I think he glossed over that type of business because it's not a startup. It is a perfectly reasonable style for many who wish to start a new business, but the course is focused on startups.
Sure, it's not a well defined term with a universally agreed upon definition, but now we're just arguing semantics.
You like to define it as a new, for-profit business. Seems reasonable. However, I found that many others use the term to specifically refer to the kind of high risk, high growth company that meet the investment profile of typical venture capitalists.
It seems obvious that the good people of startup school are using the word startup in the latter sense. And honestly that sense of the word seems more common. Most people refer to what you do as bootstrapping, not a startup.
But is it really that interesting to have an argument over the definition of startup?
I don't think anyone at startup school is against bootstrapping. They're probably not against enterprises either. The event just has a focus.
> Sure, it's not a well defined term with a universally agreed upon definition, but now we're just arguing semantics.
The definition is pretty well agreed on. The version I like best is that a startup is a new business that's designed to arbitrage a temporary disequilibrium to produce extraordinary returns.
Other people phrase it differently, but claiming that, for example, your typical restaurant is a startup is unequivocally wrong.
I really enjoy a lot of what YC puts out, especially the philosophy that growth is the ultimate no-BS filter. That was eye opening for my when u heard Jessica Livingston talk about it.
All-in-all, my initial comment is likely misplaced given the nature of startup school.
But I do believe that most businesses should aim for, and be happy, with linear growth.
> A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit." The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.
This reply is very late and you may not see it, but I wanted to express my thoughts.
I appreciate the way Sam presents his thoughts (questions, answers, or otherwise). They're both extremely thoughtful and simple in a sense that he won't repel those who may feel below his level intellectually. Some of his points are so insightful, but it's taken me a lot of time, experience, and thought to be able to absorb or agree/disagree with them. Some just seem like simple advice that I should consider because I don't know enough to strongly believe he's right or wrong.
Perhaps you're at a high enough level intellectually that his simply-stated yet thoughtful points are, by now, obvious to you. I definitely don't mean to imply otherwise. Unfortunately, I haven't found many writers whose thoughts are as insightful as PG's, but I am content with rereading his old essays as I'm certain I haven't thoroughly understood everything he's written at the depth of understanding that he or others may have.
The part about risk resonated so much with me. I feel exactly the same way as Sam now, but it's taken many years and experiences to arrive at that mindset. I wonder if I would've taken his advice seriously when I was younger; it seems contrary to the advice I (and many others I assume) received about risk.
To be clear, I suggest all young adults follow Sam's advice on risk.
While reading one of Richard Feynman's books, one of many curiosities he wrote about sent my mind racing. He and some acquaintances were trying to accurately count to 1 minute in their minds without help from any timing device. None of them got it right, but the interesting part is the result of performing the experiment multiple times. Each individual would finish counting at almost exactly the same erroneous time as they had each previous attempt, and the individuals' times were distinctly different than the others'.
At the time I was reading that book, I'd been wondering if there were better ways than a username/pass or physiological biometrics to authenticate someone yet would also allow anonymity when the user prefers. I thought this internal timer would be a great fit, but depending on its accuracy and if it's actually unique to each individual, it might be best when combined with other similar behavioral biometrics.
Note:
I didn't even know the term behavioral biometric until a wonderful person whom I met at Startup School 2016 informed me. I appreciate that kind person, and I'm very glad I met him.
Thank you for this. I didn't quite make it into the top 10, but it was a lot of fun. I really like what you guys are doing. I began learning to code by writing bots for games so your approach to teaching is a lot of fun. It looks like lots of others enjoy learning to code this way too.
I'm very curious about and hope that you'll post your opinion on the success of this tournament as a channel for hiring. This is a refreshing approach to filtering candidates that, hopefully, will be adopted by many others. I'm also curious to know if the tournament accelerated new user sign-ups. Perhaps the extra incentive (an interview was offered to the top 10 players) was enough to convince some to learn to code who would've put it off otherwise.
Thank you again. I hope the result of this tournament will be very positive for CodeCombat, and I wish you all the best moving forward.
In the article, he suggests finding Michelangelos. I imagine there are many who are clearly the right type, but many more non-obvious Michelangelos. Do you have (or intend to discover) a reliable way to foresee the best people even while circumstances influencing their lives have diverted them from the traditional outlets to look for such individuals? I assume there will be enough obviously great candidates wanting to "work" at YCR that you won't need to dig for hidden gems. I was just curious to know if it was something you'd considered.
Sam, when I met you at Startup School last year, I wanted to be brief. The most important thing I wanted to communicate to you was my gratitude, and I thanked you for sharing your startup class. I'm blown away by and so grateful for the stuff you've been doing since. I'm very excited to see how these new projects work out. Thank you again man.
In the 24th Upvoted by Reddit podcast, Steve and Alexis talked about all the great content and communities hiding within Reddit that go undiscovered. I'm excited to see how they'll try to solve that problem, and hope they find a great solution. Reddit is really great, and it's very cool to see both Steve and Alexis back to enjoy and advance it.
Some lessons include a "Tips and notes" section below the lesson segments. It's often positioned below the fold, and there aren't many indicators that there is more content if the user scrolls down.
I probably have a different perspective than most, but here's why I enjoy Duolingo's style:
The first foreign language I began learning was Spanish. I took it throughout high school and college. I was taught theory first, so I could understand most of what I'd read or hear following the new lesson. Running the input through the theory I'd established in my brain worked, but it was very slow and took a lot of practice to speed up my speaking and understanding.
