Ask HN: Is it possible to get a conversation with a CEO from here?

I don't know if this is a myth that ought to be perpetuated.

The skilled CEOs I know are all exceptionally well-attuned to the problem space that their product solves, and their own company's place in that space (usually including internal company dynamics). Yes, from an employee's perspective, the CEO is pretty magical -- they usually have a better 'big-picture' view of the task you are trying to accomplish than you do, and they can give you the right context, validation, resources etc. to totally turn your work life around.

However, this is usually limited to the problem-space and the company itself. If you're in the same problem-space or dealing with similar company problems then a conversation can be quite valuable. But it doesn't sound like that's what you're looking for so much as inspiration.

You might get that from talking to a CEO. They can tell you the situation and circumstances that set them on their particular path, and maybe you can extrapolate nuggets of wisdom out of that. But they won't be able to figure out the path that's right for you. They're not oracles or mystics, just people with the right intersection of skills deeply specialized in the right cross-section of the market.

CEO is a specific type of role that doesn’t have much relevance to someone like you. You’re much more likely to get value out of talking to a successful founder, someone who went from nothing to something. That said, a lot of it can be distilled down to this: work on something and don’t stop. Set aside the idea that you need to speak to the right people and instead focus on doing. You can achieve a great deal with just a dream and hard work (and some luck) but to do that, you need to focus on removing the barriers from yourself — in any way possible. Believe in yourself. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.

An important aspect of this is to find a cofounder that complements your capabilities. If you're the developer, you need someone with business (marketing and sales) experience to bring in investments and customers (and get customer feedback).

I am tempted to say this is the most important aspect.

Yeah you're right talking to a founder is good.

I know what you're saying and that's precisely part of why I'm interested in talking to someone like this. I'm looking to see how I can potentially develop that mindset of relentlessness. Harsh truths from someone who knows way better in a face-to-face manner can probably do a lot to change how I think. That along with probably some insights I haven't made myself.

Not a CEO but co-founded a company that had a successful exit. Happy to talk sometime.

One thing I'd say is to take anything you hear from any given indiviual with a pinch of salt. People love to give advice and will often sound authoritative about subjects they have no expertise in. Everyone's experience will also be different, and people tend to give advice based on their own anecdotes which may be completely irrelevant to you. You see it all the time where people try to mimic the actions of others who have had success, only for them to fail miserably trying to follow the same path. These conversations can shed interesting ideas and thoughts, but make sure you don't treat them as gospel and instead use them to help figure out your own view.

I'm not the CEO of a big company but I founded my own software tools company 10 years ago that still brings in a good income. I'm trying a new startup on a related idea that I think will be much bigger and have been pushing it for the last year. Even with 10 years of experience and contacts it's tough going. Feel free to email me ryan AT timestored . com. Happy to have a chat.

Take a look at #buildinpublic community on Twitter/X. Many talented solo builders doing what you want to do, earning a good living and sharing what they've learned.

Thank you I will check that out

> preferably one that doesn't feel they got into their position out of mostly luck.

This part stood out to me. I think it's important to see that almost all successful CEOs (or founders, as it seems closer to what you wanted) have gotten into their position out of mostly luck. I don't mean this in a disparaging way and I am definitely not implying that they haven't worked their assess off to get there. But the reality is that there are a lot of hard working people, with sellable ideas, with experience, knowledge, resources... and most end up failing. And that's because there's a lot of luck in having the right idea at the right time (e.g., Jeff Bezos wouldn't be in the position he's in had he been born 20 years later or 20 years sooner) and finding the right people (customers, employees, relationships) at the right times too.

I think assuming that there's a massive amount of luck at play will help you a lot if you want to get those projects off the ground. First, from a personal, mental perspective: it's not necessarily that you're failing or doing things wrong or are not capable, but that it's a hard process and a lottery in many ways. I think that helps relieve some pressure and mental stress.

The second is that, knowing how much of it is luck, you can be more critical about the "advice" you receive. Most founders and CEOs will tell you the things that they think worked for them, but they might not be reproducible or, as i_dont_know says, might not even apply to a different problem-space. And the character traits that they have might be just a byproduct of being a founder/CEO and not what helped them get there.

