Link: Paul Graham on intelligence vs determination

Vladimir_Golovin

24 Link: Paul Graham on intelligence vs determination

24th Mar 2011

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Paul Graham of Y-Combinator on picking winners-at-life:
Paul Graham spills: Why some companies get his cash and others don't

What's most essential for a successful startup?
The founders. We've learned in the six years of doing Y Combinator to look at the founders--not the business ideas--because the earlier you invest, the more you're investing in the people. When Bill Gates was starting Microsoft, the idea that he had then involved a small-time microcomputer called the Altair. That didn't seem very promising, so you had to see that this 19-year-old kid was going places.

What do you look for?
Determination. When we started, we thought we were looking for smart people, but it turned out that intelligence was not as important as we expected. If you imagine someone with 100 percent determination and 100 percent intelligence, you can discard a lot of intelligence before they stop succeeding. But if you start discarding determination, you very quickly get an ineffectual and perpetual grad student.

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Link: Paul Graham on intelligence vs determination

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[-]RHollerith14y100

It is good to know how determination is important, but what I really want to know is how to increase my determination.

[-]David_Gerard14y70

This is a commonplace of motivational self-help, e.g. the famous quote from Calvin Coolidge:

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Obviously, you need something worth persisting with. But the capacity for mental long-distance endurance is an important strength to have to achieve a goal.

(I have very little, fwiw.)

[-]Dr_Manhattan14y00

for mental long-distance endurance

I do not this this is what he means by 'determination'

[-]David_Gerard14y10

Hmm, possibly. I think that at worst it's closely related to other possible qualities he's describing.

[-]Dr_Manhattan14y30

I suspect in startup context what he meant is closer to "stubbornness in the face of failure", ability to mentally deal with obstacles.

[-]David_Gerard14y10

Um, that's pretty much what I read the Coolidge quote as talking about.

[-]Dr_Manhattan14y40

Sorry, I interpreted your "for mental long-distance endurance" meaning traversing long inferential distances.

[-]David_Gerard14y10

I think that would be more to do with raw intelligence :-)

[-]atucker14y20

Is he asserting that people with determination will be successful, or that success requires determination?

[-]Marius14y30

Both that success statistically requires determination, and that sufficient determination can overcome most other obstacles.

[-]David_Gerard14y10

Of course, there is a time when persistence is not such a winning strategy ;-)

[-]Vladimir_Golovin14y20

Yes, sheer persistence without epistemic rationality opens up a lot of possibilities for spectacular failures.

[-]PhilGoetz14y10

Determination is necessary for great success - and for great failure. Does increasing your determination increase your expected outcome?

[-]Vladimir_Golovin14y10

Determination pushes (pulls? drags? propels?) you along the path you planned on your current map of reality, but won't do you any good if your map doesn't match the territory, or the point you designated as a target is unreachable. That is, determination is useless without at least some epistemic rationality.

[-]Cyan14y10

I get déjà vu when I read this -- I'm sure this is not the first time PG has expressed these ideas.

[-]Vladimir_Golovin14y10

Yes. Here's his essay from October 2010 -- I wasn't aware of it when I posted the link:
What We Look for in Founders

1. Determination. This has turned out to be the most important quality in startup founders. We thought when we started Y Combinator that the most important quality would be intelligence. That's the myth in the Valley. And certainly you don't want founders to be stupid. But as long as you're over a certain threshold of intelligence, what matters most is determination. You're going to hit a lot of obstacles. You can't be the sort of person who gets demoralized easily.

[-]Helge14y10

Thanks for sharing, very interesting!

[-][anonymous]14y00

Valuable information (since Graham is a reliable source and extremely well placed to make such observations) but what I really want to know is how to increase the 'determination' of myself and my friends. Of course, just determining to be more determined does not work.

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