When I was visiting my wife in Brazil while we were dating, I learned Portuguese very differently. Although they were aware that I didn't speak Portuguese, many of her friends and relatives did not let that reason hold them back from speaking it to me anyway. So I was bombarded with the language, and slowly began to understand more and more. First, I'd only understand one word in a phrase, then 25% of it, then 50% and so on until I reached a critical point where I understood enough of what was being said that I could use the context of what I did understand to infer the rest and learn that too.
Learning Portuguese was so much quicker for me. I still know more Spanish theory, but I still speak and understand it too slowly to consider myself fluent. On the other hand, Brazilians tell me all the time that they're impressed with how well I speak Portuguese.
I think the jumping right into the deep end style of learning Duolingo offers is fun, but may not be the best for everyone.
Thank you for offering your perspective, and it's awesome of you that you're donating to patients. I actually found the article refreshing and hope-inspiring. I think there's a considerable amount of variation between each person's interpretation of the 'basic message'. IMO the basic message of this work in particular is that organizations like Watsi and Wuqu’ Kawoq are bringing healthcare to natives in Guatemala who need it but have been restricted from it. The new hope Watsi and its partners provide in areas like this is shown through the happiness of those in the photographs.
Also, I hadn't known specific details about the troubles natives were suffering in Guatemala. This article gave me some clear events and dates to start researching to learn more. So I'm glad I was able to read it.
Thanks for mentioning your post. I really enjoyed it. I have a couple questions that, to my understanding, weren't covered in your blogpost, and I'd like to learn your opinion.
I'm guilty of having contacted someone I greatly respect and asking "Will you mentor me?". While I honestly believe that particular individual understood the naivete in the format of my request as shown by the kind response, I would like to improve the manner in which I seek mentorship in the future.
In your examples, you offered to help improve a project of a prospective mentor with work you had already completed. If you don't know what work may help that person, would you ask directly how you may provide a benefit to him/her?
My next question is about the type of advice I seek. You suggest "[...] have gone as far as you can by yourself" before seeking mentorship. I'm not stuck, but there are a few paths I might choose. Each is a considerable time investment, and making the wrong choice would be a setback I'd really like to avoid. The conventional advice I have sought online hasn't provided a clear answer to my specific situation. What is the best way to ask someone if he/she has the time to offer advice? I don't want to start by presenting the questions and making them feel obligated to answer something that may take more time than they have available to consider.
(a) If you don't know what work may help that person, why do you presume he/she would be a good mentor for you? You have to research/know what your prospective mentor is doing, has done, is interested in etc before seeking mentorship.And you get this knowledge by actually doing some work in whatever area your prospective mentor is an expert in and coming across his work in that field. (vs choosing someone famous first and then deciding to seek his mentorship)
"If you don't know what work may help that person, would you ask directly how you may provide a benefit to him/her?"
No I wouldn't. I get these sort of emails myself,though I am just a programmer and have no world class expertise even in programming, and I know what timewasters they can be.
More importantly I let my work lead to potential mentors than the other way round. In other words, I'll work on what interests me/I think is important even if no mentors are available. Mentors are an occasional aid, not a dependency, to doing good work. Which leads me to
(b) The desire to take the "optimal path" (no such thing exists for most realworld situations) can in itself be a paralyzing factor. Taking some paths, realizing they are not right for you and then backtracking is part of the learning process. This time is not "wasted". Seeing it thus only shows you are at a certain stage in learning how to learn, and need to move a little further.
Doing this exploration and backtracking improves your skill in choosing and walking paths. Sure, too much of it can be debilitating, but knowing when to stop and when to continue is itself a valuable skill, which can be acquired only by gaining experience and reflecting on it, not by someone else trying to guess the 'right path' for you.
If you completely avoid these situations, waiting for someone else to give you an "optimal" path, you end up (in the best case) as someone who can take a path only when someone else lays out all the pros and cons of each path. And that is not a good place to be, even if such a situation were possible (which is usually not the case, though in some highly structured environments like studying for an academic degree, it might be possible)
Thank you for your thorough response. I agree that only after sufficient research (not only about the person, but about the subject of focus as well) does one get a good idea of who may be a good mentor. The research does provide insight about the interests and attitude of the prospective mentor, but doesn't always clarify how that person may want help. Perhaps after more time and research, I'll prove myself wrong.
I agree that one should not be dependent upon a mentor's guidance. I think, based on your response to my second question, I may have inadvertently implied that I was seeking a mentor to enlighten me with the 'right path' or that I wouldn't start until I had received the advice. In fact, when I considered the circumstance prompting my second question before I had written it, my thoughts were very similar to your answer.
The guidance I expect a mentor can provide is similar to the reading list provided by tptacek for those who wish to learn more about security (http://www.amazon.com/lm/R2EN4JTQOCHNBA/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view...). Someone who wants to learn who blindly chooses the first few resources may eventually come across the same books or learn the information elsewhere, but may take far longer than necessary, pick up some bad habits, and not gain more expertise for the extra time spent stumbling along tangent resources that turn out to provide little or no benefit.
I think your strategy of delving into the work and in turn the community surrounding it is a great way to promote the serendipitous mentor-like relationships that will naturally form as a result.
My only disagreement is that you seem to find little value in seeking out those who aren't necessarily 'famous' but definitely are experts in a particular subject, researching more about them, and asking for mentorship if the research suggests it would be a good decision and could provide mutual benefit. There's likely a very low chance of success, but that person (who may have been a great mentor) may not have noticed you otherwise. I've decided that I'll do what I can to avoid any more reasons to think to my future self "I wish I had tried." A single mentor who I may not have been acquainted with otherwise would be worth all of the rejections to me.
Thank you again for taking the time to respond with such a well-thought-out comment.
