How to Avoid Mediocre Co-Founders (2010)

http://ycombinator.posterous.com/how-to-avoid-mediocre-co-founders-0

by DanielRibeiro • 13 years ago

7 3 13 years ago

ycombinator.posterous.com

This always strikes me as great advice that runs slap bang into (her husbands) Blub Paradox. How can you tell someone is better or smarter than you?

I have worked out its about openness - in most modern corporate worlds fudging it till you get it is common and fear tends to rule - if they find out I don't know I will be fired.

But allow or force openness and suddenly there is an explosion of "we'll I don't know either let's experiment"

Take off the pressure of delivering arbitrary tasks and instead allow a coder to sculpt - cut away the bits not needed to reveal the hidden statue as it were and you have the makings of a team of A performers - even if thy looked b style before

kdsudac• 13 years ago

Am I the only one annoyed by the whole A player, B player, C player mini-meme?

It's really, really hard to tell the difference between an A player and a B player unless you've worked with them or have known them a long-time. Even then, their contribution can be highly distorted by situation, perception, and personal bias (e.g. Moneyball).

So the advice only works in those few situations where you know someone is a B-player... in which case the advice really reduces down to the obvious: don't hire shitty people.

lifeisstillgood2• 13 years ago

Agreed - i call it Inches vs seven league boots - it's easy to tell the difference between someone who makes regular marginal improvements (inches forwards) and someone who adds nothing, but impossible to tell the difference between a loser and a game changed until they change the game.

How to Avoid Mediocre Co-Founders (2010)

Related Stories