Someone with this kind of tenacity seems to be a potentially great "non-technical" cofounder. (Not to be misread as a statement implying that he's a foursquare cofounder.)

You should drop the "potentially." Anyone with the opportunity to work with and learn from Tristan should consider themselves extremely lucky. He's one of the most awesome, humble and driven people I know.

Without "potentially," I'd be describing him as a great non-technical cofounder, which would only be true if he were a cofounder. I am sure that he is an actually, not potentially, great person. :-)

Excellent point.

Agreed. Much lip service is paid to "hustle" but very few actually have it in the way Tristan does.

I can't help but imagine how the outcome may have been different had he not name-dropped "Stanford Business School".

Not trying to be snarky, but a huge benefit of going to a place like "Stanford Business School" is precisely the advantageous effects of "naming-dropping" you went there.

Indeed, but it side-steps the parts where the blogger inflates the importance of being passionate and such. Anyone less fortunate in those terms in that point in life probably couldn't get away with it, even if it were still a great school (top-50). It goes along the same irony vein that results in so many people to using Mark Zuckerberg as an example of how/why dropping out of school can be better than staying in, all the while ignoring the fact that he was still at Harvard, far above and beyond the initial position of those re-purposing the example for themselves.

I am not sure I like people offering to work for free. Nor of founders taking people up on this offer.

Also, I guess this explains why foursquare signs up so many seeming biz dev wins but still does not manage to generate revenue from any of these deals. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870407680457618...

Tristan worked for free for a really short period of time. He now makes a salary and has significant equity in the company (like all other full time employees at foursquare).

I got hired for my current internship in the same sort of way. I loved the company, and emailed one of the VPs telling him how much I wanted to work for him.

Probably doesn't work every time, but it's worth a shot.

awesome post Tristan. working for free makes perfect sense for a short period of time--you let cofounders get an opportunity to try you out risk-free. it's not "desperate" like some people think it is; it shows serious dedication and interest, and those are the type of people you want to attract. too many people feel entitled, where has the appreciation for hustle gone?