they pop out thinking, talking, and building companies in a way that is remarkably similar to the way that PG would
Hmm. I'm all in favor of what YC is doing, but this makes me decidedly uneasy.
Groups with a charismatic leader have a tendency to devolve into personality cults. In my experience, to avoid this requires conscious, ongoing effort on the part of the leader (and enough of the followers) to stay aware of such tendencies and counteract them. First and foremost that means staying aware of these tendencies in oneself.
I don't mean to be harsh on the author of the post. I don't think he was being cultish, just enthusiastic, and that's good. But the risk is a very real one. It would be wise to alloy that enthusiasm with something else.
It makes me uneasy too. Boy, did I cringe reading those bits.
One thing that will protect us against YC getting cultish is that the qualities you'd want in a cult follower and a startup founder are exactly opposite. To succeed, startup founders have to be very determined and independent-minded. And since we want the startups we fund to succeed, those are the people we try to find.
Basically, we're looking for more Sam Altmans, and Sam Altman is no one's follower.
Give credit where it is due. You're an excellent salesman. Working on pitches for Demo Day helps the startups express clearly what they're working on. But, to the ear accustomed to your style, you can literally hear PG talking in other presentations.
That isn't cultish. That is taking good advice. YC is largely about giving good advice and putting people together.
This is nothing like the cultish following your essays and sometimes this community gets.
Remember the drama around the applications on this site last time? People took that way to seriously. And each of your essays spawns dozens of comments equivalent to "zomg, smartest thing evar".
But these two negative facets of this community don't actually make it into the YC program. That means you're choosing well, I suppose.
I firmly believe the #1 reason YC is good is the quality of the other founders and the alumni founders network.
It only makes you uneasy because it's written about you rather than something abstract like your core values, although that would be just as true. I'm sure Sam is equally uncomfortable with your description of him, even if he agrees with your assessment of what qualities you're looking for in a startup founder.
I think most people would benefit from thinking more like Paul Graham does. However, they would benefit from adopting the worldview and ideas of lots of other people too. The point is to borrow from everybody worth borrowing from. Usually people tend to over-imitate the person that they have borrowed from most recently, but this works itself out. In the long run they will benefit from having a little more Paul Graham in them, not “acting like Paul Grahams”.
Hmm. I'm all in favor of what YC is doing, but this makes me decidedly uneasy.
Groups with a charismatic leader have a tendency to devolve into personality cults. In my experience, to avoid this requires conscious, ongoing effort on the part of the leader (and enough of the followers) to stay aware of such tendencies and counteract them. First and foremost that means staying aware of these tendencies in oneself.
I don't mean to be harsh on the author of the post. I don't think he was being cultish, just enthusiastic, and that's good. But the risk is a very real one. It would be wise to alloy that enthusiasm with something else.