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Y Combinator co-founder schools Indian entrepreneur over his strict advice on when not to start a company
Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham's reply to an Indian entrepreneur's tweet has gone viral.
An Indian entrepreneur shared a tweet listing reasons which shouldn’t motivate one to start a company. While his post has prompted a series of responses, one of them has piqued people’s attention. It is the response of billionaire co-founder of Y Combinator, Paul Graham.
In a tweet, the Indian founder advised people not to start a company if they are primarily driven by motivations such as “making money,” “getting famous,” “outdoing others,” or “calling oneself CEO or founder.”
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“Only do it if you're crazy enough to do whatever it takes to solve a problem you deeply care about,” the founder added.
Reacting to the post, Graham tweeted, “Actually those are all legitimate motivations. I started Viaweb very explicitly to make money, and that worked out well enough.”
The Indian entrepreneur responded to the post and wrote, “Thanks Paul for sharing your perspective - that is very interesting to know. As an aside, quite grateful to you for sharing your wisdom and learnings over the years so openly - been a long-time reader of your essays.”
HT.com has reached out to the founder; this report will be updated when he responds.
What did social media say?
An individual posted, “Everyone has a different ‘main motivation.’ I’d say it probably works out best for them if they’re extremely passionate about their main motivation. But who am I (or anyone) to police what that main motivation can or cannot be?” Another added, “In my very limited friend circle, most of the brilliant folks are chasing money and clout. For which they are working hard on very real modern problems. I hope they all become super rich.”
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A third expressed, “It’s arguably much healthier than when people pretend they do it for some grand reason and that they are completely disinterested in money.” A fourth wrote, “Arguably, if you’re not focused on making money, then you’re doing a disservice not only to yourself but all the employees at your company.”
