Ask PG: Does smoking marijuana affect the ability to hack and run a startup?

[snoop_a_loop]

Throw away account. I have a startup in San Francisco, and smoking weed actually is quite therapeutic. It is an outlet for stress and the never-ending wall of burden. Development and startups are evolving so fast, and it often feels like you are never adequate. You always need to be learning and using X new language or technology. My startup is the hardest thing I've done so far in my life.

The culture of San Francisco also is heavily accepting, even promoting of smoking marijuana. Often times it feels like some of the best hackers I know smoke on a regular basis.

However, there are noticeable side-effects. Some short term memory loss, sometimes I find it difficult to stay focused, on-task, and motivated. On the flip side, I do some of my best hacking high. I'm able to focus on a single problem; become tunnel vision. Problems just become simpler.

Thoughts? Can, and should a startup founder, as a leader, and public face of a company smoke? Can you be an amazing hacker smoking consistently?

[brc]

Smoke weed if you like but don't kid yourself it's making you better at your work, ezpecially if you do it regularly. If you need stress relief, get good rest and exercise.

I've seen several promising friends fizzle and burn out because they started needing to have a smoke for breakfast. Just keep it to the occasional party and try to phase it out completely as you continue the process of growing up.

[pokesmot]

"The only pot smokers I know and am aware of are burnt out, so they all will burn out! Oh and it's immature, whatever that means."

Sorry for the snark, but when there's clearly a visibility problem, these one-off negative anecdotes given as universal observations and advice are nearly useless.

[maratd]

Look, I'm all for legalization, but let's not kid ourselves.

Alcohol doesn't make you more sociable. Tobacco doesn't make you look cool. And weed doesn't help you relax.

Or rather, all of the above certainly do that, but there are ample alternatives that do it better and have zero consequences for your health.

[kordless]

I'd hesitate to clump in alcohol and weed with tobacco use. Tobacco use is tied directly to increased risk of cancer. FWIW, there seems to be evidence that inflamation is a factor in some cancers: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1994795/. With alcohol, there have been studies that show consumption actually lowers stress and improves health.

[nested]

Have you ever known someone who uses marijuana medicinally?

[maratd]

No. What precisely is your point? That there are legitimate uses for weed? Ok, agreed.

There are legitimate uses for alcohol too. Great disinfectant. Great at cleaning mechanical parts.

Doesn't mean drinking half a bottle of vodka a day will make you a great business leader. Smoking weed won't make you into one either.

[pokesmot]

Comparing getting high in your free time to drinking half a bottle is so disingenuous, it's actually embarrassing to watch you do this.

That, and you know what, going around calling everyone "kids" because you can't formulate an argument makes you look bad, not the "kids" you're looking down on.

You're so clearly unwilling to even listen on this issue, it was apparent from the get-go.

I'd hate to ever get caught eating a piece of chocolate in front of you. You'd probably slap it out of my hands, call me a fatty and tell me there are healthier ways to make myself happy.

[brc]

You really have no idea what my experiences are, but you seem quite judgemental and somewhat defensive, and eager to pick a fight.

The point remains that there is a non-zero chance of harming your chances of achieving you career goals if you light up frequently. Ther are no doubt outliers who can work well stoned, but for the regular person this is not likely to be the case. In fact for most people they'll regret endless hours stoned on the couch when they look back, after they realisr their youth and enthusiasm were precious assets that don't last forever.

Growing up and facing the world clear headed is a worthy goal. I don't think anyone can really argue against that.

[kordless]

Both are judgemental, actually. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be heard. Non-violent communication skills will tell you pokesmot is probably blaming brc for his own feelings about smoking weed. I'm implying he smokes from his username.

What is the evidence pokesmot is blaming himself? Notice he is "quoting" brc using the quote symbols, but brc didn't actually say what is quoted. NVC will teach you to read things like this as a feeling/opinion held by the person who is "quoting" someone else. When you are saying something contentious, you are are either blaming yourself or you are blaming the other guy. Given brc didn't actually say what pokesmot said he said, I'm going with the former: he's blaming himself a bit. This leads me to thinking it's not beyond us to consider we might feel a bit of fear ourselves if we consumed more than a moderate amount of pot in a given week and then someone comes by and said "don't kid yourself it's making you better at work".

