Why is attempting to use a startup as a status credential a fundamental mistake?
Replied byPaul Graham
Co-Founder at Y Combinator
Niche: Finance
Revenue: Not Publicly Disclosed/month
Location: Mountain View, California, United States
Started: 2005
Starting a company is an extraordinarily inefficient and painful way to seek prestige. In university systems, you can select easier paths to acquire credentials, but entrepreneurship forces every founder into grueling, high-difficulty execution where failure confers zero social status.
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