Fledgling founders entering a three-month residency at Y Combinator often start their term with a bang: Brian Chesky, the cofounder and CEO of Airbnb, fires off an inspirational speech. His company, of course, started with three nobodies going through the program. This year, Chesky topped himself. Y Combinator cofounder and nonresident guru Paul Graham (who years ago traipsed off to England and turned the enterprise over to a series of CEOs) reports that the talk so dazzled the budding tech moguls, alumni, and top investors that some were calling it the best talk they ever heard. It moved Graham to double down on a view he has had for many years'that founders are a superior form of humans. He published an essay on his thoughts entitled 'Founder Mode.' People haven't stopped talking about it since. Specifically, Graham was moved by Chesky's confession that during Airbnb's rise, he listened to the investors who told him he needed professional management to help direct the company's...
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