
Paul Graham's Mixergy interview - How YC helped 172 startups take off - covercash
http://mixergy.com/y-combinator-paul-graham/
======
alabut
I know I'm not the only poker player on here that loved that Matt Maroon was
the first person PG thought of when singling out characteristics of founders.
And even better - now it makes our biweekly YC poker game actually feel
productive.

I'm only half-joking. I definitely don't think it's a coincidence that I
started playing the game over the same period of years that I grew the itch to
join and launch startups. It can be just a fun way to blow off steam but as
someone born to very non-entrepreneurial parents, it also taught me a whole
bunch of lessons that I never got from school or other jobs:

* how to read people and situations

* combine gut instincts with rational analysis

* understand other people's motivations

* do it all quickly, with money on the line and while keeping the fun party atmosphere going by not being a hypercompetitive dick.

~~~
fleaflicker
i thought he mentioned matt as somebody easily capable of duping him in the
interview

~~~
alabut
He mentioned Matt in that context but also said that he was so impressed with
how tough he thought Matt was and was glad to see it was true.

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patio11
Worth the hour of your time. One of many interesting tidbits was what
personality traits predict success in YC founders (positive: determination,
raw intelligence, and ability to sell $30,000 of Obama-branded cereal boxes,
negative: meek body language).

~~~
fleaflicker
not to mention that the reddits won jessica over by being "cute"

~~~
kn0thing
I wanted to read these comments before watching the interview... big mistake.

~~~
kn0thing
OK, I'm listening to the interview. And confirming that everyone now knows
about "the muffins."

Andrew, I love what you're doing at Mixergy, but you weren't giving enough
credit to Steve. I hope I didn't say in our interview that there was something
in _me_ that made YC call us back or something in _me_ that they saw. If I did
(sorry, it's late here and I'm too lazy to relisten to our interview) I'm
taking this comment field to correct myself and stress that for whatever
reason we got called back (evidently it's a muffin-ness thing, that is, who we
were - not our idea) was at the very least because of Steve _and_ me and at
most because of Steve alone.

Keep in mind, I was the only non-technical co-founder during that first round
of YC. If only I (or me and my clone) had applied to YC, I can guarantee I/we
wouldn't have even gotten invited for an interview.

~~~
kn0thing
edit for clarity:

>[...] was either because of Steve _and_ me OR because of Steve alone.

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fbu
That's a terrific interview, but now I'd want an interview of Jessica
Livingstone as she appears to have the nag to spot what makes great founders.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
the knack ( <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/knack> ) , not the nag (
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nag> ).

They mean very different things.

~~~
fbu
Thanks for the english, always good to know

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antidaily
"And, like, who gives a fuck about China? When did [google] make the decision
to make their search engine work on a whole bunch of crappy cheap computers?
That's important!" I loved that.

~~~
sushi
Damn Right. That for me was the high of the interview.

~~~
mikeyur
I have a hetero man-crush on PG because of this interview.

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covercash
Be sure to check out PG's q&a in the live announcement discussion:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1112617>

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gridspy
Andrew: I love your "Home of the ambitious Upstart" along with a great deal of
praise for your interviewing style. I look forward to being a success and
doing an interview with you.

Paul: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. I really enjoyed
meeting you in video form and hope that we can chat sometime. I love HN and
thanks for investing your time in this "time sink" (as you described it). I
for one spend a lot of time thinking about YC, even though I am way too busy
making Gridspy work to come out and do a YC round.

------
amohr
Moral of the story: If you get an interview, be really nice to Jessica.

~~~
weaksauce
As an aside, I cannot stand people being rude to people that they perceive as
the receptionist or somehow lesser in stature to them. Take someone out to
lunch and watch how they interact with the waiter and that will tell you a lot
about their character.

~~~
Brushfire
Couldn't agree more. Its amazing how entitled some people feel.

Restaurants are probably the best example, especially when people are
outrageous to the waiter, hostess, or barback when problems are clearly
outside of their control (kitchen issues, staffing issues). Other good places
to judge this characteristic: Taxi Cabs and customer-support calls (you dont
need to be on the call, simply listening to the person will tell you enough).

Also, to be clear, that doesnt mean that people have to be doormats - just not
a complete asshole. Empathy goes a long way.

I try to avoid doing business with people who fail this test - is usually
means they are highly emotional / rash about decisions, or that they don't
mind badgering other people to get their way. Both are bad.

~~~
patio11
True story: recently, I was having dinner with a young lady and she discovered
a hair in her food. She said "Call the waiter over and chew him out for me."
If dates could be awarded Darwin Awards, that line won two.

~~~
yannis
Nice story, I hope you said 'sorry love that's mine' and poked your fingers in
her food to take it out:)

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btilly
The biggest surprise for me is that Paul claims he personally has to look the
Y-combinator pattern up on Wikipedia. Though I suspect some false modesty here
because he didn't want to side track the interview.

As for the rest, lots of interesting details in the general theme that I've
come to expect from him. The phrase I like that sums it up is _Ready! Fire!
Aim!_ (Add appropriate discussion of tracer bullets.)

~~~
felideon
I'm not sure he actually said he looked it up on Wikipedia. Just that he
always had to look it up. (I'd have to re-watch it to be sure.)

The interviewer was the one who said he had read the definition on Wikipedia.
Unless pg was also implying that.

~~~
btilly
The automated transcript said that Paul said it.

I did not listen to the presentation, so I don't know whether the automated
transcript was wrong.

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harman
Interesting interview, nice to hear from PG, how Y Combinator evolved. Look
forward to have something like Y Combinator in India.

~~~
icey
There is something like YCombinator in India:

<http://iaccelerator.org/>

~~~
sushi
Nobody has heard of this Indian version and more than that: 1)What are the
credentials of the guy/organization who started it? Well IIM, the parent
behind this clone produces managers and in Tech World, Managers are not good
at anything. As Jason Fried said in that bigthink interview, the managers just
interrupt and don't let the real doers do their job. 2)How many companies they
have invested in? Well, not many. 3)Look at the portfolio and tell me if you
have heard of any company. I live in India and I have not heard of single one
myself. let alone someone far away in US.

Just like PG himself mentioned in the interview that you can go to The Valley
and pitch for your idea. Many people from other countries go to the camp.

I for one, won't waste my time with any Indian or Asian version. I want real
stuff else I am OK without it.

~~~
medianama
you don't have to be so harsh. At least they are trying. Better than nothing.

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wallflower
Andrew, thanks for the shout out. I like your interview style because it is
you, especially because you're always trying to improve your interviewing
skills.

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dabent
I loved the way Paul seems to concentrate on his strengths and works with
other people who have strengths where he doesn't. He can concentrate on
turning a startup into a winner, knowing he's got good legal advice and
someone to judge people in 10 minutes flat.

~~~
gridspy
I think that is an important strength in any successful entrepreneur, leader
or manager.

I love the whole "hire experts and get out of the way" approach to team
building.

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amohr
here's the docs page he mentioned: <http://ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html>

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apgwoz
I really enjoy Mixergy interviews. Andrew is doing an incredible job--this was
no exception. I'm also enjoying The Changelog, which is similar, though they
interview people who contribute to OOS.

I think my favorite quote has to be: "You're in Beunos Aires? That's the
Internet for you."

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a123b
Paul, if you're here and have the time, can you define what you mean by
"wimps"?

~~~
toadpipe
People who give up too early, for any reason.

~~~
pg
That's pretty good. Basically, people who are prone to give up when they
encounter resistance; people who are the opposite of tough.

