zlacker

Sam operates YC, which is a company. If the argument is that he lacks operational experience, and YC is a company, you've defeated your own argument.

>>tptace+(OP)
As I read the grandparent, his argument is that YC's business is teaching you how to start a company, not operate one. Thus, it's relevant to prospective customers whether its leaders have experience starting successful companies, not just starting unsuccessful ones or operating successful ones. Eric Schmidt may be one of the best CEOs ever, but if your goal is to start the next Google, you're probably a lot more interested in what Larry Page has to say.

Not saying I agree, BTW - I think that binary startup success has a large skill factor, but the magnitude of that success is largely luck, and that good luck can mask bad practices to a large extent. So in my view, people with relatively minor startup successes like Sam Altman, Paul Buchheit, or Michael Siebel might actually be better coaches than knock-it-out-of-the-park successes like Larry Page, Mark Cuban, or Notch. But don't misrepresent the argument: operational experience running an existing business is very different from experience founding one.

>>tptace+(OP)
I was arguing that Paul Graham ought to judged by more than viaweb, not that Sam Altman isn't an excellent president of YC. He has done amazing things with the organization in a short period of time.