HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

⬐ lionshare

Amazing talk. if you didn't read the book - get it. What's funny is that she is doing the "ahhh" sigh every few moments VERY SIMILAR to PG :D

⬐ middayc

great talk. We have the book in the hackerspace that I am the part of. I am much more eager to read it now.

⬐ dpritchett

So far (11 mins in) this feels like a 50 minute podcast recapping the book. I'm definitely enjoying Jessica's presentation and I imagine this will be very useful for anyone who's on the fence about buying the book itself. [1]

I'm actually reading it right now and it's kinda neat reading the ca. 2006 viewpoints of serial entrepreneurs who have been hugely successful (again) since these interviews were recorded.

Imagine what Evan Williams (Blogger/Twitter) and Paul Buchheit (GMail/Friendfeed) would have wanted to talk about three or four years ago. You can see the seeds of their soon to be successful new businesses in every line of these two interviews. Really a great bit of history.

EDIT: 21 minutes in the topic shifts to "What can big companies learn from startups?"

[1] http://www.foundersatwork.com/

⬐ zandor

Funny coincidence, I just ordered the book a day before this link pops up.

Really looking forward to reading it now.

⬐ bad_user

I bought the book and read it (a year and a half ago) immediately after watching that podcast.

It's the best book a young entrepreneur can read ... there's isn't a universal recipe for success (it's actually funny that in Founders@Work the interviewees often have contradictory view-points), but you can learn a lot from it.

⬐ brett

I don't know if it's wise for Google to be letting YC Partners on campus.

⬐ mattculbreth

Cool talk. It's a great book, really inspiring.

⬐ juwo

I could not believe my ears!

Jessica said that on her first visit to Google she was so enamoured by the free food that she stole 4-5 granola bars in her purse.

When she visited, I am sure she was already a very wealthy woman. Why did she steal them?

It would be nice if she herself can tell us.

(I shall watch the rest later - but anything that is not juwo-ed, I dont feel like watching thru).

Update: To all you people who are voting this comment down, -4 points already, is it wrong that I bring it up?

=------------

Update 2: from http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=15586

----------------

Actually it sounded like a confession and she said 'stealing'. If they are there for her to take, why hide them in her purse? I am not faulting her at all for 'taking' the granola bars. I am certain, I might have done the same as her - but I am unrich and I would have taken them openly, in full view and so I might be justified - I think.

My comment was solely a wonderment, an observation, that a wealthy millionaire needed to do that.

I must be the worst communicator - judging from my product (juwo).

Seriously, can you look beyond what was an unpopular comment? I was trying to understand why an intellectual and financial millionaire from the cream of society did that.

Do millionaires behave differently, or do they stay the same? Or worse?

⬐ Goladus

Maybe they were really good granola bars. It was basically a joke. I can't speak for her, really, but looked to me like an ice-breaker comment to get everyone relaxed.

It might make more sense if you understand that no one in the room would care about taking granola bars.

⬐ Tichy

Chill out - I haven't watched the video, but if those were free granola bars, how can you steal them? You can only "steal" them. It is just being cheeky.

⬐ Leonidas

The book was very well put together. I learned the most from the HotMail guy.

⬐ SwellJoe

Agreed. Hotmail is a great one. Levchin/PayPal is also very informative. Woz is more lovable than I ever knew. Ars Digita is an excellent case study in horrible outcomes (everybody came out rich, but still, it sounds ugly and painful). Joe Kraus of Excite/JotSpot is always interesting, and I read anything about him I come across...he's like a perfect study in how to keep your head in a startup.

⬐ danielha

During the Q&A, an audience member asked which of the companies would Y Combinator jump on board to fund if YC existed at the time. Jessica said it'd most likely be Hotmail.