bluefacedpixie

Graham worked at Yahoo for a year and a half and seems to have suffered through every minute of it. “Running a start-up is like being punched in the face repeatedly,” he says. “But working for a large company is like being waterboarded.”

Inc.com covers Paul Graham and his Y-Combinator funding company.

Graham encourages founders to spend all their energy on product development, not on PR. In most cases, companies are expected to release a finished version of something—whether it be an iPhone app or a photo-sharing widget—before the three-month program is over. That’s an incredibly short amount of time for a two- or three-person team. It requires that founders work more or less around the clock while ignoring pedestrian concerns like cash flow or hygiene.

It’s a type of geek-is-god, austerity-makes-Calvinism-seem-wimpy, American-Dream-gone-wild that I can somewhat respect and realise is so, so, not me. Emphasis all mine.

On a chilly Tuesday night in early April, the members of Y Combinator’s winter class gather for their final meal together. Demo Day has already passed, and the evening has taken on a somewhat celebratory quality, which means that a few founders have decided that they can afford to indulge in a mug of beer. Most are staying sober so they can squeeze in a few hours of work after the meal. Some are simply underage.

Get a life. Live to work? Work to Live. Not work-like-a-slave-with-no-responsibilities-only-the-young-die-young-’til-I-die-in-the-hope-I-become-rich-and-then-maybe-am-rich-enough-to-not-work-unless-I-want-to-work-more.

Oh yeah, and he’s also a Lisp cultist.