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by protomyth 3355 days ago
Interesting, because most of the comments I've heard from friends and relatives is "Snake Oil seller updated for Silicon Valley". Looks has been brought up, but that goes both ways as you don't find many hucksters who are on the ugly side regardless of gender.
1 comments
maverick_iceman 3355 days ago
True. Zuck, Page-Brin, Evan Spiegel all are pretty good looking. PG once said , "I can be tricked by anyone who looks like Mark Zuckerberg" (though he claims it was a joke)[1]. I think good looking people have a natural advantage when it comes to persuading VCs or getting the media interested in their companies.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-05-03/how-to-ge...

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simplicio 3355 days ago
Eh, there's plenty of ugly looking founders out there (Certainly circa 1980's Bill Gates was no ones idea of a cover-model).

Plus I suspect there's a confounding factor in there. Here's a picture of Musk and Thiel[1] around the time Paypal was started. Its pretty clear that personal trainers, chefs, tailored clothing and whatever the hell treatment Musk got for his hair can go along way to making successful people better looking than they were when they first started earning the big bucks.

[1]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0196/5170/files/uzn_146193...

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berberous 3355 days ago
I don't mean to rag on him, but I don't think Zuckerberg is generally viewed as good looking. I also think you are likely misinterpreting PG's quote; I'm guessing he meant that he has a heuristic that anyone Zuck-like (vs. good looking) will be successful.
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rublev 3355 days ago
Zuckberg is considered attractive?
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protomyth 3355 days ago
I would love to find the person that doesn't think being "good looking" for the current standard is an advantage. Heck, Hollywood does a TV show about a person who is "Ugly" and even the ugly person is amazing looking.

Being taller is an advantage. Never mind the articles that crop up about people having plastic surgery to look younger so they have a better shot at being a CEO.

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hkmurakami 3355 days ago
Height and looks are such an advantage. It's interesting because I actually notice myself being affected by their looks or their height and even then I'm likely not able to completely separate out this effect.
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