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Mr. Startup: Paul Graham, founder of YCombinator, and his "no asshole" rule

Mr. Startup: Paul Graham, founder of YCombinator, and his "no asshole" rule on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2010–2022.

Robert Scoble

interview · dated

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Robert Scoble interviews Paul Graham at Y Combinator's Mountain View headquarters as 36 new startups debut. They discuss what YC is, and Graham's no-assholes rule.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Linked as a source for Paul Graham's no-assholes rule and his comments on early YC funding.

people recommended it
1
separate months
1
strong recommendations
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discussed on HN
2010–2022
“It's about Paul Graham's no asshole rule.”
— ashleyreddy, Nov 2010, in “My site looks like $hit any designers want to make a couple of hundred bucks”

What HN commenters said

4 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

ashleyreddyNov 2010Recommends

Your comment is mean spirited. It's meaningless and adds no value. Perhaps you should watch this video. ▶ this video It's about Paul Graham's no asshole rule.

in “My site looks like $hit any designers want to make a couple of hundred bucks” · View on HN

O__________OOct 2022Cites it

Related links: PG 12 years ago saying average was $17,500 per startup ▶ this video Last batch count was 240: [link] FAQ saying current standard offer is $500,000 [link]

in “Ask HN: What Happened to YC?” · View on HN

harryfJul 2019Cites it

> Sorting people into bins: assholes and victims, is problematic. This is true of anything subjective. There are people (intentional assholes in this article) who absolutely _are_ assholes because it gives them pleasure - their ego or otherwise gains something from hurting others. Everyone in a company knows who they without needing to go through a labelling process. Ultimately it's a problem for leaders in a company, those that should be caring about the culture, to remove such people. Paul Graham described this long ago here - ▶ this video (starts at 4m20s) - a leader in YCombinator he makes the judgement calls.

in “Assholes: A Probing Examination” · View on HN

HitchhikerOct 2011Cites it

This low rate may also have to do with biases extant in engineering / sciences etc. Couple that with YC's preference for hard-core tech founders ( a perfectly reasonable delimiter ), these results are not surprising. You can see similar composition in YC leadership where Jessica is the only female partner ( [link] ) and from my limited understanding, she brings in a much needed balance to their approach. A system that produces great results should perhaps focus on ".. but by the content of their character " - Martin Luther King, Jr. This I think, pg emphasizes via ▶ this video

in “Why female entrepreneurs should apply to YC” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Startups & entrepreneurshipTech pioneers & interviewspaul grahamy combinatorstartupsno assholes rule