
Paul Buchheit: Seth Godin on 'Vibe' - mattjaynes
http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2007/06/quick-vibe.html
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pg
I agree with Seth and Paul. Vibe is very important. We've taken a lot of
trouble to ensure a happy vibe at YC. Partly it was to distinguish ourselves
from others in the startup funding business. VCs' offices tend to be quite
grim, even when they're expensively done. But the main reason was simply that
we ourselves spend a lot of time at YC. We want it to be a happy place because
we want to be happy ourselves.

That's one difference between starting a company when you're rich and when
you're poor. You won't put up with unpleasant stuff when you're rich. Often
that's a disadvantage, but I think it turned out to be an advantage for YC.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlbtlbtlb/434812635/in/set-72157600027668946/>

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staunch
Employees act dry and "professional" and it's a miserable way to live. It's a
spiral of doom that causes the best people to leave and biggest losers to dig
in their heels.

The "Amateurs" section of "What Business can Learn from Open Source" is
probably my favorite thing PG has written.

<http://www.paulgraham.com/opensource.html>

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far33d
Vibe is often the single thing that differentiates a successful company from
an unsuccessful competitor. The worst is "fake vibes", things constructed by
corporations to look like collaboration and a good vibe that are really just
manufactured.

It goes way beyond free food and ping pong. Is management on your side? Do
they listen to your concerns and desires as an every day employee? Are you
lied to regularly? Is everyone proud of their work?

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joshwa
I think ensuring good vibe is a corollary to the "A people hire A people"
argument... if you take the time to hire people who share your positive
attitude, then hopefully the organizational culture will reflect that.

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mattjaynes
"Now it's something that I watch for when visiting startups -- my guess is
that upbeat and energetic companies will outperform the ones that feel
oppressive and hopeless."

I've mostly only seen the vibe just implode (or at best only slightly
diminish) when a startup gets acquired. Granted my experience is VERY limited.

I find it hard to imagine that many startups get acquired and it REALLY
IMPROVES THEIR VIBE! ;) But maybe I'm wrong, any counter-examples to that
scenario?