Ironically that last quote is also a blaming statement. The logical implication of that statement is, if I smoke weed, I won't be better at my job, especially if I do it regularly. The won't is derived from the negative fragment 'kid yourself'.

Anyway, I agree with both of them! Don't smoke weed with the expectations of becoming better at work. Making casual blaming statements affects all of us. We should all try harder not to do it!

[gexla]

This seems like a silly question to be aimed at PG. Why would he have any special insight on this?

> Development and startups are evolving so fast, and it often feels like you are never adequate. You always need to be learning and using X new language or technology. My startup is the hardest thing I've done so far in my life.

Always X is always wrong. There are always exceptions. Often, your always is the exception rather than the norm. As I look the tools people are using today, I feel like we have barely moved. Developers are using the same tools, they have just got a little heavier.

The founders would rightfully be stressed, but isn't it their jobs to protect developers from all that so they can focus on their jobs? Again, I would think that high stress would be the exception rather than the norm for anyone not actually running the company. Why should you be stressed if you don't own the company? The unemployment rate for developers is low enough that you can just get another job if the company fails. Right? That's not to say you shouldn't be packing a mighty can of whoop-ass in the name of your company, but you don't need to kill yourself either.

> However, there are noticeable side-effects. Some short term memory loss, sometimes I find it difficult to stay focused, on-task, and motivated. On the flip side, I do some of my best hacking high. I'm able to focus on a single problem; become tunnel vision. Problems just become simpler.

A lack of focus is a side effect of some of the worst blockers of productivity. That includes lack of sleep, drinking alcohol (and the hangover after,) being sick and burned out. This would overrule any perceived gains for me. Does it matter that you are able to do better hacking after smoking weed? What are you working on? Slow and steady is generally a winning strategy as long as you are shipping. Sometimes you have to put in relatively heavy hours to accelerate this, but you get there eventually. It doesn't have to be a work of art, it doesn't have to be brilliant, just ship the dang thing and move on.

[bdcravens]

This seems like a silly question to be aimed at PG. Why would he have any special insight on this?

PG doesn't shy away from identifying characteristics of founders/YC alums.

[zacinbusiness]

"...packing a mighty can of whoop-ass in the name of your company..."

Dude, that's awesome++

[priyadarshy]

OP, I don't mean this to be negative or mean but I'll say it because I'd want someone to say it to me.

You need to look inside yourself and decide what is right for you and your circumstance. Certainly you cannot expect PG to issue an edict down from the clouds. You are pandering to your role model/idol/God figure to approve a behavior whose merits you haven't decided for yourself.

Furthermore, it is a fact that PG is infinitely wise when it comes to succeeding in startups but as a community of people that look up to him for his advice and indirect mentorship I'd rather we not request his 'judgement' on matters like this because of the disproportionate weight his words carry.

[bdcravens]

Development and startups are evolving so fast, and it often feels like you are never adequate. You always need to be learning and using X new language or technology.

I think this is a myth. Yes, there's a romanticism of the culture of being cutting edge. Truthfully, those that ship well, and actually turn profits for founders, are most often running on 15+ year old languages.

[JohnBooty]

Pot should be recreational, not something you need.

  It is an outlet for stress and the never-ending wall 
  of burden. Development and startups are evolving so 
  fast, and it often feels like you are never adequate. 
  You always need to be learning and using X new language 
  or technology.

I ran my own tiny business for a while and the "always on" syndrome was definitely the toughest aspect. Felt like I should always be doing something... 24/7/365.

It was very tough to disconnect my mind from work. It was exhausting and very tough on my personal relationships! I feel you there.

Thing is, pot is only ever (at best) treating your symptoms. It's not fixing any of the root causes of those symptoms, the things that are making you feel like you need to be always on.

1. Exercise, a good diet, and sleep may seem boring as hell but those are really how you strengthen your mind and body to deal with stress.

2. Also don't forget to feed your soul. Meditation, prayer, whatever works for you. I'm an atheist and there are lots of ways to meditate that don't involve believing in the supernatural.

