Interesting takes from Paul Buchheit’s YCombinator Interview “Lessons from investing in 200 startups” - you can read the entire interview here
“it is not just returns we are looking for but really impactful companies.”
There are many bottom feeders out there, scheming up hoards of dollars on cheap scams. Think of something that has more meaning than a dollar in your pocket.
“Facebook had an offer from Yahoo for a billion dollars, which everyone told Zuck to take. Fortunately, he said no. Had he said yes, it would have been another failed Yahoo acquisition”
Makes me think about del.icio.us and Flickr.
“I think the biggest counter-intuitive lesson is that investing purely on the quality of the idea is inversely correlated with success. The really great companies are largely indistinguishable from the terrible ones when judged simply on the idea. To be good at it you have to meet the founders and assess how good of a founder they are.”
It’s the founders.
“The best startups come from personal experience. It was something you or someone you know needed.”
Speaks for itself.
“I wrote the the first version of Gmail in a day!”
Whammy. My mind pretty much exploded when I read that but it’s encouraging.