paul

They had to integrate the electronics as well. The most successful hardware companies (e.g. Apple) are building integrated systems including software and services.

Actually, no, they were building their own boxes.

Guessing which founders are going to start the next multi-billion dollar business is surprisingly hard. To me, the fact that Sacca is an early investor in Uber gives the post more credibility, not less.

It has been years since I heard anyone ask about viral coefficients.

Fascinating. Is there something in hand sanitizer or lotion that makes this happen, or is it just any fluid that facilitates the transfer?

I wonder what other disciplines are this badly skewed. Theology maybe?

Boosted or unboosted is way too simplistic and one dimensional to explain something as complex as autoimmune dysfunction.

Yes, I think tech is one of the few places in society where being awkward and nerdy does not prevent you from being highly successful :)

Show me the documentation where tall people get more venture funding.

What makes you think height is so important? I have not noticed any correlation. One of the nice things about startups vs politics is that appearance is much less important for success. (unless you think Bill Gates is some kind of super model :)

Yes, the Weebly story is amazing. He covered part of it at Startup School a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_b228qEVi8

For some definition of progress, certainly, but neither company was an obvious winner in the first couple of years.

The key is to stay very lean until you have definite product/market fit and can raise a huge growth round.

The climate has changed in that it's easier for startups to raise more, but even those that do not can still be very successful. Justin.tv or Weebly would not require any more money to start today than they did six years ago -- if anything it's gotten cheaper.

Several of my best investments have been from startups raising less than $500k. Justin.tv/Twitch returned 97x my original investment, and Weebly will likely be even more.

It's not a tactic, it's just a fact that people remember stories that confirm their prior beliefs and contrary evidence makes little difference.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm mostly criticizing myself for engaging in a pointless and unwinnable debate :)

That's the trouble with mob justice, allegations equals guilt, and disagreement is socially indefensible.

My purpose in all of this is not to "prove" that these are all nice people, but simply to point that you are all speaking with great confidence about the characters of people that you really know nothing about.

Why wouldn't I defend "alleged misogynists"? In general, I find the lynch-mob culture here to be problematic and unhealthy. In this particular case I commented because I have direct experience with some of the people being discussed and am familiar with the ways in which the popular group-think diverges from reality for this group.

At the same time, I know it's pointless to argue with people who already know the answer, so I'm probably wasting my time.

Clearly you already have your answer and anything I say will only provide you with more evidence of your own correctness. If they do something harsh, that proves they are mean. If they do something nice, that proves they are a manipulative sociopath, and mean.

It depends whether we're debating the actual person, or the fictionalized character depicted in the media.

If you've never been on the other side of the news, you may not understand the difference.

What sort of evidence would convince you that someone isn't mean? I've know and worked with some of those people and not found them to be mean, but as other commenters have said, that makes no difference, because stories.

Settling a lawsuit proves that you're a mean person. Ok. I guess I'm a mean person too.

You're right though that it comes down to definitions. I think the prevailing definition here is some closer to villain.

Did he do or say anything mean to you?

I think you're confusing mean with something else. Firing an employ who is not performing is not mean. Mean, at least in the way I think pg is using it, is more like you see in YouTube comments, and everyone has plenty of opportunity to be mean like that (as evidenced by YouTube :). If anything, I think it's a sign of powerlessness.

I'm sure they've all done something mean at some point, but it's a mistake to believe you know someone based on a collection of sensationalized stories.

There's no point in arguing though. People will continue to believe what they want to believe regardless of truth or evidence. (e.g. http://www.newsweek.com/why-we-believe-lies-even-when-we-lea...)

Do you actually know any of those people, or are you simply repeating media noise?

You retain control by coding it into your corporate bylaws. For example, you might have two board seats elected by common (the founders + employees), one board seat elected by preferred (the investors), and the ceo hired/fired by a majority vote of the board. That way two founders can always outvote investors, but investor + founder could outvote the other founder (sometimes necessary).

The way you lose control is to do something like one seat to the ceo, one to preferred, and one "independent". The investor recommends his highly qualified friend as the independent member, then sometime down the road you run into trouble and the investors + independent fire you (the ceo), and then you've lost all control.

Too late. You probably already have a cell phone and probably already carry it with you most of the time.

"Next time, be so good they can't ignore you, simple as that."

Exactly right!

The best way to get into YC is to build a great business :)

In general, there aren't any differences. We're looking for people who can create something that people will want. For hardware companies, that will likely require some hardware skills, so show us that you have what it takes to ship whatever it is that you are building. You should also have a good understanding of how much capital will be required to ship your v1, as that will often be an issue if you're actually manufacturing something.