Reminds of Seymour Cray's response on being told that Apple Computer had just bought a Cray to help design the next Apple Macintosh, and Cray then commented that he had just bought a Macintosh to design the next Cray. - http://www.computer.org/portal/web/awards/seymourbio
This is a little off topic, but a few years ago when I was trying to put together my first startup, Sam spent an hour on the phone with me (some nobody from upstate NY) going through what it would take for me to move from my idea to a real company. The startup ultimately failed (many lessons were learned) and I'm in SF now but I still remember the incredible act of generosity that hour was. Thanks, Sam!
Octopart has always inspired me. Just one of those quiet, confident, heads down YC companies we can be proud to call a peer. Sam - this is such an awesome story - thanks for sharing
As someone who has been thinking of leaving physics graduate school (and I've been "running" simulations of plasmas too), this is somewhat encouraging.