

Ask PG: What if you like one (or more) of us for YC W11, but not all. - no-go-mojo

Hi pg,<p>Has this ever happened, when you liked one or two of the cofounders and not so much the others?<p>Based on our app, what if you like one of us, or two, but not the other one or two cofounders?<p>Thanks.
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pg
We always judge teams as whole teams.

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no-go-mojo
Makes a lot of sense, PG. I have often wondered if it would be better to have
cofounders who aren't as strong but as a team we have all bases, in terms of
skills, covered vs. all of us, with roughly the same skills, but all awesome.

I also started to notice that there isn't any correlation between skill and
determination. Looking for skill and hoping for will is a disaster. People who
were "really into it" would pick anything up on the fly, enough to be
dangerous, and that'd be great. On the flip side, people who were "rockstars"
but not driven, would not do what they say they would, you'd be waiting on
their email responses, man did they kill the morale. Reminds me of a Sir
Richard Bronson quote: Hire for attitude, train for skill.

I would bet the combination of determination and "solving the right problem"
makes a winner. Also instead of luck, I believe in being at the right place,
at the right time. In order to be ready for that you have to be there,
everyday, even if the bus does not come for 100 days straight, you stand there
with the exact fare, knowing that when it does come, you'll be ready to ride
that rocket.

Sorry about the rant, I know you're a busy guy, and thanks for answering my
question. Any input from you is always greatly appreciated.

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sskates
I'm not pg, but let's see if I can give this one a shot.

In response to your question, you want people who are all awesome (although it
looks like you've already come to this conclusion on your own). Skill can
change but determination generally doesn't. 2 founders are ideal, don't look
for more people just because they're warm bodies or allow you to fill out an
extra checkbox on the "list of skills that people in this startup have".

That being said, there is a baseline level of experience/competence (ideally
as a programmer, I assume you're doing a software startup) necessary for a
determined person to make a contribution. This isn't very high though.

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georgemcbay
I am not pg and he already answered and this is totally not based on any data
whatsoever, but it seems to me that in a situation where he (or any other vc)
really liked one cofounder and hated another there would a much higher chance
that the cofounders themselves would have issues with each other (if not
already then soon enough) which is a bad thing for a startup at such an early
stage.

Granted, relationships don't always work out exactly that way, but roughly
speaking they usually do. People I like tend to dislike the same traits in
other people that I do, and vice versa.

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abbasmehdi
Good theory, but I can't agree, here is why: Can you be friends with any of
your top ten friends' top ten friends?

