
“I can be tricked by anyone who looks like Mark Zuckerberg” - gautambay
http://paulgraham.com/tricked.html
======
cperciva
I feel sorry for the unnamed YC founder who looks like Mark Zuckerberg and is
now learning that he has been the subject of an ongoing joke for the past 4
years. Having a startup fail is hard enough even without having people make
jokes about it.

~~~
stonogo
it's easier than having one succeed

~~~
thisGuysAccount
you guys know that the plastic surgeons who were telling their clients they
could make them look like Zuckerberg are hoping this doesn't get out, right?

------
GuiA
Of course the YC founders can't be fooled by someone's resemblance to
Zuckerberg - we all know how silly that would be!

However, there are certainly things they would be fooled by, especially given
a) the relative shortness of YC applications/interviews, and b) that they are
all very smart and experienced people and as such are very likely to succumb
to cognitive biases.

In fact, given the number of "10 tricks to get into YC" posts we see around YC
application season (I wish my mock title were an exaggeration), I would be
very surprised if there weren't any traits that did in fact fool PG et al and
that could be used advantageously if one's only goal were to get into YC for
the sake of it (it's very silly, but I've met many such people during my years
in the startup scene).

We know that there are attributes that are good signals to them - they have
said so. Examples include being a self taught hacker (preferably programming
since high school), being close friends/having worked in the past with the
other founders, focusing on things that don't scale, talking to the customers,
etc. I would be terribly surprised if there has never been a founder who has
filled all these checkboxes, made PG say "whoa this person reminds me of our
past founder X, and they were super successful, of course we want them in the
batch", only to have them fail miserably during YC.

So what did PG get tricked by in the past? That would be an interesting essay.

~~~
scobar
This is exactly what I'd hoped the essay would be about when I saw the title.
While reading his essays about what YC looks for in founders, I've been amazed
by how often I've thought to myself, "Wow! That's just like me." My rejections
prove I have many faults too, and they help me to dig for them and improve.

I'm afraid that I get too excited while reading the parts that resonate so
strongly with me that I gloss over important attributes where I need
improvement. An essay identifying characteristics that made founders look very
promising whose startups ultimately failed due to controllable variables would
be very helpful for me. I'd be able to relate to characteristics I may (think
I) have, and learn that those aren't enough. Or I'd learn that those
characteristics are easy to mimic, that I'm not so apt as I imagine, and I'm
just fooling myself about characteristics where I need far more improvement.

------
onedev
Honestly this post is garbage and shouldn't be on the front page. Just because
it's PG doesn't mean we should give the author a pass for such drivel.

------
malandrew

        ... particularly his long neck.
    

That detail really could have been omitted. It adds nothing and comes across
as disparaging.

If pg decides to edit it out. I'm fine with this comment referencing it being
deleted as well. There's no reason for that observation to persist in an
article that might be linked to again every time this meme comes up.

------
nawitus
>Could anyone be so naive as to think that resembling Zuck would be enough to
make a founder succeed? And is it plausible that we, of all people, who'd
interviewed thousands of founders, would think such a thing?

I think it's quite plausible that people have biases. Venture capitalists are
not exempt from bias. The thing about biases is that people don't realise they
have them.

------
mark-ruwt
I have no doubt that PG was joking, but comparing those of us that believe
that Pattern Matching by VCs is still a factor in suppressing diversity in
Tech, with the idiotic Birther Movement, is a bit of a reach.

------
dang
This post was killed by user flags. We're unkilling it because (if I know HN)
it will be reposted ad nauseum if we don't.

~~~
GuiA
I thought user flags could only kill a post under 10 points?

~~~
dang
Why did you think that?

~~~
GuiA
It's in 'jacquesm's unofficial FAQ:

[http://jacquesmattheij.com/The+Unofficial+HN+FAQ](http://jacquesmattheij.com/The+Unofficial+HN+FAQ)

See "What do I do when I think something is not HN material?"

~~~
dang
We're fond of Jacques but don't believe _quite_ everything he says. :)

Flags kill a post at any level whenever there are enough of them.

------
itbeho
Joking about someone's looks? Not like the person had much choice in the
matter it seems. That's a level of superficiality I wouldn't have expected
here.

~~~
dang
You can't win.

------
maxsavin
I thought PG was building it into a joke.. the post sounds way too defensive.

~~~
onewaystreet
Pretty much every single article written this year critical of Silicon
Valley/startups/VCs has used the quote. If anything PG should have addressed
it sooner.

~~~
waterlesscloud
Completely guessing here, but this feels like it was prompted by journalists
pressing him about it, probably in relation to a diversity story.

In other words, they're likely using the quote as a club to hammer pg with.
Maybe justifiably so, it really was kind of a dumb thing to say.

Just yesterday Jesse Jackson had an interview saying he thinks it's time for
the government to get involved in tech company diversity, so there could be
some more journalists preparing stories on the issue.

------
ggreer
It's sad that these sorts of responses are necessary. You'd think journalists
would avoid such behavior, but you only start to notice it if you've been in
the press.

Typically, resorting to misquoting and misconstruing only happens if a good
counterargument to one's actual views can't be found. So I take it as an
indicator of good (and possibly controversial) thinking if someone feels
forced to respond in this manner.

Sam Harris has become quite experienced at handling this sort of attack,
although he's had to spend significant time doing so.[1][2] Any victims of
misconstruing might want to follow his style.

1\. [http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/on-the-mechanics-of-
defam...](http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/on-the-mechanics-of-defamation)

2\. [http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/response-to-
controve...](http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/response-to-controversy2)

Note: I made a similar comment on the flagkilled version of this article, but
I figured I'd respond here since it seems to be the canonical thread.

------
thebear
As Paul Graham points out, it is absurd to think that he or anybody at his
firm would be swayed by someone's physical resemblance to Mark Zuckerberg.
However, I have the sinking feeling that in this respect, Mr. Graham and his
partners are the exception rather than the rule. That may well be one of the
reasons why they are so successful. Not that I have hard data, and I'm not
sure if reliable data could be obtained, but I have personally witnessed a
frighteningly large number of incidents in which people were obviously
influenced by the physical appearance of those whom they were tasked to judge.

------
jfoster
I think this sort of meme doesn't require the people using it to believe that
it was originally anything beyond a joke. As long as it sounds funny, that's
enough.

------
alttab
To me it feels like he used the Obama Kenya thing as a way to keep people from
quoting it. I'm not sure it will work because the birther debate hasn't gone
away either.

------
markbnj
This must be about something that is really important in certain circles. I
guess.

------
icefox
Many more people read the headlines of hacker news than actually click the
link so today they learned some sort of joke thing about Paul Graham being
tricked by someone who looked like Murk Zuckerberg.

------
comrh
Stuck me as a really odd comparison, a "out of context" quote and a conspiracy
theory.

------
rubbingalcohol
Reminding people about something you purportedly want them to forget seems
counterproductive.

~~~
nathanvanfleet
Yup, I didn't know he believed that you needed to look like Mark Zuckerberg to
succeed. But now I know that he's actually quite obsessed with the idea!

