No worries! I think research startups should be founded by strong researchers. But there are lots of potentially impactful startups (field-building, advocacy, product, etc.) that don’t require founders with research skills, and these might be best served by learning on the job?
I think those other types of startups also benefit from expertise and deep understanding of the relevant topics (for example, for advocacy, what are you advocating for and why, how well do you understand the surrounding arguments and thinking...). You don’t want someone who doesn’t understand the “field” working on “field-building”.
You’re probably right that the best startups come from people who have great experience in the thing, but plenty of profitable startups get founded by kids out of college. The risk/reward tradeoff is probably different in tech. I think the best AI safety field-building startups were founded/scaled by people with experience in fieldbuilding (e.g., my experience with an EA UQ, Dewi’s experience with EA Cambridge, Agus’ experience with CEA, etc.), but the bar might be surprisingly low.
No worries! I think research startups should be founded by strong researchers. But there are lots of potentially impactful startups (field-building, advocacy, product, etc.) that don’t require founders with research skills, and these might be best served by learning on the job?
I think those other types of startups also benefit from expertise and deep understanding of the relevant topics (for example, for advocacy, what are you advocating for and why, how well do you understand the surrounding arguments and thinking...). You don’t want someone who doesn’t understand the “field” working on “field-building”.
You’re probably right that the best startups come from people who have great experience in the thing, but plenty of profitable startups get founded by kids out of college. The risk/reward tradeoff is probably different in tech. I think the best AI safety field-building startups were founded/scaled by people with experience in fieldbuilding (e.g., my experience with an EA UQ, Dewi’s experience with EA Cambridge, Agus’ experience with CEA, etc.), but the bar might be surprisingly low.