[defrost]

In fairness young people can have high agency, back their own judgements, and have grit, perseverance, et al. and still lack experience and be more easily influenced by perceived mentors than they might be a decade later in their career paths.

With no disrespect to YC, of course.

[tomhow]

Sure but the founders who will generate the greatest returns for investors are the ones who won’t be pushed around by boards. Facebook’s board advised Mark Zuckerberg to take Yahoo’s $1B offer in 2006 [1]. He was 22 years old. He refused, and Meta is now valued at nearly $2T. That’s the kind of founder that the most ambitious startup investors are looking for.

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/an-ugly-truth-mark-zuckerber...

[defrost]

Sure but one example is a point in the cloud of all responses, granted the cloud tips toward a particular part of a large multi variate space.

Unless ... your point is that all YC founders are homogeneous interchangeable cyborgs? ( surely not ).

[tomhow]

We’re discussing the cynical assertion that YC is looking for founders who will be compliant and subservient to boards. I’m just pointing out that if there is any defining quality in the kinds of founders that an investor like YC is looking for, it’s that they are not compliant and subservient to anyone, including or especially boards :)

When pg and others talk about the qualities they look for in founders, they use terms like “formidable” and “force of nature”.