> Clinkle had a polished demo that came before things like Apple Pay, said one former employee, who declined to be named. But most importantly that person added, Duplan “was charismatic when he wanted to be” and could “raise money in absurd abundance.”
You really want to change the world? Forget being a programmer, learn to be be charismatic.
More like learn to be a wealthy, elite, and well-connected.
These founders are as privileged as Bill Gates but totally lacking his work ethic and sincere passion. They're pedigreed out the ass, so those involved (including themselves) think they're actually good. In fact they just seem like they should be.
So the VCs keep pumping more and more money into them, knowing that at least people won't blame them so much when they fail, given how elite the founders are. It's easier to keep funding them than to admit you were fooled. That's the mystery behind why they burn through such huge quantities of money.
I wouldn't say that either Theranos or Clinkle have changed the world.
I would say that Apple, Google, EBay, Uber, Android, and Twitter have, but Steve Wozniak, Larry Page, Pierre Omidyar, Garrett Camp, Andy Rubin, and Evan Williams are far from charismatic.
This is more an example of "You can fool some of the people all the time or all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time." Charisma can help fool a critical mass of people early on, but once you try to expand to a product all the people use all the time, you'll fall flat on your face. Build something useful and then you don't have to fool anyone.
I don't think you picked up on Jeff's snark. I read it as "the key to successfully getting funding is to be charismatic" and "successfully getting funding" is currently synonymous with the sentiment that you would be "changing the world".
The author gave a great talk in the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series. She opens her talk with a delightful story about Marilyn Monroe, and the ability to flip charisma on and off like a light switch. Watch it and learn you some charisma.
> Clinkle had a polished demo that came before things like Apple Pay, said one former employee, who declined to be named. But most importantly that person added, Duplan “was charismatic when he wanted to be” and could “raise money in absurd abundance.”
You really want to change the world? Forget being a programmer, learn to be be charismatic.