The Retcon
Once something works, the story gets rewritten. It was inevitable. Everyone saw it coming.
Andreessen says that is never what happened. Get a couple drinks into any founder and they will tell you the real story.
A wall of rejection. Nobody joined. Nobody bought. Nobody believed.
Agreeableness Is the Enemy
If you are agreeable, you listen to the people around you. They tell you new ideas are stupid.
End of story. You stop. Innovation requires the ability to endure social ostracism.
Not everyone has the ego strength to survive years of people saying no.
If you are agreeable, you are going to listen to the people around you. They are going to tell you new ideas are stupid.
The Taste of Blood
Sean Parker has the best line: being an entrepreneur is like getting punched in the face over and over.
Eventually you start to like the taste of your own blood.
It makes everyone uncomfortable. But every founder who has been through it says: that is exactly what it is like.
The Clustering Effect
Renaissance Florence. Ancient Greece. Silicon Valley. Los Angeles. Innovators cluster.
Being around others who are trying to do hard things keeps you going when everyone else says quit.
But clusters have a downside: even disagreeable people develop groupthink. Watch for it.