money for a new startup in Chicago. This leads to fewer
startups being funded, which leads to fewer startups, which makes it riskier
to join a startup that could go belly up and leave you unemployed for a few
months.

In the Bay Area, if you're an engineer and your startup tanks, you can have 5
job offers in a week from other startups. If those tank, you can get 5 more
offers, and so on, until something "pops". That's not how it works in Chicago,
so there's real risk to joining a startup there.

The reason this works in SF is because there's just a lot more money there
going into startups.

A lot of the Chicago startup booster events I've attended in recent years were
based on the assertion that the city wasn't retaining top technical talent,
but it could if the startup community would just try harder, or something.

The reason the best devs in Chicago are leaving or not working on startups
there is because there's not enough rich people and VC funds funding startups
to make it risk free and interesting for them to do so.

~~~
tptacek
I'm talking my own book here a little, but I've hoped for awhile Chicago might
germinate a different kind of startup from San Francisco, based on
bootstrapping instead of outside investment. Or, even better, companies that
start off as professional services teams and transition to products.

Chicago is a terrible place to raise money, but it's a great place to do
business, better than SFBA.

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FireBeyond
"I managed over 12,000 people at Groupon, most under the age of 25."

So mostly CSRs / sales, right? Outbound cold calling and the like.

"Haven't you read any business books? Good to Great? Winning? The One Minute
Manager?"

Why would they? Those are books aimed at business management, not customer
service representatives.

I'm working as a paramedic. I don't prep for my new paramedic job by reading
the textbooks my Medical Director (an MD) does.

~~~
wmf
OTOH Groupon's customers are mostly small business owners, so in that case
some business knowledge might be useful.

~~~
late2part
Yeah. I have a doctor friend who provides heart surgery for truck drivers and
construction workers. On the weekends he takes classes in big rigs and hammers
so he can provide better medical treatment for them.

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jere
>It was with this in mind that I spent a week in LA earlier this month
recording Hardly Workin', a seven song album of motivational business music
targeted at people newly entering the workforce.

Uh... what?

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AmericanOP
"I came to realize that there was a real need to present business wisdom in a
format that is more accessible to the younger generation."

Pretty cool actually. If anything YC & HN inspire young people to dream and
get engaged in business press & conventions. There's a real lack of this
knowledge and worldview by the uninitiated, even amongst peers dabbling in
amateur entrepreneurship for whom business inspiration are motivational meme
pictures.

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OnyeaboAduba
I think its great idea to have him at YC .He was at the helm of fast growing
tech company of all time , He could defintely help the YC founders with tips
on hyper growth and what pitfalls to steer clear from...the hardly working ep
uhhh not so much but you never know

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tyang
Why does he think people newly entering the workforce will listen to an album
of motivational business music over going to Quora or Harvard Business Review
to read about business?

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caublestone
What is Andrew Mason's HN handle?

~~~
NZ_Matt
picnichouse

<https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=picnichouse>

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trg2
Love this guy. Accounting issues aside, concept to IPO to goodbye letter was
such an interesting journey to watch unfold. Can't wait to see what happens at
YC and the new startup. Welcome to the bay, Andrew.

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salimmadjd
I think future YC applicant should follow and submit their videos as a rap
song. Heck if it's good for YC partner, then it should be good for the
participants. Just don't sing to, "Call Me Maybe"!

 _edit typo_

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stox
"I'm really happy with the results and look forward to sharing them as soon as
I figure out how to load music onto iTunes, hopefully in the next few weeks."

It might be a while.

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mczeno
Can somebody please explain why Groupon has 12,000 employees?

~~~
FireBeyond
Cold-call sales reps, often working largely on commission.

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mesozoic
A motivational business music album...