3. Adding some structure may help with the "always on" angst. Make Wednesday afternoons or Sunday mornings (or whatever) the time when you play with new languages, so you don't feel like you have to be doing it 24/7.

4. Have a good note-taking system (moleskine, note app, whatever) so that you can record thoughts and to-dos, rather than having 50 things bouncing around in your head that feel like they need to be acted upon immediately lest you forget them. "Getting Things Done" is big on this; it's worth at least skimming that book for ideas because even if you don't adopt the whole system there is some seriously good shit in there you can poach.

[tlb]

As a hacker you can probably get away with it. If you're a 10x hacker, maybe you'll be an 8x hacker that's less stressed and more happy. Depending on how you handle stress, maybe you'll be more effective overall. It's a tradeoff you can make with yourself. (Be sure to stay legal and get a prescription.)

While you're leading a company, don't. Being a good leader requires a great memory. If you forget half of what was said on Fridays because you smoked that night, you're hosing everyone.

[pvnick]

While Steve Jobs is an entrepreneurial outlier, and I recommend against smoking weed often simply because it can be a crutch for psychological issues, Jobs had an interesting history of LSD and cannabis use: "The best way I could describe the effect of the marijuana and hashish is that it would make me relaxed and creative" [1]. And then went on to found what became the most valuable company on the planet.

[1] http://archive.is/20120916001237/http://www.smh.com.au/techn...

[wturner]

I've seen a lot of articles stating that when you're tired the mind is more 'creative' irrespective of drug use. If pot can be used as a responsible tool for 'creativity' its one thing, but I've had childhood friends that have smoked heavily since they were young and are literally in a permanent state of arrested intellectual development.

[Alex3917]

Rather than posting this as an 'Ask PG', why don't you actually go read some books on the topic? This reminds me of Randy Cohen talking about all the people who email him asking for permission to do blatantly unethical stuff.

[larrys]

What would be interesting is if one of those link bait psuedo tech publications decided to use the, um, Betteridge-esq headline and actually do that research which you suggest.

Seems as if that would collect a bit of attention. And if the publication then issued a press release (if they actually did their own research and/or surveys) the mainstream press would pick up on it.

[pbhjpbhj]

Probably because that route won't provide insight as to PG's thoughts on the matter?

[kranner]

If anything affected my short term memory adversely, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.

[snoop_a_loop]

Do you drink alcohol?

[kranner]

Very rarely, because I find the smallest amount of alcohol makes me sleepier the next morning and that is annoying.

[kranner]

Ahem, the same question seems to have been posted and deleted from a different account, which I know courtesy HN Notify. Others may have gotten similar notifications. Let's say the other account name has something to do with server-side javascript.

snoop_a_loop, if you are serious about protecting your identity with regards to this thread, consider deleting it immediately.

[snoop_a_loop]

I know you want to show everybody how clever you are, but come on, this comment is not productive. I ask that you restrain yourself from being a troll, and be respectful.

[kranner]

A troll? I'm not hiding behind a throwaway account, asking for opinions justifying a drug habit.

If you're not the other guy, no harm done. If you are, consider that I could have been trying to be helpful. Clearly you consider anonymity important enough to be using a throwaway account.

[thenerdfiles]

Poor sleep quality affects short-term memory.

[dasht]

I think it is still taboo among most VC's and angels. Founders are supposed to be cookie-cutter stereotypes who fit a pre-established program. Your personality / public face can be "challenging" but not challenging, if you know what I mean.

[snoop_a_loop]

Everybody accepts drinking coffee or caffeine, but its clearly "performance" improving. There is even a culture of providing adderall to employees if they want. Do investors frown upon those activities?

[dasht]

Employers turning a blind-eye to intra-company dealing / distribution is not at all a new thing but I don't think that was the poster's question. I think the poster was talking about open-ness and public face. Again, for VCs and such -- and although that crowd will sometimes deny this -- founders are supposed to be cookie cutter stereotypes.

An openly pot-head founder risks offending or scaring customers or buyers or later investors. It also indicates some who doesn't get the "performative" aspect of being a commodity founder: the expected degree of conformative role playing.

