[sudeepj]

> Don’t start a company

Next tweet: "Today is the best time ever to start a company. You might fail, you might succeed, it’s a crazy ride either way, and you’ll learn and grow more than at any job."

I do not fully understand but my interpretation: Try it anyway even if you are not cut out for it.

Any other interpretations?

[hervature]

With the full quote

> Don’t start a company. You aren’t cut out for it. And if I can persuade you not to start a company by saying it in this tweet, definitely don’t start a company. You’re buying the economy-sized amount of effort and pain.

It is clear that specific sequence is to test if you are founder material. If you called BS on the first tweet and read the next tweet, you at least have the right mentality.

[sillysaurusx]

Imagine if Jessica were to tell female founders "You shouldn't be a founder" just to test whether they were determined enough.

I hope this kind of gatekeeping eventually dies.

[meowface]

It's not gatekeeping. It's saying that the people who can persevere as founders are the kinds of people who intrinsically and deeply want to found something, and someone telling them they shouldn't do it wouldn't stop or impede them from doing what they already set out to do. They'd be doing it anyway, regardless of what other people say.

[sillysaurusx]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree that that's not gatekeeping.

Becoming an astronaut is far harder than becoming a founder, yet we wouldn't dream of telling children not to think about becoming one.

What other people say is an important force. The reason I mentioned Jessica is because much of her work has been to convince people who otherwise wouldn't become founders to start companies. I think she has more experience than either of us, and she doesn't seem to agree that the thesis here is true.

[lazylion2]

I see it as him saying "its really hard"

[swman]

I didn’t see the tweet as gatekeeping, maybe just something stemming from survivorship bias.

What I got from it was that this is a challenge unlike other work related challenges. For one there’s no comp if things don’t work out, whereas anyone can find a job anywhere and get paid. You’re exchanging time and effort for something which may not turn out to be something people want to buy or use.

[fastball]

Why you gotta make this a gender thing?

[marvin]

I assume it was just to make the argument more pointed; I skipped over the word "female" by accident and the message is unchanged.

If you wouldn't want to make this kind of discouragement with women founders, you wouldn't want to do it with men either, and I assume that's what sillysaurus meant.

[danjac]

Or you might fail and end up bankrupt and no medical insurance and a bad debt record and dooming your family to penury.

"Cut out for it" means you have a trust fund, rich parents, no financial obligations, and/or the right connections from having the right college degree or family.