Tell HN: What I learned From Startup School (and why you didn't get to go)
If you did not get accepted this year I will tell you the secret to getting in: build something. Nearly everyone I spoke with regarding their application said they talked about something specific and tangible that they created. It does not have to be ground breaking or even _useful_ but it has to be REAL. The four roommates I stayed with at airbnb all built something. Texas developed an iphone app, Canada is building a b2b web application, Scotland is cloning excel, Washington is working on scalable bolt-on search, and I am building an application that creates websites.
I felt I should write my take on SUS because it seems to differ greatly from recent HN posts and articles concerning SUS.
It all started while we were actually in the auditorium listening to the speeches. People were actually transcribing and posting/tweeting every question word for word. Blog posts were getting updated in near-realtime. And now we are seeing submission after submission about startup school content. I don't want to take anything away from these things. They definitely add value to people, especially the ones that were not able to attend. But why are we so hung up on every last word?
To be honest, what I learned from Startup School had almost nothing to do with the content of the speeches. This is not to say that the speeches were terrible, they were great, Jason, Paul B., and Tony being my top 3. Zuckerburg is also clearly ridiculously intelligent. But the point is, these guys are all saying the same principle-based things....because they are principles! And we should already know these things, not because we are super geniuses but because as PG said in his opener .. he's already told us, they've already told us a billion times!
So if you are dissecting every last word, if you are on the edge of your seat reading the latest insight to the insight of the transcription, honestly, fuck you, stop learning and start doing. You didn't get into startup school for the exact same reason you think you want to go so badly, because you are a learner not a doer.
I think everyone in attendance will tell you the greatest thing about startup school was the interaction and sheer synergy between one another. Sounds cheesy to say but I was amazed and inspired by just how human everyone is! I partied with Joe, Brian, Chris, and the airbnb team, I conversed with PG, said "whatsup" to Mark Zuckerburg who was just casually walking into the auditorium during our lunch break, met the most enthusiastically helpful guy I've ever met in Garry Tan, and talked about my skepticism of luck with Jason Fried over some pizza. I also have to personally thank Alaska Miller for dropping us off at the train station- good guy. I met so many people DOING so many interesting things, it was mind numbing and wait you know what, I'm not going so sugar coat it - the speeches were what they were, I didn't learn much, even had a hard time staying awake during some. If you were someone that got your mind blown by the speeches, I would argue you haven't been immersing yourself enough into what you supposedly love so much - all these things are principles that should have been beaten into your head ages ago, not magic silver bullets.
Startup school was truly amazing and unforgettable because the people there were truly amazing and unforgettable - because they are doers.
Painters paint, singers sing. If you want to be a badass programmer you have to be programming "baddassly". If you want to be an entrepreneur, start doing it.
Get off HN and get over all of this contextual learning nonsense. There is a time for learning and time for doing. SUS is for doers.