Saved by Brie Wolfson
What We Look for in Founders
That, not exploiting people, is the defining quality of people who become billionaires from starting companies. So that's what YC looks for in founders: authenticity.
Paul Graham • Billionaires Build
Jordan Bester added
Jordan Bester added
You need to be good at some kind of technology, you need an idea for what you're going to build, and you need cofounders to start the company with.
How to Start Google
Moi Jamri added
Often the founders themselves didn't know why their ideas were promising. They were attracted to these ideas by instinct, because they were living in the future and they sensed that something was missing. But they could not have put into words exactly how their ugly ducklings were going to grow into big, beautiful swans.
Paul Graham • What Microsoft Is this the Altair Basic of?
Ajinkya Wadhwa added
Paul Graham wrote a great blog post I really love about being relentlessly resourceful. I think that’s an absolute ingredient. I think IQ is pretty important. You need to see things other people just don’t see. Ultimately, the best description of what I’m looking for is people who can navigate this intellectual maze.
Ali Tamaseb • Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups
People's motives for starting startups are usually mixed. They're usually doing it from some combination of the desire to make money, the desire to seem cool, genuine interest in the problem, and unwillingness to work for someone else. The last two are more powerful motivators than the first two. It's ok for founders to want to make money or to see... See more
Paul Graham • Billionaires Build
Jordan Bester added
Sam Altman, the former head of the venture capital firm Y Combinator, offers his own take on the idiosyncrasies of founders:8 I look for founders who are scrappy and formidable at the same time (a rarer combination than it sounds); mission-oriented, obsessed with their companies, relentless, and determined; extremely smart (necessary but certainly
... See moreTyler Cowen • Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World
Empirically, the way to have good startup ideas is to become the sort of person who has them.
Paul Graham • How to Get Startup Ideas
Ajinkya Wadhwa added