How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea
If you're in the Bay Area, dying to sit down w/ Paul Graham, here's one quick and easy way to get what you want and help out a worthy cause at the same time.
Bing Nursery School, affiliated with Stanford University and 1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US, is holding its annual Autumn fundraising auction on Sat. Nov. 13, 6pm, to raise money for scholarship fund, helping poor families to send their kids to Bing. Item #406 on the silent auction block is "Talk About Your Start-up w/ Paul Graham"!, estimate value is $500. The starting bid however is around $10. The auction is open to public.
Here's a partial description of the item: "In this amazing opportunity, Paul will take you to lunch and spend an hour talking with you about your startup idea, or help you come up with an idea that is suited to you. Don't miss this once in a lifetime chance to help make your dream a reality!"
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/bingschool/giving_harvestmoon.html
Please help this worthy cause. Bing is an awesome school and I wish every parent can send their kids to Bing. Every year Bing staffs and parents put in so much efforts to raise around $300,000 so Bing can offer more scholarship to deserving families. This is your chance to help and get some help for yourself.
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/bingschool/index.html
Disclaimer: I'm a Bing parent and volunteering on the Solicitation team for this Bing auction. If you need help in either attending or bidding, please contact the school or PM me directly. Thanks.
More disclaimer: Paul Graham has nothing to do with this submission.
Add: if you want to bid and can't be at the auction, please contact Bing Nursery, they'll be happy to make arrangements for your bid.
1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US
Ok, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Who the hell goes across the country compiling a list of the top ten nursery schools? I'm not convinced that such ratings are useful for universities, never mind high schools or lower tiers of education. The concept of a top-ten list of preschools just blows my mind.
(I still think it's great that PG is contributing to this in such a unique fashion, though.)
Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time?
That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC.
[I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most young startup founders that YC attracts are likely to have limited funds and putting everything into their startups? I guess I forget trust funds, "daddy's money" etc]
Link to donate directly (not related to the auction with pg):
You'd probably raise more money if this specific item was an online auction.
Do people think that this auction will only fetch $500? I would have thought it will be bid up to several thousand..
Not to take away from the cause, but I'm guessing if you emailed PG during a quiet period and offered to buy him a $500 lunch he'd take you up on the offer :-)
I find a little childish the phrase: Take you to lunch, it sound very passive, like taking a dog for a walk.
It would be better something like: How to meet P.G. for discussing about your startup. Simple and effective.
If someone wants to bid on this item (or any others), he or she will need to attend or have someone attending bid on their behalf. The school will not be able to help remote bidders.
Ask PG: PG would you consider a 10 minute phone call for a $100 donation of the charity of your choice? I can't fly out to Palo Alto.
heh. in how many different ways is this rich people helping rich people stay rich?
Related item?: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=444696