davekarpf

I have some thoughts on Paul Graham's latest essay, "Founder Mode."

Paul Graham founded YCombinator. His singular influence has been to drive Silicon Valley toward producing endless Sam Altmans and zero Aaron Swartzs.

Every time he speaks, we are all worse off.

https://open.substack.com/pub/davekarpf/p/paul-graham-and-the-cult-of-the-founder?r=eeyg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Paul Graham and the Cult of the Founder

"Founder Mode" is such garbage.

The Future, Now and Then
Sep 13, 2024 at 6:13pmWeb
Show threadBenjamin ReedSep 13, 2024

@davekarpf @tante I've been in tech since the mid-90s, and I've watched this same thing. I remember being told Paul Graham was a genius, and believed them, so when I read his blog, I thought “he seems to know what he's talking about.”

But then I watched Silicon Valley fail over and over again, not just to produce companies that would be profitable, but all the while encouraging the boom-bust cycle of VCs pouring money into things.

Show threadBenjamin ReedSep 13, 2024

@davekarpf @tante I've occasionally read things he’s written now and wonder how I missed his obvious blind spots.

The more I've been in the industry, the more I've watched success be made not because of the vision of leadership, but because of the competence of the org below them who actually work to define the software cycle and help their employees collaborate most effectively.

We all know ideas are a dime-a-dozen. Success comes from the hard work of bringing that idea to market.

Show threadBenjamin ReedSep 13, 2024

@davekarpf @tante We "regular" workers know this implicitly. Tell any programmer you have a great idea for an app, and if they'll make it you'll split the profits 50/50. They'll laugh in your face.

But "founders" are just idea men with a big wad of cash, convinced that if you idea hard enough, you'll be the next Jobs.

Show threadLuis VillaSep 13, 2024
@davekarpf I have never seen that picture before, and I’m going to be utterly broken up about it all afternoon.
Show threaddavekarpfSep 13, 2024
@luis_in_brief it has been haunting me for months.
Show threadJWcph, Radicalized By DecencySep 13, 2024
@davekarpf Sounds like Graham thinks he's Steve Blank but misses the point & then massively oversells it anyway... https://steveblank.com/2016/10/24/why-tim-cook-is-steve-ballmer-and-why-he-still-has-his-job-at-apple/
Steve Blank Why Tim Cook is Steve Ballmer and Why He Still Has His Job at Apple

What happens to a company when a visionary CEO is gone? Most often innovation dies and the company coasts for years on momentum and its brand. Rarely does it regain its former glory. Here’s why. Mi…

Steve Blank
Show threadVickie 🇨🇦 😷🏳️‍🌈Sep 13, 2024
@davekarpf and the world definitely needs more Aaron Swartzs...wish we could get him back. 💔
Show threadListerine Lavender MintSep 14, 2024

@davekarpf

"Did Paul Graham impart genuinely original knowledge to them, or just fete them with stories about what special boys they all were, while open the doors to copious amounts of seed funding?"

Graham's posts (ahem "essays") are clever sounding assertions mixed with a special kind of reader flattery intended to appeal to a specific set of young, naive, ambitious men with the larger goal of driving them into YC to work them long hours below minimum wage.

Show threadGary HoustonSep 14, 2024
@davekarpf I was going to ask who the woman was, since it seems like women either weren't interested, or not allowed in, but I think it's Jessica Livingston.
Show threadBen RamseySep 14, 2024
@davekarpf @dangillmor That photo with Altman and Swartz standing next to each other is blowing my mind.
Show threadmike morrisSep 14, 2024
@davekarpf
"Founder": To fill with water and sink.
Show threadAlper Çuğun-GscheidelSep 14, 2024
@davekarpf I feel it's a reaction to the bloated engineering organizations that came out of ZIRP with lots of VPs and lots of empire building. Can't say that the 5-10 management layers at Facebook did anything productive over that period.
Show threadChristopherSep 14, 2024
@davekarpf Yes, but. The but would be how you consider earlier examples of founders who became cult figures. From the twentieth century that would include Henry Ford and Walt Disney, and from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Thomas Edison. There are many more. Are these the same phenomenon, or a different one?