YCombinator’s Demo Day just wrapped up, and I was amazed by the quality of the companies.
More than just the quality, I was amazed by the toughness of the founders. These guys (and gals) were not the young, sheepish, technical founders you’d expect. These guys are operators – savvy, confident, operators.
I’ve heard Paul Graham, on more than a few occasions, comment on the relative “toughness” of various founding teams. In fact, last Monday after all the YC companies in this batch were done rehearsing for demo day, I had a few minutes to talk to him about the companies that presented. The most frequent compliment: “those founders are tough, they can take care of themselves”; the most frequent criticism: “those founders need to be less wimpy.”
I don’t think there is anything particularly new here. PG says that the definitive description of good founders is “relentlessly resourceful.” I’m pretty sure that “toughness” is a big part of that. Can you take care of yourself and get (sh)it done, or are you a wimp?
If you look at the founders that PG talks about the most, they are all tough as hell – and I’m pretty sure that’s why he likes them so much. I doubt he is particularly impressed by my and my co-founder’s raw intelligence, especially given how ridiculously smart the other YC founders are. I can hear him now: “I don’t know how smart they are, but god damn are those WePayers tough.” PG knows a lot about WePay. His favorite stories are those that demonstrate our toughness…like the time my co-founder and I adopted a dog together, dropped out of law school, and quit a high paying banking job, just to “burn the ships” before we founded WePay. I can probably recall two dozen stories about other founders that demonstrate how insanely tough they are — all stories frequently and proudly recited by PG.
Again, this has all been said before, but a few things I noticed about being tough and being a wimp.
Wimps don’t really get anything done – they don’t release a product, they don’t make sales, they don’t raise money, they balk at big problems, they quit before they should.
Tough founders are animals. Al Pacino says it best in “Any Given Sunday”"
“On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us to pieces for that inch. We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch. Cause we know when we add up all those inches that’s going to make the fucking difference between WINNING and LOSING between LIVING and DYING. I’ll tell you this: in any fight, it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch. And I know if I am going to have any life anymore, it is because I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch because that is what LIVING is. The six inches in front of your face.”
Tough people choose decisiveness over diligence.
We are aggressively hiring people for a bunch of open positions at WePay, and the first thing I ask myself after meeting with potential candidate is whether they are a wimp. We try not to hire wimps. We want people who are capable of being decisive, even though we (and all startups, really) are prodding around in the dark.
I agree. I think a big part of this is to also be able to take problems, analyze them quickly, make an effing decision, and move on.
The more time you dwell on an issue, the higher the chances are that you will be scared out of the right decision.
Decisiveness over diligence is an attribute some times and a deficit at others.
While your point comes across, I think the two terms “tough” and “wimp” convey a skewed image of what you intend to drive home. Mettle, is a good term I feel, for what you want to communicate. Wimps are, really, people that aren’t self-centered enough to not care what other people think, say, or do. It takes a severely self-centered person to realize that they can succeed without the wing of society dictating how much they can make; what, when, where, and how they can make an impact; and in what capacity their individuality may be expressed.
Mettle isn’t just “tough because I’ve been to battle” (although it can be), it is “tough because I don’t care about established norms and will express my individual interpretation of life regardless of what you think and regardless of whether I fail.”
Keep it up.
“We want people who are capable of being decisive, even though we (and all startups, really) are prodding around in the dark.”
Very few people are truly comfortable with “not knowing,” which I find stems from a lack of self-confidence. This often plagues their ability to execute. Can you be content with knowing that you don’t know everything yet still forge ahead? This reminds me a lot of Mark Suster’s JFDI post: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/11/19/what-makes-an-entrepreneur-four-lettersjfdi/
Get shit done.
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Clearly, no one likes to hire wimps, and this requirement is usually couched in some vague term like “determination” and “problem-solving ability” in job postings. The question is, how do we identify the wimps, and how does one become a non-wimp in the first place?
Cool article.
Huge respect guys – words to live buy. I’m a startup owner/operator too and completely agree. Lots of pussies out there.