[greenyoda]

"There is even a culture of providing adderall to employees if they want."

Wouldn't that be putting the company and its management in a very risky situation? Distribution of controlled substances carries much higher penalties than mere possession. If a disgruntled employee calls in an anonymous tip to the cops, they might end up with a bunch of heavily armed cops kicking down their office door. Not so great for productivity...

[busterarm]

Let's be real here. Modafanil is the dirty little not-so-secret that is still mostly-out-of-reach to people who are law-abiding or mere mortals.

[larrys]

"smoking weed actually is quite therapeutic. It is an outlet for stress and the never-ending wall of burden. Development and startups are evolving so fast, and it often feels like you are never adequate."

My advice? I will fall back on the saying "if you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen".

There are many reasons why someone might have to medicate themselves if they have a situation that is not under their control (family problems, health as only two). And I"m not saying that someone should medicate themselves in those situations but just that it's more understandable when you have to deal with some external things that you have little or no control over. But with respect to "getting ahead" if you can't take the pressure, and you need to medicate, you should seriously consider setting your goals a bit lower. To me if you are thinking of this as a "never-ending wall of burden" then you have not chosen the correct career path.

Of course others may disagree and feel differently but I've seen to many people reach for the brass ring and as a result of pressure which they can't handle fall into some dependency or behavioral problem as a result of that dependency.

[Valid]

I have to say, the idea of lowering my goals in light of increasing stress haunts me at night. It would be so easy (or at least it feels that way now) to just stop being ambitious and stop chasing the dream, as stress levels increase along with risks. I just can't do it. Even though it's intensely stressful at times, I think that striving for a grand goal is a part of who I am, in much the same way that my personal stress tolerance is. If I was going to change anything, it would be to reduce my stress through any other means than to stop trying to achieve more than I am physical capable. I take nootropics, stimulants (light ones, these days, though I had previously been on much stronger ones) for cognitive/performance enhancement so I can excel further than I would be able without them. I could have removed the need for them, but that, to me, is a far worse fate.

Just my thoughts.

[larrys]

See now everyone (investors, friends, perhaps even a spouse) is going to egg you on because they won't have to clean up the mess that might result from the amount of stress you are putting yourself under.

(I say "might" because I don't know enough about the specifics of your situation.)

But I do know that for sure anyone who eggs you on will have no detriment to the choices that you have made to get ahead.

I do understand how you have to do this because everyone else is taking that route.

Back in the day I never even tried pot. Or cigarettes. And everyone else was doing it back then. But then again it wasn't used to enhance performance or get ahead. So I can't honestly say what I would have done if faced with a peer group that was using performance enhancing drugs that I had to compete with.

[fleitz]

  And he's tradin in his Chevy for
  A Cadillac ack ack ack ack ack
  You ought-a know by now
  If he can't drive with a broken back
  At least he can polish the fenders

[throwaway10]

At the risk of enabling some questionable behavior (i.e. asking people on the internet for advice regarding something so controversial), I would say don't do it. It will probably save you trouble, and thereby save me trouble as well. Note that I have not addressed whether anyone has a reason to listen to me in particular on this topic.

[leeoniya]

i cannot get anything done after smoking except for couching, lazy remote operation, eating and sleeping. if i have anything to get done (which is 99% of the time), i don't smoke. my buddy, however, smokes whenever he's awake and is the most productive/brilliant engineer i've ever met, i don't get it.

[kordless]

You may want to try a couple of varieties of pure Sativa. You may be one of those people that is sensitive to the CBDs in weed. Higher concentrations can make you sleepy.

[busterarm]

Right. The negative stereotypes associated with a smoker's lifestyle aren't exactly unwarranted. Once OP associates with something so polarizing, it's much harder to control the public's perception of you and your company.

[pokesmot]

For me, it's a happy in between. Come home from work, have a bag from the vaporizer and write a bunch of code for my side project. Though, Friday, when everyone else goes out to the bar, I stay in have several bags, watch some stupid TV and fall asleep early on the couch. Works for me, but I also know how to not overdo it, etc. It's honestly a lot like alcohol in that regard.

