The Y Combinator Experience
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I just realized (to my horror) that years later, I am just like him. I don't push boundaries like I used to. I don't call on that extra customer, volunteer for that project, or apply to programs like yc if I think there is any chance I won't win. There's always a reason: the software is missing too much, the demo sucks, there are 14 other things that have to be done first,... You get the picture.
I never thought of this as "fear of failure". I just got so used to succeeding in everything I did that I didn't want to do anything else where I didn't succeed. I became Rob without even realizing it.
I've got to change this stinkin' thinkin'. A good failure would probably do me good. Or maybe I should just try something I would have never imagined a month ago.
Thanks OP, for the perspective.
Solving a problem a second time is much more profitable. A big part of business is focusing on your strengths, rather than your weaknesses. Find out what you do best and market the hell out of it. No product is perfect.
This is compatible with the OP's point - hackers often look for novel solutions, not necessarily novel problems.
But the terminology here is very uncertain - problems and solutions interact in very complex ways: the "assembly line" solution solved the "horse shit all over the roads" problem. Google Wave might end up solving the problems which ORM's and databases are solving - that of storing and synchronizing data structures across machines.
I just failed an interview process out of the Valley. I won't name any names, but it was a relatively well known shop. This is probably the first time since I started my career wherein I just fell flat on my face. I learned quite a bit from the process, but I won't say it felt wonderful.
This post makes it just that much easier to get back up on the horse.
If you always stick to the "same old", you'll miss unique knowledge and experiences. If you're always jumping from one thing to the next and never staying focused, one never really gets "good" at any one thing.
It's a balancing act, really. IMHO a good way to measure if you're succeeding or not is with your overall state of happiness.
I started almost three years ago and never imagined the journey it would lead me on; being in publications, getting investment & other cool things. It was a great journey and amongst mentioned accomplishments, I also learned how to code & now am doing that for a living; making a lot more money!
Overall it was better then going to college, as there was a chance of becoming wealthy or creating the latest whatever amongst gaining invaluable skills.
For that you do not need an equity partner.
Personal coaches get paid by the hour, they usually don't take equity.
When you drive to work and hit all green lights, do you search deep within yourself for the elusive quality that set you apart from the red-light-stopping masses?
"What ever you do, dont congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either - your choices are half chance, so are everybody elses."
Quite an amazing text. For a long time it was attributed to Kurt Vonnegut as well I believe.
Isn't that a tautology?
And while "entrepreneurship" in general is not necessarily hard, the path Slava has chosen is. It's not easy to start a new database company.
He deserves better than snarky one-liners.
If this is in response to an earlier discussion on HN what it is exactly that an incubator does for the entrepreneurs that sign up with them then I hope that this is not typical.
An entrepreneur that does not fear failure still has to be born I think, almost all successful people are at some level worried about not succeeding.
You transcend that fear by becoming excellent at what you do and by giving it your 100%. And if you fail, you try again, this time with more experience. Rinse, repeat until you get it right. Almost everybody fails a couple of times before they get it right, the exceptions merely confirm the rule.
And you should get a team of advisors around you, people that you can trust completely, before you start negotiating with any VC or incubator.
After all, you are emotionally involved, you may not see things too clearly and outside advisors can keep your feet on the ground. You will make a better deal that way.
The VC is on the other side of the table during the negotiations phase.
You don't overcome your fear, you transform it.
Instead of paralyzing you, it makes you run faster.
Transforming, overcoming, it's just a game of words here.
If you start out your career as an entrepreneur fearing failure then by acting you will accumulate experience which will over time give you the ability to deal with this fear and make it work for you.
Whether you want to call that transforming or overcoming is nitpicking.
If a marathon runner is afraid of losing and because of that finds the energy in himself to go a little bit faster thereby winning the race you could say that he has 'transformed his fear'.
But that's just wordplay.
There is a great deal of stuff written in ways that use words like 'transforming' to indicate something magical takes place.
In the end it is all just gruntwork and applied smarts.
If your fears push you to strive a little harder and maybe even make you succeed then you've just turned your basic insecurity (transformed if you wish) in to an asset. Others would simply say you've overcome your fears.
I believe that is a pretty normal process for any entrepreneur to go through, the ones that do not master their fears end up working for big corp. Or they try again in a couple of years.
In this case the act of having told people the course he was on transformed his fear from being a barrier pushing for giving up right away to a motivation to work hard and succeed. Instead of being something that saps motivation, it provides more motivation. And this switch tends to be quite rapid.
For a contrasting case of overcoming fear, a firefighter rushing into a burning building has to overcome fear of the danger from the fire. Even after the firefighter is in the building the fear still pushes for leaving the building. The lessons of experience may help with managing the fear rationally, but the fear will always push the firefighter to leave.
YC offers product and company advice, not "personal counseling". So no, you don't have the essence of it right.
To me it sounds like someone that has just had some kind of epiphany.
If a dutch person would say:
"Y combinator verandert deze kracht van een gewicht op je schouders dat je naar beneden haalt tot een krachtige raket die je de lucht in schiet"
We'd think they might need help. Or at a minimum that they should stop smoking that stuff ;)
For instance the 'zany' in the text above I had to look up, and even after looking up it doesn't make much sense to me.
1) a subordinate clown or acrobat in old comedies who mimics ludicrously the tricks of the principal
2) a slavish follower
3) one who acts the buffoon to amuse others
None of the three are a preferred candidate when I do a simple substitution.
Why so insecure ?
Surely you know the level of your skills ?
It's like the prettiest woman walking up to you and admitting her insecurities about her looks.
Trust me, every entrepreneur has these fears. And the ones that tell you they don't are lying through their teeth.
We're all up here working our asses off to prove that we can do better. We're all cowards in one form or another. Afraid that our next venture will be a failure. Afraid that we're past our prime. Afraid that someone will outdo us. And so on.
But we've overlaid that fear with concrete and self-discipline (except of course, for procrastinating).
It's fine if YC gives you the power to overcome your fears, but make no mistake, you had that power all along, you are the one doing the work.
The fact that someone watches you seems to make a huge difference to you, and it is great that they can provide you with that assistance but on the whole I figure that is but a small part of your accomplishment. And I doubt anybody at YC would disagree with that.
The real fight is with yourself. To judge your competence accurately and your failings ditto. No need to go overboard and to think that you could not have made it any other way.
I'm 100% convinced that you would have. It might have taken longer, you might have followed a different path.
That was exactly my point. YC is a shortcut, but ultimately it's all you. If you're determined enough, you don't need YC to succeed. But it sure helps.