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Jordan Willms on business, entrepreneurship, technology and the internet

paul graham

Jun11

Paul Graham at Startup School 08

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Mar25

YCombinator Startup School: Paul Graham's why to not *not* start a startup.

Today I attended YCombinator’s Startup School event at Stanford University. YCombinator, an innovative (and controversial) Venture Capital firm, works with carefully selected entrepreneurial startups over a summer session in Boston, and injects a small amount of money into these startups in exchange for 5% ownership of the company.

Speaker: Paul Graham, Partner, Y Combinator; Founder, Viaweb
Title: Why to not not start a startup?

Paul gave an excellent presentation regarding the excuses that people tell themselves (whether valid or invalid) to not try a startup (or join one).

At YCombinator, Paul claims to have a 50% succeed rate with an expected 25% long term success rate. He also states that 100% of YCombinator graduates would not trade their experience for a desk job in a cubicle.

So why don’t people quit their jobs and get going with a startup?

  1. I’m too young