Ron Conway at Startup School SV 2014

TL;DR

Ron Conway argues that entrepreneurs are born with essential traits (work ethic, ambition, aggression, toughness), while management and hiring skills can be learned. He emphasizes that great founders are fanatically focused on the product 24/7, not on money, and that success originates from a personal need leading to an idea. SV Angel invests in people, not ideas, and has a failure rate of ~40%.

Key insights

• Entrepreneurs are born, with basics like work ethic, ambition, aggressiveness, and toughness being inborn; management and recruiting skills can be learned.
• Great founders work 24/7 and warn their spouse that the company comes first – it's a vocation like being a priest or nun.
• The biggest companies come from a founder’s own personal need; the realization that others want it comes afterward.