The last lecture was rather short but interesting. The topic was “how to be a great founder”. In this class leadership was discussed among other things and persons which have changed the world in the past were taken as an example of great founders. The learning are first of all that there is nothing that can be done if the core is not right. In other words, no amount of tactics is going to make one a great founder if his core is not right. Most of the changes are made within and that’s why the core must be set right. The founder must be willing to go through struggle and adjust to hard situations. The challenge is to build something out of nothing and the struggle will always be a challenge for the founder. It’s the core that needs to be right. For example, the founder must be humble, that is the nature of the startup game as the best way to build anything is to build teams around you. Another example of must have core for founders is courage. The founder must have a lot of courage to make decision and go the hard way and deal with things in non-violence way.

Sam Altman – How to be a great founder
http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec13/
The perception of a founder is an image of a superwoman or superman but the reality is that the founder is someone who is dealing with a lot of different headaches. The founder is not someone who is born as genius; he actually has to go through a lot of hard times. One secret about great founders is that they seek the network that is likely to solve their problems.

The Founder also has to have the courage to be contrarian. When finding an argument to be contrarian the founder should find out what it is that he knows that the others don’t know and how smart persons actually disagree with his idea? The founder must be open, humble and always looking for feedback. So with the constant feedback, should the founder be flexible or persistent? The answer is both.

The Founder also has to have the courage to be contrarian. When finding an argument to be contrarian the founder should find out what it is that he knows that the others don’t know and how smart persons actually disagree with his idea? The founder must be open, humble and always looking for feedback. So with the constant feedback, should the founder be flexible or persistent? The answer is both.