YC folks, startups & the people yc startup school attracts that I've personally spoken to in the past few years are more imitator-types.
YC folks & startups of 2009 were more authentic & original types.
Though I suppose it's tough to avoid this deterioration in culture following $-influx & 'success', in any domain.
Jim Morrison.
I always thought that song was prescient, considering the the "waves" of rock and roll in the following decades. Ideas emerged, often from the underground. Some were true, and they upended old, stale ideas that had descended into hack mimicry packaged and sold to the unwashed masses.
Novelty is a quality and it only lasts so long. Johnny Rotten's antics would be trite cliches by the 1980s, just as he himself had been disgusted by the trite homages to Jim Morrison of the last 70s. Authenticity, originality and rebellion don't generally follow clearly signposted roads.
Movements have cycles. In retrospect, Mike Oldfield didn't really suck... but Johnny was right at the time.
I was happy to be around, if not involved. Startup School afterparty at Anybots was a dream. Trevor even pinched me with his new robot (at my request).
There were posers even back then, though. I remember one guy getting very drunk, saying “Ok, this is it,” and walking up to pg to pitch his startup. I’m not sure who I felt worse for, him or pg.
Fun times for a 22 year old nerd on his first trip to USA. I grew a thick skin fast.
The fact that a random kid from Europe could even get a chance to show up and speak to all those amazing people ... priceless. Just wish I had had the chops to do more with the opportunity.
> You’re an idiot
That seems awfully rude of them. They don't sound like very pleasant people.
If A being rude to B, there's a good chance B will walk away, even if B could argue their point.
If the situation is such that B can't walk away -- meaning that A has power over B -- then A being rude in that context is not only unpleasant, but possibly also an abuse of power by A.
(Only if it’s true though! A surprising number of founders try to BS their way, which is always a mistake.)
They are not testing for such things. Sometimes over drinks, someone might say something, possibly rude, possibly just perceived as that. I wouldn't perceive it as rude if someone said to me 'Kid, XYZ is dead!'. It's just a statement.
There are not 'introduction of variables' here.
Also, I would perceive it a rude to meet someone in a social situation and have them 'pitch' to me. That part of 'always hustling' in every social setting is one of the reasons I will never move back to the Valley.
It's just not something that people outside the game would handle well.