How to survive the Valley: Notes for entrepreneurs and work-at-homers

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Nick Douglas

10/17/06 12:10PM

Filed to: How-to

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Hey, Silicon Valley doesn't really make you soft. Four articles explain how to deal with the hardships of various Valley lifestyles.

"Am I the only one that is struggling to work from home?" asks someone who lists problems such as weird sleeping patterns, loneliness, and distraction. Dozens respond — some recommend clearly separating the home office from the rest of the house, others share tips on finding outside office space. [Joel on Software]
Programmer and Y Combinator venture firm member Paul Graham outlines an eighteen-part essay on mistakes that kill startups, including "single founder," "hiring bad programmers," "raising too little money," and "raising too much money." [Paul Graham]
Hold meetings at the local cafe at your own risk, but follow rules from blogger Liz Gannes. (For instance, pick a cafe without loud music.) [Web Worker Daily]
Venture capitalist Paul Kedrosky lists airport survival tricks: avoid lines with strollers and wheelchairs, and sit outside premium lounges to mooch free wifi. [Paul Kedrosky]

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jayliew Nick Douglas 10/18/06 06:19PM

I think he is just merely pointing out the fact that if you have no technical skills, unless you have a wide network of friends who are programmers whose definition of "quality" is really quality, it's tough.

Think about it: there's plenty of grade B programmers, and odds are that they are going to tell you that they are grade A (they sure as hell aren't gonna tell you they are grade B). And since these grade B programmers hang out with other grade B programmers, they will highly recommend their friends as top notch programmers as well.

So how do you find that 1 grade A person? A bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. Perhaps some luck involved.

I guess you could sit outside a computer science class from a top-notch computer science school and ask the professor for a good referral.

damanb Nick Douglas 10/18/06 12:52PM

Only one I don't agree on Paul Graham's list is number 6 - hiring bad programmers....he is basically saying that it is not possible to get good work done unless you program yourself...several examples out there of biz guys getting their vision implemented without programming themselves. Marc Benioff, Kevin Rose, and Mark Cuban come to mind. It might be very difficult, but it is doable.