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YC Research

blog.ycombinator.com

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311–320 of 389 posts

Re: YC Research

#311

Post by pw »

Imscaredofsama wrote: post #288
projectileboy wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you haven't noticed the acceleration of YC from the moment Sam took over, I feel like you've not really been paying attention. From scaling up the numbers, to outreach to females and minorities, to the increased transparency, and the YC Fellowship and now this, you really believe you're just watching someone collect golden eggs? Do you realize how hard it is to grow a community? And how easy it is to screw it up?…

The golden goose thing was obviously an exaggeration. I think he's done a good job. And I'm sure the pressure is intense. I definitely couldn't do it. But the older I've gotten, the more I've realized that life is about opportunities . If you want them, you have to put yourself in the position to get them (as sama did). More importantly, you have to make the best of them (as sama has). But many, many people who don't…

Yes, I think most people discount what a huge role luck plays in success.

Re: YC Research

#312

Post by pw »

travv0 wrote: post #300
pw wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't want to be sheltered from such a fact but being reminded of it is jarring and changes my feeling towards YC.

Why would this change your feelings toward YC? I don't understand why, in yours eyes, someone's wealth would affect the validity of their contributions.

Because it reminds me YC is yet another institution by wealthy designed to perpetuate their own wealth.

Re: YC Research

#313

Post by toufka »

hbhakhra wrote: post #23

I like the idea of YC funding research. Bias free and politics free research can go a long way. A couple of questions though for @sama: 1. Where will the research be based? Is YC providing space to setup lab? 2. One of the problems I see with this is lack of fellow researches present on site making casual collaboration harder (compared to a research university campus). Have you thought of that? 3. Are you planning on…

How will this research remain bias-free when salaries are being paid for by YC?

What happens when some of the research that is done paints some of the activities of YC or their companies in a less-than-positive light?

Re: YC Research

#314

Post by gone35 »

lightcatcher wrote: post #276
gone35 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, two (partially self-serving) suggestions: 1. Try set up a lab in Cambridge at some point down the road. 2. Pay particular attention to CS theory: it's (arguably) high-impact and very cost effective --you can practically fund an entire generation of researchers in a subfield for a fraction of the cost of, say, a major interdisciplinary initiative. See for instance what the Simons foundation is doing at Berkeley[…

Serious question: In what ways is CS theory high-impact? I'm particularly interested in any arguments that complexity theory is high-impact (beyond the very useful insight that there are some problems for which no polynomial time algorithm is known). I have a pretty good idea of the impact of cryptography and randomized linear algebra (sometimes considered CS theory), but am also interested in hearing about other fie…

Again I'm being a bit self-serving, but I think Neil deGrasse Tyson put it better [1, from 1:35-2:30]:

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0SUpwIAjQs&t=1m35s

Re: YC Research

#315

Post by toomim »

cossatot wrote: post #219
matheweis wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I knew things were bad, but the education system must be well and truly broken when the students at one of the world's top research universities are leaving to build startups, and calling it a broken system on their way out. (No sarcasm intended; I couldn't find a way to say this better).

It's not necessarily the 'brokenness' of the system that forces people out but the consequence of producing PhDs faster than new positions are being created. "You don't have to go home but you can't stay here". No one expects that all high school students will become high school teachers. Why should it be the same for PhDs? A lot of what is wrong with the academic system is this expectation, which is bewilderingly pr…

I'm an independent researcher as well after giving up on the academic community. There aren't that many of us; let's band together.

Re: YC Research

#316

Post by dschiptsov »

Is there any way to participate remotely?

I am not applicable for any visa in so-called "developed" countries - too old and without higher education (lack of which does not imply much in some cases, as one might see).

Re: YC Research

#317

Post by djhn »

pw wrote: post #196
argumentum wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's any consolation, they were "normal people" before they became insanely wealthy. If anything, that's the point of YC .. to give "normal people" with intellect, determination and good ideas the chance to become "insanely wealthy" while improving the world.

I'd probably argue that it's a bad thing for anyone to have the chance to be "insanely wealthy."

"I wish everyone had the chance, but nobody would use it" could be better.

Re: YC Research

#318

Post by quickpost »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #41

TIL that Sam Altman has considerably more personal wealth than I would have guessed, if I'd ever been inclined to guess. Anyway, this is very cool. Exactly the sort of thing that needs to happen to push the world forward in deeper ways. I'll be very curious to see what sort of teams they put together and just how fundamental and long term and heretical they go with their research.

Looks like he was an angel investor in a lot of BIG startups, so not too surprising:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman#Pre-YC_angel_invest...

Re: YC Research

#319

Post by pw »

sama wrote: post #268
Imscaredofsama wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole sama thing doesn't compute for me and has negatively impacted my otherwise stellar view of YC. He dropped out of Stanford, founded Loopt (which raised $30 million and then acqui-sold for $43 -- and I'm sure Sequoia got the bulk of it), was then made a YC partner and finally appointed president. His Wikipedia page says he's made some angel investments in successful companies like AirBNB, but my question is:…

This is worth answering. I made single-digit millions from the Loopt acquisition. Almost all the money I've made has been as an investor. I got lucky in that the first few investments I made in 2009 (very small dollar amounts) were really good, so I was able to raise capital to keep investing at a much larger scale with other peoples' money. I didn't have much liquidity until last year. Takeaway 1: the easiest, lowes…

I personally like 'sama and really appreciate his transparency, but this seems like a perfect example of the rich getting richer.

Re: YC Research

#320

Post by pw »

djhn wrote: post #317
pw wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd probably argue that it's a bad thing for anyone to have the chance to be "insanely wealthy."

"I wish everyone had the chance, but nobody would use it" could be better.

That's an excellent point. Would love to chat with you more about it, but I don't see contact info in your profile. Feel free to hit me up at p@pwhite.org.
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