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paulg's profile
Paul Graham
Paul Graham
Paul Graham
Verified account
@paulg

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Paul GrahamVerified account

@paulg

paulgraham.com
Joined August 2010

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    1. Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 3 May 2019

      The most surprising thing I've learned from being involved with nonprofits is that they are a magnet for sociopaths. One's naive reaction is "Why would nonprofits attract them? Nonprofits do good!" But the defining quality of nonprofits is to make no profit, not to do good.

      161 replies 623 retweets 2,655 likes
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    2. Ian Lamont 藍毅恩‏ @ilamont 3 May 2019
      Replying to @paulg

      The same can be said for startups. Most never reach a state of true accountability, and winning over angels, early employees, and the media is not hard if you have a convincing sheen of competence and vision. Some are outright frauds.

      1 reply 2 retweets 82 likes
      Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 3 May 2019
      Replying to @ilamont

      A startup has three drawbacks from a sociopath's point of view: it's a lot of work, investors are on average tougher than donors, and if you don't deliver, it will eventually blow up.

      4:54 AM - 3 May 2019
      • 13 Retweets
      • 149 Likes
      • Sami whimsy boi 🚀 𝕯𝖗𝖆𝖌𝖔𝖓 𝕲𝖔𝖉 🚀 Wang, Ted Jeff Nolan Clee Van Leef daijirinkun ∃𝑋[∅∈𝑋∧∀𝑦(𝑦∈𝑋⇒𝑦∪{𝑦}∈𝑋)] Dave Crossland
      10 replies 13 retweets 149 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Harry Sufehmi‏ @hsuf 3 May 2019
          Replying to @paulg @ilamont

          1/ I'm working through holidays & weekends for my NGO. 2/ We just got a VC wanting to invest in our tech. We're not even trying. 3/ If we fail to deliver, we can be sure to be blacklisted internationally. No more donors.

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        3. Harry Sufehmi‏ @hsuf 3 May 2019
          Replying to @hsuf @paulg @ilamont

          Just realized I treated my NGO like a start-up 😅 Probably that's the reason a VC came to us, LOL. Anyway we're very grateful, and will continue to try to do good 🙏https://www.mafindo.or.id 

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        4. Show replies
        1. New conversation
        2. Lokendra Chauhan‏ @lokendrachauhan 3 May 2019
          Replying to @paulg @ilamont

          Easy or abundant money anywhere increases chances of fraud, be it startups or non-profits. Continued funding of non-profits requires compliance to strong monitoring requirements much more than angels ask. In fact, for overconfident narcissists, it’s easier to raise VC money.

          2 replies 0 retweets 33 likes
        3. Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 3 May 2019
          Replying to @lokendrachauhan @ilamont

          Easy for a while, and then suddenly much harder.

          2 replies 0 retweets 21 likes
        4. Show replies
        1. Paul Gowder,  🐱  🐈  😺‏ @PaulGowder 3 May 2019
          Replying to @paulg @ilamont

          I think this probably depends on the sector of the nonprofit. Some attract credulous donors, and that probably includes many of the long tail kinds of nonprofits that valley people are likely to go into.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. Michael Gebis‏ @IvyMike 3 May 2019
          Replying to @paulg @ilamont

          I'm not sure why you think sociopaths are lazy. I have worked for at least two different semi famous sociopaths (I can send you the NYT articles when their respective houses of cards collapsed). They were both extreme workaholics.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. Ian Lamont 藍毅恩‏ @ilamont 3 May 2019
          Replying to @paulg

          Sociopaths can be hard workers and investors (even sophisticated ones) can be fooled, as the Theranos debacle showed. Many other examples, although the blow-up phase tends to occur earlier.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. Damn True‏ @DamnTrue 3 May 2019
          Replying to @paulg @ilamont

          That’s when it’s time for a technology pivot!

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. avgokes‏ @AvGokes 3 May 2019
          Replying to @paulg @ilamont

          The funadamental drawback of a startup is that its defined by money and not all things should be defined by money

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        1. Pascal Wallisch‏ @Pascallisch 3 May 2019
          Replying to @paulg @ilamont

          This is fundamentally underrated. Non-psychopaths are concerned about blowing up. Psychopaths aren’t. That’s why they end up blowing up so much.

          0 replies 1 retweet 1 like
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