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Comment by nomilk | Hacker News Reader

Very similar to Sam's confession on Econtalk [1]:

> I probably shouldn't admit this--I'm on the Board of a public company: I can't read a balance sheet or income statement or anything like that.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAYXUgNHHc4&t=1656s

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That board oversight in silicon valley is largely a joke is no surprise, particularly because it is a joke everywhere else too. Still if this isn't just an inflammatory statement, which it probably is, it's showing how negligent you can be for very long if only you talk a good talk.

I agree he makes his point sharply, but I suspect he's probably asked weekly where he got his MBA, so mentioning that he can't even read a balance sheet is a fun way to show that boards aren't always a bunch of soulless accountants with MBAs; that in the case of YC, those aren't the critical skills; but instead being able to quickly assess an idea and the people around it is what matters.

That’s why there are multiple people on a company board, but it’s also telling how narrative-driven rather than economics-driven the startup world is. It doesn’t matter if a company is hemorrhaging money as long as it fits in a good storyline.

That’s a worse confession. I’m sure PG can read an income statement just fine and likely used his to sell ViaWeb.

Looking at things like Uber, though, they’re coming up with ways of making these basic reports harder to read critically. It reminds me of the pre-SEC financials covered in “Security Analysis” by Benjamin Graham. Companies claimed all sorts of things, especially treating one-time events as operating revenue, and toed the line of fraud.

To be fair, I once heard Richard Branson on the radio telling a story that he was pretty far along in building his empire when he had to be taught the difference between gross revenue and operating profit. I found it hard to believe but there’s other interesting facts out there, like David Boies is dyslexic and prefers not to read.

"Can't do arithmetic, that's for beancounters"

It’s not really a confession because it takes very little effort or knowledge to read either, and he is obviously a smart and hard working person. Any MBA student can read these; obviously Sam could too.

What he is saying is that he doesn’t read them (i.e. chooses not to), and the implication is that he does not need to.

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