This guy has also been generous, and incredibly wrong, about other leaders too. Go look at his glazing posts of someone throughout Q3/Q4 of 2024, especially on Nov 3rd.
He didn’t pick “public service” because when an administration didn’t match his political preferences he bashed that admin in this post. That’s not a public servant but a partisan servant.
I would argue that being a great operator (what he derides as manager mode) requires setting clear outputs and expectations from who you are delegating to. If your company turns to hell because you've delegated too hands off, that's a sign you aren't skilled enough at delegating. He calls this "founder mode" but this can be done by any highly skilled manager/operator.
Go in peace. Through your writing you've made a positive impact on me, and I'm sure others in your time here. That's all any of us ever hope to do. Go in peace.
I love a lot of what YC has done but their application process is fundamentally broken and has been for years. It appears to just be a just a factory and numbers game now, all clinging to previous successes from when PG and Jessica used to run things.
Paulg taking a victory lap in really odd fashion: telling a couple of kids what he wanted them to build, saying he predicted ordering fast food on your cellphones was a bad idea and still can’t be done today (DoorDash?). This whole write-up seems off.