Can you imagine how weird it would be if people freaked out if they heard you had a beer at lunch or had a beer at 4PM while working from home? Weird to me at least...

[stirno]

Obviously not PG, but I do have an opinion so here we go.. ;)

It entirely depends on the image you're looking to present for yourself. If you are comfortable with being a smoker and people judging you and your company by that, then by all means continue.

There are some that will judge you poorly in any circle but a majority likely will not care.

My only advice is don't look to others/the culture to justify a behavior. In the end it has to be your decision and you have to own it. I think most people would be surprised by the number of their peers who have made this choice.

[orasis]

Your crutch is not an asset.

[bdcravens]

Ditto on reliance on caffeine.

[thenerdfiles]

Ditto on reliance on food.

[thenerdfiles]

To be clear, I am not being facetious. If you want to throw around cut-throat, myopic terms like "crutch", then let me first note that caffeine is a performance-enhancing nootropic; and I've worked with a developer who never once ate lunch in my 6 months working along side him. I personally eat lunch maybe once a week.

And honestly, I smirk at people who do eat lunch. And it goes without saying what I think of leisure-lunchers.

[ShirtlessRod]

Why would you smirk at people who eat lunch?

[thenerdfiles]

Well, I wanted to give a "frank" tit for tat, to anyone who might argue this "crutch" position.

I personally enjoy the pain of hunger as I code. That's why. I smirk in that I more fully realize my difference from others when I know they clearly do not enjoy that pain. I'm surely not saying it makes me better or smarter. I smirk in that I, in a way, come to know myself better: that I enjoy the pain of hunger, and what it looks like of others who do not, given the context.

[chatmasta]

If you think it helps you, do it. As a startup founder, you should have enough critical thinking ability and confidence in yourself to know what works for you and what does not. However, I see no reason to be open about it, especially to investors. No investor is going to say "he smokes weed, therefore his company has a higher chance of being successful."

So smoke if you want to, but keep your mouth shut when talking to people with money.

This is a pretty good life rule.

[PavlovsCat]

When I was 17, after a good night's sleep and a good breakfast, I smoked two bowls and then went to do an intelligence test (a real one with supervision, which took several hours to do).. scored 142 out of 145 possible for that test, during which I finished a set of 50 logic puzzles which wasn't really intended to be finished (the idea was how far you get in 5 minutes). I never dared to take another test since then, there is no way that is my actual IQ; I had a good day and was "in the zone".

But I also tried to smoke continuously, and that did not work out well for me. I think it's like a glass of wine can be nice, but being tipsy all the time is not, not to mention being really drunk. I would say, don't spoil this wonderful plant for yourself by abusing it (not to mention the temporary damage you can do to yourself with it). I think it was George Carlin who said he writes his material sober, but then smokes a joint to make the finishing touches. I can see how that makes sense, but I don't know how much it applies to programming. This is for you to find out, carefully.

[lfounder]

I'm a founder of a well-funded venture-backed startup. I wear many hats: product manager, coder and growth hacker to name a few. I smoke weed every day, sometimes multiple times per day. I have a few observations about working while smoking.

I cannot and do not smoke when I need to interact with my employees, investors or partners as I find it very hard to be at my sharpest wit verbally. So when my schedule calls for that, I skip.

However, there are many other times when I find my smoking to be a secret weapon: 1) There is zero question that I'm at my most creative when smoking. Sometimes a solution to a product or marketing challenge seems hopeless. In that instance, a smoke seems to unfog the mind and ideas that I never had sober just jump into my head. Good ideas. Ideas so good that if anyone around me knew how I came up with them, they'd probably be shocked. 2) Coding - A smoke will focus me for hours on coding. Sometimes I have a smoke, start coding and what feels like a blink of the eye is 3 hours of the most productive coding I'll have all day. It's false to think that the code is of poor quality, quite the opposite. I find that the mental model sustained in my head while coding becomes even more clear - it's like instead of just visualizing the model, it's like I'm inside it.

