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Comment by mindcrime | Hacker News Reader

Man, I love this guy. I'm not convinced that the idea is big enough to get him where he wants to go, but the moxie, the hustle, the spirit... you can't help but root for somebody like this.

I'm shocked he didn't get into YCombinator, to be honest. Pg always talks about how it's about "the team, not the idea," and if anybody has the moxie to get in as a solo founder, I'd have thought it would be Kurt.

Anyway, Kurt, keep banging away and keep believing! I believe big things will happen for you if you stay dedicated.

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> you can't help but root for somebody like this.

I can. Dude left his wife three hundred miles away so he can live out of a car to work on his idiotic startup. "Moxie"? I'm sure that's something his second wife will be able to appreciate. In the meantime, I agree with "Herbert": he's a tool, and this moronic stunt is transparent and far from endearing.

I'm not a huge Teddy Roosevelt fan, but I think his words fit this discussion quite well:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Those words are appropriate for Elon Musk, not a bum writing a social alarm clock out of his car.

Maybe YCombinator judges applicants based on productivity rather than suffering.

I don't mean that as a criticism. He may be a great guy... he may be productive too.

But sleeping in a car (or a mansion) is unlikely to be the key to success.

A lot of ppl have the drive, and have made sacrifices. I was temporarily homeless for a few months and slept out of the company's office. One of my friends is living rent free in an investor's living room, and I've heard of others doing this.

Don't get me wrong. The vast majority of people probably wouldn't be willing to make these kinds of sacrifices. I'm also not putting down Kurt's drive, but sacrifice is probably not a big enough limiting factor to auto get into YC.

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