I don't personally believe that luck is involved as much as you think it is for general founder success. I think working smart and hard makes up most of the difference. Quality speaks volumes.

For specific positions at specific companies sure stars align.

I think what the other guy in here said is right. They have a product that is exceptionally well-adapted to the problem space and even down to their private company dynamics they're well-suited to attending to that problem. Basically, it's a good idea and it's executed well.

You could definitely argue that being well-suited to the problem and problem space involves a lot of luck though I suppose. But, I feel that you can figure out what people want and how best to deliver it to them too.

As a founder with an unicorn exit (with 2 more co-founders!), I'm always open to talk.

But there is a big catch: Yes there is a lot of luck involved. And just following a path of someone else not gonna work. As example: I never studied, instead worked hard since I was 15. But on the other side I also grew up in a country with very good social support and education. I had mostly great teachers in school and also lucky to find during my career a bunch of good people I can always rely on.

Yes of course there are things, that are not based on luck, but still only worked because of how my life went and cannot be used as general advices. I think if you would try to follow my (or any other successful founders) path, it's very likely not gonna work. Survivorship Bias is a big thing here.

But again open to talk anyhow.

You can also have one-sided conversations with most of the greatest CEO's that live or have ever lived, that is, read books. I can highly recommend.

What would you say are your top three?

Compared to David Senra, Charlie Munger, Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos, I haven't read so much yet. So to answer your question, for example, you can see David's recommendations at https://world.hey.com/davidsenra. Mine would be:

- Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire. It gives a nice insight into the fact that Bill is ruthless and obsessed with winning. If you want to start a company, then this is what you're up against unless you find your niche.

- Chip Wars. Gives a nice overview of the history of chips and Morris Chang. Morris Chang has said in a talk that he couldn't have written the book better himself, as reported by Asianometry.

- Richer, Wiser, Happier by William Green. Buffett always said that being a businessman made him a better investor and being an investor made him a better businessman. If you want to found a company, then it's probably good to understand the basics of investing and how good investors think. Richer, Wiser, Happier, as bad as the title sounds, gives a good overview of value investors. In the end, value investing is the name of the game. A large part of it boils down to looking through thousands of opportunities and only striking if you have a massive advantage. This idea works for creating things too.

If you don't want that last book, then go for Peter Thiel's book Zero to One.

Books are really the way to go, by the way. It's hard to find successful people who haven't read tons of books. I just read Marshall Field's: The Store that Helped Build Chicago about the legendary Marshall Field's store in Chicago. Guess what he did: he worked through the day in the store and spend his evenings reading. This was around 1850! Therefore I suspect that the benefit of reading is timeless.

Every single CEO of a big company got their position due to luck, no matter whatever else contributed.

Happy to chat.

Just don't give them your home address...

"Roughly 4% to as high as 12% of CEOs exhibit psychopathic traits, according to some expert estimates, many times more than the 1% rate found in the general population and more in line with the 15% rate found in prisons."

- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackmccullough/2019/12/09/the-p...

"according to some expert estimates" ... and then the article immediately follows up with another reasrcher who says there's no proof of this.

"Corporate Psychopathy: Talking the Walk" - https://www.sakkyndig.com/psykologi/artvit/babiak2010.pdf

".... Most of the participants with high psychopathy scores held high-ranking executive positions, and their companies had invited them to participate in management development programs. This was in spite of negative performance reviews and other 3608 data that were in the hands of corporate decision makers. Overall, the patterns of correlations and plots suggest that psychopathy is more strongly associated with style than with substance. Presumably, impression management and the ability to present well can obscure or trump subpar performance and behaviors that are damaging to the organization..."

‘‘Not all psychopaths are in prison. Some are in the Boardroom.’’ Hare, 2002

"Psychopaths in the C-Suite?" - https://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/spotlight/issue-123

"..Results showed that individuals with psychopathic tendencies were slightly more likely to become leaders, but were less likely to be seen as effective leaders. This was especially true when ratings were made by their followers..."

"...It was predicted that there would be greater levels of primary psychopathy in senior-level managers, and that this would result in their subordinate's decreased job satisfaction. Results indicated that greater levels of primary psychopathy were predominately observed within senior-level managers compared to the other corporate designations..." - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01918...