4 ms·

I am wondering how far the essay would go if it were not from PG.

CM30 7y ago
Probably not very. I get the distinct feeling that the last few essays were very light on content/interesting insights, and did well on name value alone. Would be interesting to actually test that to be honest. Get Paul Graham to set up another site under a fake identity, post the next say, three essays there, then submit 'em to HN under the same identity and see the stats.
- philwelch 7y ago
  In some cases it’s because the territory is mostly mapped by his previous work. “Novelty and Heresy” was a belated sequel to “What You Can’t Say”, for instance. OTOH, seeing pg write essays again pleases me in much the same way that one might be pleased if their favorite long-defunct rock band started recording a new album.
xvector 7y ago
Is this even an essay, or am I missing something? The content behind the link is a few sentences at most. Hardly an essay.
mbesto 7y ago
This is basically my biggest critique of PG and various other YC leaders. Many of the conclusions, while likely be probably being more "right" than "wrong" in virtue, are derived from intuition and observations, not evidence based. It's even more ironic, given how much emphasis the firm places on evidence based thinking of its portfolio founders versus anecdotally thinking. Great example: "One quality that’s a really bad indication is a CEO with a strong foreign accent"[0] The danger is that I think pg has been "right" about so many things that every time he pontificates about something it's treated as dogma. So when he's "wrong", it'll be ignored. Impressionable people (which likely fits the characteristic of many young tech entrepreneurs) will therefore be lead astray. [0] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/knowledgewharton/2013/12/19/292013/#539787e916a6 https://www.forbes.com/sites/knowledgewharton/2013/12/19/292...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
pnako 7y ago
To start with, it would be called a tweet and not an essay.
shafyy 7y ago
Haha, I was wondering the same. Probably not that far. But at the same time, it is important who says what, so you can't just ignore that.

CM30 7y ago

Probably not very. I get the distinct feeling that the last few essays were very light on content/interesting insights, and did well on name value alone. Would be interesting to actually test that to be honest. Get Paul Graham to set up another site under a fake identity, post the next say, three essays there, then submit 'em to HN under the same identity and see the stats.

philwelch 7y ago
In some cases it’s because the territory is mostly mapped by his previous work. “Novelty and Heresy” was a belated sequel to “What You Can’t Say”, for instance. OTOH, seeing pg write essays again pleases me in much the same way that one might be pleased if their favorite long-defunct rock band started recording a new album.

xvector 7y ago

Is this even an essay, or am I missing something? The content behind the link is a few sentences at most. Hardly an essay.

mbesto 7y ago

This is basically my biggest critique of PG and various other YC leaders. Many of the conclusions, while likely be probably being more "right" than "wrong" in virtue, are derived from intuition and observations, not evidence based. It's even more ironic, given how much emphasis the firm places on evidence based thinking of its portfolio founders versus anecdotally thinking. Great example: "One quality that’s a really bad indication is a CEO with a strong foreign accent"[0] The danger is that I think pg has been "right" about so many things that every time he pontificates about something it's treated as dogma. So when he's "wrong", it'll be ignored. Impressionable people (which likely fits the characteristic of many young tech entrepreneurs) will therefore be lead astray. [0] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/knowledgewharton/2013/12/19/292013/#539787e916a6 https://www.forbes.com/sites/knowledgewharton/2013/12/19/292...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

pnako 7y ago

To start with, it would be called a tweet and not an essay.

shafyy 7y ago

Haha, I was wondering the same. Probably not that far. But at the same time, it is important who says what, so you can't just ignore that.