Be yourself. Abnormal people create abnormal returns.

The article seems to imply that what you wear is part of your identity (don't wear a suit, be yourself). How about decoupling your clothes from your identity? There is nothing intrinsically wrong with wanting to "dress to impress". People who think that seem to me to want to make a point of how they are <i>so not into fashion</i> - which ironically is a form of fashion itself (see punkers).<p>Be yourself. Dress up if you want to and it seems to fit the occasion. Don't feel pressured into wearing something that you don't feel comfortable in. Don't confuse inner qualities with superficial looks - but don't ignore the fact that first impressions matter.<p>Of course it could be a good anti-signal to show that you don't care about how you present yourself, but that doesn't mean you should go to investors in a bathrobe because someone told you to.

Every comment in this thread right now is casting doubt on Jason's point that you shouldn't be fake to seem more businesslike for investors. Wow. That's a bad sign.<p>Jason's talking about good investors and he's right. Take YC - if you're talking to the YCers about your startup it's just absurd to place importance on "businesslike" apparel or indeed anything other than your startup. No doubt there are a few genuine exceptions (Tesla liked to work in formal dress) but for the majority of us that comes as a relief.<p>I thought what Jason's saying was a truism by now. Valley culture may not have permeated everywhere in tech but it's far more widespread than it used to be - widespread enough that the point about dress is probably a good litmus test in most parts of the US and Canada. And any place it isn't true, that's a problem. The Valley culture of being informal and focusing on the work evolved for good reason.

April fools! The trick is that people judge you by how you choose to make yourself appear and dressing a certain way doesn't make you any less authentic.<p>I'll also add that as a member of a certain minority community, I've been criticized by peers for not sporting an "authentic" style, despite the fact that 98% of potential employers would likely send me packing were I to show up to an interview in said style. You don't know how someone will interpret your appearance, so unless you really know your audience, the smart money says "look good for investors" (or employers etc)

You don't get to say you aren't playing the signalling game. This is just interpreted as either a high status move (if you're already high status) or an admission of defeat if you are low status.<p>Doing nothing is always still a move. <a href="http://lesswrong.com/lw/bam/doing_nothing/" rel="nofollow">http://lesswrong.com/lw/bam/doing_nothing/</a><p>The general rule of thumb is try to dress 1 step above the average level in whatever setting, but no higher.

According to Wikipedia: "The halo effect is a cognitive bias that involves one trait influencing others in one's judgement of another person or object. First noted by Edward Thorndike in the 1920s, the halo effect has since been applied to a variety of other fields".<p>This is a primary reason why you should really, really care how you look. I am not saying that it involves wearing a suit 24/7, but even if you are a hacker-type, in real life, those things matter.

Walked into a meeting with VCs last week with my standard outfit: very expensive shoes, cheap $40 jeans, crisp but simple Brooks Brothers shirt and a decent (but not outrageous) designer blazer. This is my dressed down... no tie, no suit. I feel comfortable like that.<p>Not too dressy but not a mess.<p>One walks in wearing a tshirt, jeans and sneakers. I'm like WTF?!<p>Second one walks in with the same. Double WTF?!<p>Five years ago you would NEVER see a Sand Hill Road VC wearing a tshirt and sneakers. Never.<p>It's the Zuck effect IMO. :-)

I remember that Buckminster Fuller said he started out dressing in a shirt without a tie and nobody took his message urgently. So he started dressing like a banker. That was a long time ago, but perhaps the lesson remains.

... and nothing matters today except a hockey stick curve.<p>If you showed up in a thong and pink cutoff shirt and barefoot with a pinterest-like curve any VC would run over their grandmother in the parking lot to fund.<p>VCs only care about one thing: returns.

Between recording videos and meeting with a more people than I'm used to, I'm now paying more attention to what I wear. I tend to dress formally when meeting people in a formal setting - I find that it impacts my mindset in a positive way. Interacting with people, tooling, and relaxing in the same clothing is like working in your bedroom; it blurs boundaries between different contexts. By dressing for the occasion, I can delineate my behavior appropriately.<p>That being said, I wouldn't go to a meeting in something uncomfortable; a suit to talk to investors feels like overkill.

