Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Paul Graham (via Charlie Rose)

by Scott Edward Walker on May 24th, 2011

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.  This week, we again present startup guru Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator and a brilliant entrepreneur and investor.

In this fascinating interview with Charlie Rose from TechCrunch Disrupt, Paul discusses, among other things, (i) the history of Y Combinator, (ii) the importance of the founders — as opposed to the idea, and (iii) the five keys to entrepreneurial success (and what Y Combinator looks for in its applicants):

• determination
• mental flexibility
• imagination
• naughtiness (“you can kind of tell if people have a gleam in their eye” and “you don’t want the kind of people who would be obedient employees”)
• friendship (“you want founders who are already friends”)

This is a must-see interview for entrepreneurs.  I indeed hope you enjoy it. (Btw, it must be viewed in Chrome or Firefox.) Cheers, Scott

Tags: Charlie Rose, entrepreneurs, founders, Paul Graham, TechCrunch, TechCrunch Disrupt, Y Combinator