YC partners are designed as part time jobs

@sama: being a VC is so easy, so high-status, the money is so great, and the lifestyle is so fun. very dangerous trap that many super talented builders never escape from, until they eventually look back on it all and say “damn i’m so unfulfilled”. @sama: investing is an amazing very-part-time job, and (at least for me) a soul-sucking full-time job. BUT those mountains in aspen aren’t gonna ski themselves, that party in saint-tropez isn’t gonna enjoy itself, that kiteboard on necker island needs someone to fly it, etc etc etc. @paulg: @sama This is why being a YC partner was designed to be a part-time job. I only wanted a part-time job, because I had other things I wanted to work on as well, and I only wanted to hire people who felt the same. @paulg: @sama It’s also why I retired. While being a YC partner can be a part-time job, running YC itself can’t be. So if I was ever going to work on anything else, I had to leave.

Sam Altman Paul Graham YC DeepL

• It is very easy to become a VC, you have a great position, lots of money, and a very enjoyable lifestyle. But it is a very dangerous trap, and many very talented builders never get out of it, eventually looking back on it all and saying, “I am so unfulfilled.
• Investing is a great super part-time job, and (at least for me) a soul-sucking full-time job. But I can’t ski the mountains of Aspen by myself, I can’t enjoy the parties in St. Tropez by myself, I need someone to fly me kiteboarding on Necker Island, etc.
• So the YC partnership was designed as a part time job. We wanted to hire only like-minded people because we had other things we wanted to work on, so we decided to make it part time.
• That’s also why I resigned: the YC partners can do it part-time, but the YC operation itself can’t. So if I was going to work on something else, I had to quit.

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