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Comment by Kinnard | Hacker News Reader

I think this means that you were at the wrong company. Maybe everyone there was. That can happen. You should find a company where you do really believe

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I certainly was at the wrong company. But I didn't leave for a company I believed in more. I went to a company that allows me to make things I enjoy making. Then we get paid and I get the chance to make more things. We're not trying to change the world or "disrupt" anything. And I'm truly grateful that I haven't heard a single person utter the phrase "corporate culture".

We're all just people who want to spend our days doing and making things in a way that feels valuable. That's why I code, that's why a founder..um..founds (?) Why can't we just leave it at that? Why do we have to bring faith and belief structures into it?

"We're all just people who want to spend our days doing and making things in a way that feels valuable."

This means you believe in spending your days doing and making things in a way that feels valuable.

The belief systems are there even if you ignore them or use other language to describe them.

There is a qualitative difference between using the language of "belief", as in "a founder must create believers" (or to "believe" in a "vision" or "mission statement"), and simply saying you believe you are doing a good job and that you deserve the next paycheck. They require different mindsets and it's disingenuous to pretend otherwise.

Or, as the joke goes: "everyone should believe in something... and I believe I'll have another drink!"

The main difference is one of perspective. From the inside, it is simply belief; you believe what you do, and there is no need to argue it. From the outside, it's "belief", because others do not necessarily believe as you do. The article is targeting unbelievers and so needs to use the language of "belief". The main job of a startup founder is to turn "belief" into belief. Staying at stranger's homes was crazy 5 years ago; now my wife and I do it every time we go on vacation.

> We're all just people who want to spend our days doing and making things in a way that feels valuable

"doing and making things in a way that feels valuable" requires a belief that the things your company do are valuable.

The idea that everyone can and should work at a company where they really believe in the mission or culture of that company seems at least somewhat idealistic and naïve.

It's a ideal you should always be pushing toward even if you can't ever actually achieve it completely. If you let up pressure for just a moment, the pendulum will swing in the other direction. And you definitely don't want that.

Joseph here again. I wrote the post.

Agreed. The mission becomes key in having everyone focused and going in the same direction. Startups are really powerful when you have a small group of people are highly focused on solving a specific problem. That’s how they can compete against massive companies. They lose that power when everyone is going in different directions.

You can be highly focused on solving a problem without drinking the koolaid. It's not a requirement. Nothing wrong with kicking ass from 9-5 M-F consistently while your less effective coworkers struggle over long hours and through the weekend.

Absolutely. Also, that choice is luxury that many of us have access to but most people don't.

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