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Ask HN: Idiomatic english for startup success

1 pointsby 3zzyover 10 years ago
I came across a TC article (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;10&#x2F;01&#x2F;an-immigrant-experience&#x2F;) that linked to PG&#x27;s comment back in 2009 about YCs selection criteria and PG noted:<p>&quot;One quality that&#x27;s a really bad indication is a CEO with a strong foreign accent. I&#x27;m not sure why. It could be that there are a bunch of subtle things entrepreneurs have to communicate and can&#x27;t if you have a strong accent. Or, it could be that anyone with half a brain would realize you&#x27;re going to be more successful if you speak idiomatic English, so they must just be clueless if they haven&#x27;t gotten rid of their strong accent. I just know it&#x27;s a strong pattern we&#x27;ve seen.&quot;<p>It makes me worried because I&#x27;ve applied to YC and I&#x27;m not a native speaker. My english is less than perfect, and my accent is terrible.<p>Ofcourse this was in 2009, so I wonder if his views may have changed now. Did YC accept any non-english speaking founder(s) lately? Do you believe speaking idiomatic english is a necessity to run a successful business?

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