You attacked that sort of thinking a couple of times at Startup School events. In certain ways, it was troublesome, because I like to think that's the sort of person I am, or the business that I want to start. But now hearing you say again (paraphrase) "we did it this way, and we liked some of the problems, but really we thought it was just a great opportunity" is promising. Is what you're trying to say, that the 'best' startups are usually founded by people who have deep emotional ties about the problems they're solving? (say, anybots, facebook, google) but that it can still work with the right people and the right ideas/timing (viaweb, slide, FriendFeed(?)).
IF YCs stance is to pick the former as much as possible (or all the time). What can a valley outsider do to get the later started?
Sorry, this is the type of question I would have loved to ask at startup school, it just took a couple of days to formulate.
I'm not sure what sort of thinking you think I attacked, but I'm not against people starting startups to sell them. I think it's a mistake when people come up with startup ideas by trying to think of startup ideas, instead of looking for real problems that need solving. But you can be working on real problems and still intend to sell the company.
What was in my mind is more like what you describe as "Doodling" in [http://paulgraham.com/ideas.html]. NOT the type thinking that gets you with the next social geofenced daily deal. There is some differentiator between the two that I think instinctively I understand, but quantitatively I haven't been able to describe.
EDIT: First crack at a description: You want an idea that solves a problem, not starts a startup, and sometimes a startup is a decent vehicle for the solution.
One way of looking at it was that the problem Paul was trying to solve was: "How can I stop spending the majority of my waking hours working on things that I don't care about in languages and working environments that are soul-killing? Eureka! I'll condense that uncomfortable period by using the most powerful tools and techniques at my disposal (which I happen to love) and be done with it."
Comments
You attacked that sort of thinking a couple of times at Startup School events. In certain ways, it was troublesome, because I like to think that's the sort of person I am, or the business that I want to start. But now hearing you say again (paraphrase) "we did it this way, and we liked some of the problems, but really we thought it was just a great opportunity" is promising. Is what you're trying to say, that the 'best' startups are usually founded by people who have deep emotional ties about the problems they're solving? (say, anybots, facebook, google) but that it can still work with the right people and the right ideas/timing (viaweb, slide, FriendFeed(?)).
IF YCs stance is to pick the former as much as possible (or all the time). What can a valley outsider do to get the later started?
Sorry, this is the type of question I would have loved to ask at startup school, it just took a couple of days to formulate.
I'm not sure what sort of thinking you think I attacked, but I'm not against people starting startups to sell them. I think it's a mistake when people come up with startup ideas by trying to think of startup ideas, instead of looking for real problems that need solving. But you can be working on real problems and still intend to sell the company.
What was in my mind is more like what you describe as "Doodling" in [http://paulgraham.com/ideas.html]. NOT the type thinking that gets you with the next social geofenced daily deal. There is some differentiator between the two that I think instinctively I understand, but quantitatively I haven't been able to describe.
EDIT: First crack at a description: You want an idea that solves a problem, not starts a startup, and sometimes a startup is a decent vehicle for the solution.
One way of looking at it was that the problem Paul was trying to solve was: "How can I stop spending the majority of my waking hours working on things that I don't care about in languages and working environments that are soul-killing? Eureka! I'll condense that uncomfortable period by using the most powerful tools and techniques at my disposal (which I happen to love) and be done with it."