Paul Graham has an excellent new article up about some of the things that an architect has come to realize about startups after having been involved with Y Combinator. My favorite part is number 4, where the YC architect, Kate Courteau, says:

4. How scrappy founders are. That was her actual word. I agree with her, but till she mentioned this it never occurred to me how little this quality is appreciated in most of the rest of the world. It wouldn't be a compliment in most organizations to call someone scrappy. What does it mean, exactly? It's basically the diminutive form of belligerent. Someone who's scrappy manages to be both threatening and undignified at the same time. Which seems to me exactly what one would want to be, in any kind of work. If you're not threatening, you're probably not doing anything new, and dignity is merely a sort of plaque.

This has got me thinking.... If you're at a startup, how scrappy are you?  Do you have the right balance of irreverence and openness?  Are you threatening and undignified?  If you're not, how can you become 'more scrappier'? First of all, you've got to be confident.  There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, but I'd rather have you err on the side of arrogance than err on the side of diffidence.  Be smart about it, and remain open to listening to other's ideas, but don't worry so much about fitting in the status quo.  Don't worry about being nice. The old saying, "Nice guys finish last," isn't always true.  The new saying should be, "Scrappy guys finish first."