Mundane as it sounds, that’s the most powerful motivator of all, not just in startups, but in most ambitious undertakings: to be genuinely interested in what you’re building. This is what really drives billionaires, or at least the ones who become billionaires from starting companies. The company is their project.
One thing few people realize about billionaires is that all of them could have stopped sooner. They could have gotten acquired, or found someone else to run the company. Many founders do. The ones who become really rich are the ones who keep working. And what makes them keep working is not just money. What keeps them working is the same thing that keeps anyone else working when they could stop if they wanted to: that there’s nothing else they’d rather do.
That, not exploiting people, is the defining quality of people who become billionaires from starting companies. So that’s what YC looks for in founders: authenticity.
– Paul Graham, “Billionaires Build”
This is actually harder than it sounds. Authenticity is rare. If we could assume that everyone we met was authentic, navigating personal, professional and other spheres would be a lot less stressful for most of us.
But it is also because authenticity is so rare that it is such a powerful signalling mechanism with go-to-market, customer engagement, and especially hiring. I have seen each of these first-hand.