Bill Taylor The office maverick

This is no Dragon's Den - the golden rule in starting a business today is to be benevolent, not evil Last winter, in this column, I made the case that bad economic times could be the best of times to start a company. Well, over the last eight months, economic conditions have gone from bad to worse - but the startup boom shows no signs of slowing down. Want proof? Spend time with Paul Graham, who's spent the last three years helping young entrepreneurs launch the companies of their dreams. Graham and his cofounders run Y Combinator, a startup accelerator with operations in two entrepreneurship hotbeds: Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Graham has seen it all when it comes to startups (including starting and selling a company of his own.) Y Combinator provides seed funding and advice to startups in "batches". Every... [read full story]