This is a good plan for life in general. If you have two choices, choose the harder. If you're trying to decide whether to go out running or sit home… - Paul Graham

It's a dangerous skill to be good at convincing yourself that you don't want things you worry you might not get. Useful in some areas perhaps, but disastrous in others.

We arrive at adulthood with a kind of truth debt. We were told a lot of lies to get us (and our parents) through our childhood. Some may have been necessary. Some probably weren’t. But we all arrive at adulthood with heads full of lies.

There’s never a point where the adults sit you down and explain all the lies they told you. They’ve forgotten most of them. So if you’re going to clear these lies out of your head, you’re going to have to do it yourself.

Few do. [...] You probably never can completely undo the effects of lies you were told as a kid, but it’s worth trying.

A company big enough to acquire startups will be big enough to be fairly conservative, and within the company the people in charge of acquisitions will be among the more conservative, because they are likely to be business school types who joined the company late. They would rather overpay for a safe choice.