"Investors are not looking for someone that looks like them. They may wear suits. That doesn't mean you should. Investors are interested in getting to know the real you. If you’re a little strange, that’s okay. They like strange. They like people who do things that normal people aren’t capable of, and they know that that capability often correlates with eccentric people. The last thing you want to do is wash away your own personality in some doldrums of blue and khaki."<p>They also just might want someone who's not afraid to step out of their own comfort zone for two hours. Seems to me we're getting to the point (or are past it) where "entrepreneur" just means "guy in tennis shoes working on a web service idea". Certainly seemed to be the vibe from that piece there. People are <i>comfortable</i> with 'pitching' <i>all the time</i> - 'pitching' their 'new idea' to 'investors', cause when you're casual like that, anyone could be an 'investor' you can 'pitch' to.<p>Don't get me wrong - there's a lot of hard working people out there working on great ideas (some of them not even involving a web api!). They're going to go through a hell of a lot of tough times, ups and downs, and doing a hell of a lot of stuff they've never done before.<p>If wearing a suit or tie or keeping your "weirdness" in check for an hour are the things that holds your endeavour back from succeeding, you had bigger problems all along.

Excellent points, but it never hurts to clean up a little bit. Remember, people make their first impression of you within the first 30 seconds of meeting you, in the case of a pitch, that first 30 seconds may be before you even say anything (setting up the presentation)... What do they have to go on? Your body language and your appearance... If they write you off as just another hacker that doesn't understand the business aspect of a start-up, you're not doing any favors. Maybe the answer is to have a balance of founders (as I think most people recommend anyways). Have the technical guys clean up a bit but still have their personalities shine, and the non-technical look sharp. That way you can represent a balanced team; the dreamers and the realists together.

Jesse Thorn on why how you dress matters:<p><i>When you dress, you are making a statement; not a fashion statement, but a statement of identity. If you put on a jacket and tie, for example, you are signifying to others that you take the occasion seriously, whatever that occasion may be. If someone looks at you and interprets how you dress, they are not being superficial. They are reading the message that you wrote. [...] Can one earn respect in other ways? Certainly, and one should. But that’s no reason to open a conversation with someone by saying, without words, “this is not important to me.”</i><p><a href="http://putthison.com/post/665640307/why-this-matters" rel="nofollow">http://putthison.com/post/665640307/why-this-matters</a>

This may be true in the valley, but in the rest of the world setting the initial impression with how you dress goes a long way.

The type of person who balks at casual dress is not the type of person who I'd want to work for or with, and vice versa. Problem solves itself.

this advice works if people aren't broken. unfortunately, people are broken.

I think the point Jason, and others in this thread, are making is that great investors understand that how a founder dresses (especially in tech) is a poor indicator for success. Their pitch and, as YCombinator has pointed out, the intelligence and drive are much better predictors of success. This is on top of the fact that investors aren't looking for the status quo, they are looking for visionaries who are going to make next great thing. Dressing nicely because everyone else is, shows that you are buying into the status quo, not changing it.

I think his point is dont try too hard to control how people perceive you. (Not whether suits are appropriate attire.)<p>The rule of thumb is, "other people aren't thinking about you, and if they are, they are wondering what you are thinking about them."<p>That being said, just like great design influences how people perceive your product, dressing right for the part is equally important.<p>I read a case study where chiropractors make more money when they wear a lab coat, stethescope, and all their employees wear scrubs.<p>Your "packaging" has to match your customers expectations<p>and the story going on in their head

To me his friend is simply showing respect. Trying to make a good first impression. That isn't trying to be someone they're not. If he's great the VC's will know five minutes into his pitch.

He basically said that if you're a little awkward, you have no business wearing a polo. Even when it's perfectly acceptable to. Even expected.<p>Are you doing business? Wear at least business-casual! I believe it shows disrespect if you don't. As if this meeting isn't important enough to you to change out of your every day t-shirt.

