Mark, this is one of the issues consistently on my mind as I finally get ready to approach VCs for funding. I am a start-up founder that has been working alone for the last 5 years building the foundation of the company. I have been putting in an average of 14 hour days, 7 days a week consistently for the last 3 years of the 5 years. During the five years I have seen my financial situation go from bad to worse; consequently, my credit is completely shot, literally in the in the dumps. If I were to come to you for funding, would that be a show stopper and in general do you and other VCs consider that a serious issue?

I am an American, but an immigrant from a country many people consider very corrupt, crooked and shady. Needless to say, 99.99 percent of the people from the country, including myself have nothing to do with such dishonesty, yet, we bear the burden. So as you can see I am already swimming against massive waves, which in my view would make VCs / potential funders even more suspicious and hyper vigilant, which is no way to start a business relationship. They say perception shapes reality; this has certainly been my personal experience. Would love to hear your take.

LagoonP

I agree with Mark and others: it really comes down to where you draw your own line and how you feel about things. Perhaps credit scores matter more than I would expect, but I'd imagine a not-so-great score is on one side of the line, while a history of plagiarism and passing off other's work is on the other.

For instance, there are some open source libraries that I've used around the net, and sometimes find more convenient to upload to a different site. They'll often come up under my name if people search for them, and could lead one to believe that I wrote the code myself. I try to always make it clear what I'm doing and how I'm using the code. Legally I may not have to, but ethically (as far as my feelings go), it's the right thing to do.

I've seen others do the opposite and replace the original author's name with their own. Perhaps that doesn't cross their line, but personally, that wouldn't work for me.

I agree with Mark and others: it really comes down to where you draw your own line and how you feel about things. Perhaps credit scores matter more than I would expect, but I'd imagine a not-so-great score is on one side of the line, while a history of plagiarism and passing off other's work is on the other.

For instance, there are some open source libraries that I've used around the net, and sometimes find more convenient to upload to a different site. They'll often come up under my name if people search for them, and could lead one to believe that I wrote the code myself. I try to always make it clear what I'm doing and how I'm using the code. Legally I may not have to, but ethically (as far as my feelings go), it's the right thing to do.

I've seen others do the opposite and replace the original author's name with their own. Perhaps that doesn't cross their line, but personally, that wouldn't work for me.

I agree with Mark and others: it really comes down to where you draw your own line and how you feel about things. Perhaps credit scores matter more than I would expect, but I'd imagine a not-so-great score is on one side of the line, while a history of plagiarism and passing off other's work is on the other.

For instance, there are some open source libraries that I've used around the net, and sometimes find more convenient to upload to a different site. They'll often come up under my name if people search for them, and could lead one to believe that I wrote the code myself. I try to always make it clear what I'm doing and how I'm using the code. Legally I may not have to, but ethically (as far as my feelings go), it's the right thing to do.

I've seen others do the opposite and replace the original author's name with their own. Perhaps that doesn't cross their line, but personally, that wouldn't work for me.

I have recently started following your blog and I enjoyed reading your posts in this series.

Thank you for your time and insights. I look forward to participating in debates on this forum.

Narayanan

I have recently started following your blog and I enjoyed reading your posts in this series.

Thank you for your time and insights. I look forward to participating in debates on this forum.

Narayanan

You might like Charles Munger, if you don't already. He and Warren Buffett define three main qualities: Intelligence, Energy and Integrity. If only one of those lacks, you can figure out what might happen

And about integrity: it's rather difficult to figure out what is right. And I certainly did not get trained too much on practicalities at university. Where do you learn this apart from one's own parents? It takes a good person I guess. I certainly would welcome to get it higher up on the agenda.

Another framework is also quite good: the 4 cardinal virtues = 1. prudence (in the sense of practical wisdom, understanding how the world works), 2. justice (what is “due”), 3. temperance (now we would call it differently because it means how to deal with your emotions) and 4. courage.

Practical example: Has anyone read the story on Totlol (I think I saw it on the lean startup wiki), his version on how Google dealt with him? Does not sound like” don't be evil”: http://www.totlol.com/t/story But I have no primary source, so I don't know what to think of it for sure.