Some commentors have complained that they become lethargic or foggy. I'm sure that individuals react differently, but what I've found is that Indica strains should be avoided - they tend to have that effect on almost anyone. But a high-quality Sativa makes me alert, creative and highly motivated.

Look, everyone is different. What works for me may not work for you. But I wouldn't shy away from it if you think it helps you. Just keep it to yourself and those that you trust and let everyone else judge you by your results.

[snoop_a_loop]

Thanks, great reply.

[blunt_dev]

(throwaway)

Hi. I'm a software developer that smokes multiple times daily even as I work (remotely).

Started smoking weed semi-regularly when I was 15. It helps me get over certain anxiety issues. Never really kicked the habit, but I never really felt like I wanted to except to pass a drug test.

It was a little harder to find a job after college. I have quit for small periods of time while looking for a job. But my clients and I are happy. Isn't that what really matters?

On being a public face: Are you setting up your company's culture and image? It's up to you to decide if the risk of fallout is greater than smoking your nugs IF the public finds out.

On being an amazing hacker: Maybe. I'm not old enough to have put in my ten years or 10k hours for 'expert' status as a software engineer yet. I do not consider myself to be a 10x (engineer), but I'm definitely not a 1x either.

Background: B.S. in EE/CmpE, software engineer (Rails primarily right now) and sysadmin

[void0]

I smoke every day medically as it helps with managing the daily nausea, vomiting, and cramping pain that my IBS presents me. I am very young for most software engineers in my field, and I work at a startup that was recently funded. Before I started smoking daily, I was missing loads of work because of pain. Now, I wake up early every morning to smoke so that I can actually function. Marijuana has not improved my skills as a hacker, but it has enabled me to spend more of my life doing what I'd like to be (programming) instead of dealing with a disease. I can vouch for the therapeutic effects of the drug too, and I know that for some people it is what they need to get things done. In moderate amounts, I don't know how it is fair to say that drugs like Prozac and Riddlin are acceptable for the workplace any more than pot.

[goatriver42]

For a great bit on the benefits of rec use of weed, YouTube "Joe Rogan on smoking weed". By far the best take on the modern advocate.

My personal take is that its both a tool for self examination and insight, yet also promotes play. Used with good intention it can be super powerful in getting your shit together and loosening up too. Used as a distraction it's no different than needlessly checking social media, watching too much porn, lottery tickets or cheeseburgers.

If you haven't smoked in 5, 10 years. Try it again with a close friend and go baked to the movies, go eat somewhere awesome, and go back to the house and watch that pink Floyd DVD. Post your trip report in the comments. :)

[jmcgough]

I don't use anything except coffee, but I know some extremely talented coders who smoke (outside of work) to help with stress/anxiety/focus. It's probably something you have to evaluate for yourself, as it affects everyone differently. If it's helpful to you and improves productivity, I don't think there's anything wrong with it as long as the benefits outweigh the negatives. Maybe try tweaking how much or how frequent you smoke to see if you can reduce the side effects.

Btw, I've known founders who smoke. The only people who might care in SF are more conservative VCs etc.

[pizza]

I don't have a problem with it (when I finish school I'll probably do that too). But it is a crutch. That said, feel free to use it until you feel like you no longer need to (or if it becomes counter-productive), just like a real crutch. Same applies to caffeine, adderall, cocaine, opiates, sugar, anything. If it gets to the point that you need help (fairly uncommon with pot, but it still happens), don't hesitate to get any.

Responsible drug use includes knowing how people respond to drugs, and knowing how you respond differently than other people to drugs...

[fredflintstone]

Believe that your high can come from coding stone cold sober. I can get so freakin high from rockin on some awesome shit. I'm poppin tictacs wih spearmint gum. Last I checked? (never) they don't cause short term mem-loss... As for start up stress - that's part of the gig you pay for trying to make a go of it. You need both of these to get through it: Fucking good friends and/or employees who have your back & seriously long term vision. Believe in what you're doing and you will succeed.

[datphp]

"Problems just become simpler"... here is my story about that!

I've smoked ever since I was 14. Most of the time about once a week, at times not smoking for a year, and sometimes all day for months.

