Buchheit says he tried to distill the qualities into a few words and even considered translating them into emoji. He describes founders as having an obsessive focus that can look irrational.
What are some things successful founders have in common?
Speaker
Paul Buchheit of Y Combinator talks about traits successful founders share, including focused obsession and a willingness to risk everything on a goal.
Buchheit recalls Elon Musk giving a tech talk at Google around 2003, after starting SpaceX but before its first launch. Asked what he would do if the rocket exploded, Musk said he had enough money for three launches and hoped one would succeed. Buchheit says Musk put his entire fortune into the effort.
Buchheit says the first three rockets failed, and the team scraped together enough money for a fourth. If that launch had failed, he says, SpaceX would have ended and Musk would have been bankrupt. He calls that level of commitment irrational, but wonderful.
Takeaways
- Give a difficult goal sustained, focused attention.
- Founder commitment can involve risks most people would consider irrational.
- Before making an all-in bet, be clear about what you can afford to lose.
- Persistence may require finding resources to make one more attempt.
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What was claimed 3
- foundedFounder, CEO, chairman and CTO
“after he had started SpaceX”
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- invested inhis entire fortune
“He literally plowed his entire fortune into it.”
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- metric
SpaceX: The first three rockets blew up“The first three did blow up.”
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