Paul Graham on the subject of new ideas

Paul Graham, one of the guys behind the startup incubator yCombinator, has a rather interesting blog. Today he posted some thoughts on intelligence and the ability to come up with new ideas. I think those thoughts might be relevant for those writing inventor characters, that is gadgeteers/devisors.

www.paulgraham.com/smart.html

The VC business model is aimed at making the VC's profit, and not the founders that they are financing.

I came across this article by Steve Albini called "The problem with music" and it works really well as a description of the VC-funded Start-Up industry.

"Hey guys, let's build a start-up" instead of "Hey guys, let's start a band."

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Just change the placeholders from Band member/Musician to Founder, A&R Person to Limited Partner, and Record Label to VC Fund. Same patterns of behaviour.

You do have a point regarding the attitudes and mindsets (often predatory) involved in the startup process. However, that has little to do with the subject of the blog post itself, which was intelligence vs. innovation. Reading someone's point of view does not mean agreeing with them, and sometimes even someone you dislike raises salient points.