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The first really great company I worked at was explicit about being family-oriented; they'd bring everyone's family to the office and cook dinners, had Christmas at the founders house, that sort of thing.
I left that company and joined a different sort of family, which was more of a bar-fighting sort of family but still had that vibe.
Then I started my first company, which cratered, and which did not have that family feel at all, despite it being largely a group of people who were friends in real life.
I felt like we got part of the way there with Matasano (at least in the Chicago office, which was our largest), but not all of the way. It's tricky to pull off!
I really only want to work at companies that have that feel, for the rest of my career. It makes a huge difference. Also: if Jessica Livingston can generate that kind of culture on demand, that's definitely a reason to be impressed by her!
This is also the reason why in business (the reverse example) it's important (generally and depending on the circumstances) to keep an arms length relationship. If your brother in law is, for example, the contractor doing work and renovating your home, your hands are tied more than if it's someone that you don't have a personal connection to. Weighed against the potential upside of getting a bad job from someone who has no relationship with you at all of course. (Details and the parties involved matter as with anything).
Oh wow I disagree with this totally. One reporter gives a bad slant to a story and that is enough to make you give up on setting up and getting other PR? What am I missing here? Anyone who has ever appeared in a story in the news (I have multiple times) knows they always get things wrong and always angle to story to what they think is something interesting that will allow them to sell advertising. That is the business they are in. With all due respect to Jessica (who I don't know) this sounds to me very thin skinned and not exactly an example of overcoming adversity in the entrepreneurship world. Of course it's her right to not do interviews if she doesn't feel like doing them but the way PG presents the story it's as if this one incident was enough to sour her taste (and there were no other factors at play).
Edit: As would be expected say something (not delicately or gently enough) about anyone closely associated with YC and get downvoted. Maybe that's just because people will pay attention to the comment more and tend to react more emotionally than rationally.
Edit#2: As far as those who say "YC is successful Jessica doesn't need to be in the limelight it's important to realize that people read these essays who are not in that position. Or even close. So perhaps PG could have pointed that out in a more direct way so that those learning from his writings could understand the nuance of the decision.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...
Assumes the homeowner checks that the insurance for the professional is valid at the point the repair is made. Of course nobody does that. (They ask and are told they are insured. Maybe on a large project but on a small repair?)
Along those lines I have a doctor that is practicing in a property that I own (commercial). As part of the lease (as with all tenants that I have) they are required to provide not only proof of insurance but to add my LLC as a named insured to the policy and provide what is known as an ACCORD certficate (as proof). They do have the insurance (I have seen the policy) but even after 2 months I have not been able to get them to get their agent to provide the ACCORD cert. So what am I supposed to do? Tell them to move out? In theory this needed to be provided prior to moving in. But as things like this go of course you give leeway and try not to be a hard ass. I am sure I will get the cert but there is liability for a brief time prior to receiving it. My point is all of this is real life and the difference between what is taught in school (or online) and what actually happens in business. [1]
[1] And another tenant provided the CERT but named me personally instead of the LLC. And I've had cases where my own insurance company mixes up company names (there are several) on the policy and it's a constant battle to get all paperwork actually straight and in order (easy when you own 1 thing, much more difficult to keep track of when you own several or have multiple tenants).
Character? It's clear from PG's essay that she hates being in the limelight. What was very likely her worst fear about doing PR happened straight away. It's completely understandable that an incident like that would have had her just back away from it all as fast as possible. Especially when it's something she doesn't have to do.