Smoking very frequently has a negative effect on me when it comes to business. I have more trouble finding motivation and caring, I am less in control of myself and get along less easily with people.. I become a feral hacker pretty fast.

On the other hand, I find a lot of benefits in smoking occasionally.

It seems pot disconnects you from your "hard-drive". You have problems pulling data that is otherwise readily available, and much that happens when you smoke doesn't seem to get stored at all.

So what's the advantage? Well, it doesn't seem to affect what's in your "RAM". You're like a super AI with a completely fresh storage and barely any data. Now data in most cases is useful, specially when you're trying to reproduce things that worked previously. When you hit a wall though, it can become a burden.

Most of you probably remember the sentence "You must unlearn what you have learned"! Except in this case, you lose factual data, but not cognitive processes. You certainly won't suddenly be able to levitate, but it's amazing what the brain can come up with when you lose track of all the common practices.

I've done a year of math prep in one of EU's hardest universities, and it was amazingly hard. Trying to solve any of the problems while high would lead to a ton of execution mistakes (copying stuff wrong, losing track of what you were doing etc), and was generally bad. Being slightly high for a test would cut my grade in half.

On the other hand, on many occasions, I spent a couple hours attempting to solve something from any possible angle and failed, like solving a rubik's cube and always coming back to the same configuration. Then at some point, later in the day or week, I'd think about that problem again while being high, and have my mind elegantly walk through the complexity of it and see the solution.

I spoke about it with people at that school who smoked, and most of those who were naturals at math seemed to have had the same experience. Ever since, I've had it happen to me on many occasions about different implementation/design challenges. I've worked with other people who were occasional smokers, and sometimes when failing to solve problems (more policical / vision related than technical), mention them again when we were high, and have extremely interesting things come up.

Obviously you want to review / implement / apply those new ideas when you're sober, because you need to run them through your experience and memory extensively, but weed can be a great source when you need an alternate angle of approach.

[bdcravens]

The culture of San Francisco also is heavily accepting, even promoting of smoking marijuana.

Your startup is in SF, so this is probably relevant, but there's absolutely nothing that requires a startup to be in SF. It can be in Austin, Brussels, Sydney, Fargo, or Bangalore. If you feel that local culture acceptance is a reason for, then you've already answered the question if you start up in a locale where it isn't.

[snoop_a_loop]

So retarded, seems my post got flagged. Mysterious dropped from the front page to page 3. Not sure why, there is some great discussion and feedback here. My biggest complaint about HN is that its not a true democracy, there are a few with god powers that influence all the content.

[andrewcooke]

it's not mysterious at all, it's the "controversial" filter - it got more comments than votes.

[pokesmot]

I can't wait for people to come out of the closet on this issue. It's just like gay people. Ask anyone from CO or WA how many people have come out as private pot smokers.

Can't wait for uninformed and inexperienced judgement that will be raining down in this thread. A bunch of people saying a bunch of ridiculous things that they'd never say if they knew how many people smoked around them and don't tell them. Same exact scenario as homosexuality. And I say this as someone who faces far more stigma as a smoker than I do as a gay guy. Which is ironic, because it's same conversation "Oh you're gay? You smoke pot? Would have never known!" ... Duh.

/me gets popcorn. Hey this registering one-off troll accounts for new threads is kinda fun! Glad it still is encouraged.

[ytdtty]

You sound hysterical.

[nested]

How so?

[fleitz]

The OP is asking about 8 different questions...

Lets unpack some of them...

Will VCs be more likely to invest if they know you're a pot smoker? Unless they are also a pot smoker probably not. Pot is associated laziness.

Will VCs be more likely to invest in your crazy idea you had while high? If they don't know you had it while smoking pot then probably.

Is smoking pot good for writing bug free boiler plate code? Not in my experience.

Is smoking pot good for making revolutionary breakthoughs by approaching the problem from a new angle? Possibly.

Can you endear great engineers who smoke pot by having a 420 friendly culture? Most definitely.

Realistically, if you want to smoke pot then smoke pot. Your startup is a lottery ticket, smoking pot doesn't change the odds in any significant way. The asking for permission attitude seems more detrimental than pot smoking ever could be.