Actually, most people aren't that interested in the 'latest in fashion' either. If fashion is what turns you on.. then don't let the computer geeks turn you off ;).. unless they turn you on as well.. in that case how you doin'? <i>points and winks</i>

A different take on the matter: <a href="http://boldanddetermined.com/2012/03/29/why-you-should-dress-like-winner-wolf/" rel="nofollow">http://boldanddetermined.com/2012/03/29/why-you-should-dress...</a>

The steve and woz picture reminded me of this scene:<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80zFQ57RbdM&#38;t=37m40s" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80zFQ57RbdM&#38;t=37m40s</a>

I think it depends upon where you are in the process. If you find yourself in the fortunate (and rare) situation where you have investors competing to hear you, then wear whatever you want. Go in a bathrobe if it makes you happy.<p>If you are trying to sell something, your job is to make the person you are selling to like you and then forget about you because of what you are showing.<p>I do think there is a point to be made here, but in a more abstract sense than business presentations. Apple is actually a poor example because in their early days Jobs was often seen making presentations in suits.

I think, the best "suit" for the pitch is a t-shirt with your project logo. Well, in fact it's a best everyday clothes too. ;)

Hmmh, confusing title and article. Don't you want abnormal returns? Normal is average and average for most people is mediocre.

People make themselves unique through their work and vision. Not solely through their external appearance.

You always need to dress to impress, sometimes others but yourself first!

Some of this is also cultural. Foreign investors might feel they're being slighted if you show up in jeans and a t-shirt while they're wearing suits.

This is wrong. Nice sentiment that makes all us awkward people feel better but still wrong and strangely reminds me of America's obsession with self-esteem over real achievement.<p>I'm a fucking weirdo. I own it. When I'm alone or by people who get me I look and act just how I am and it's perfectly acceptable. But that won't fly with people I need to sell to or make a good impression on.<p>When I go to meetings or anywhere where I'll be networking or generally need to make a good impression I ditch my usual attire and put on the nice clothes, I don't talk as casually as usual, etc. am I faking it? Absolutely not! I'm sincere and polite. I make my good impression and as any relationship matures with these people I slowly introduce them to my eccentricities. It's a lot like dating. I think it was an episode of Seinfeld (or some sitcom) where one of the characters goes on a date, it goes bad, and the character remarks that you have to let the crazy out little by little, not all at once on the first meeting. It's kind of like that.<p>As humans we play a variety of different roles in our lives. We're girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, fathers, students, teachers, grand kids, grandparents, friends, acquaintances, patients, etc. Each role requires us to behave differently. Being able to slip in and out of each role when appropriate is very healthy and far from insincere. You can play a role and still be yourself.<p>I get the nice sentiment of this article and it seems innocent and nice enough but I think it's just misguided. Being yourself doesn't mean you act the same in all your roles. You can meet with VCs in a nice suit and still be your same friendly, eccentric self. It's not about trying to be so,etching you're not, it's about showing respect for the guys you're meeting, showing that you want to be taken seriously, that you care, and that you take the meeting seriously.<p>I feel like many times when people advocate for "being yourself" it's not so much about advising someone to be true to themselves but instead another form of this self esteem movement that pretty much feels that you're born great and you don't need to change a thing. Wrong! We all have things we need to work on. It's good to fit in with society. The fact is, there are actually very few people who are true eccentrics like Steve Jobs who meet with important people wearing no shoes and smelling like patchouli. Most people who do that are actually the ones who are faking it the most and <i>trying</i> to be different for the sake of being different.<p>I'm eccentric but you'd never know it. I fit in when I have to and it serves me well. I'm myself whether I fit in or not. And if there's one thing I've learned in my life as it relates to this, it's that it you're conscious of "being yourself" in any way at all you're probably not being yourself at all.

I find that many people will put more trust in a scruffy programmer over one in a suit, purely because it fits their own mental image of how a hacker should look.<p>Stereotypes can cut both ways on stuff like this.

People pay attention to how you dress because it's the very first communication you make, before you shake hands or say "Hello". And there is no reason to open that conversation with the phrase "this is not important to me".

the reason you can get away with sneakers and jeans is that we are in a bubble. it won't always be that way.