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I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

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261–270 of 768 posts

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#261
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call it second class is different than comparing it to being in prison. People in actual prison might take issue with your statement.

People in prison would likely take issue with a lot of things unreasonably, which is likely why they're in prison to begin with.

You think it's unreasonable to take issue with comparing someone on an h1b visa to being in prison?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#262
post #175

This is going to sound crass, but if a founder can't make the sacrifice to spend 3 months in SV for YC, are they really prepared to build the next billion dollar company?

Are you prepared to miss out on the next billion dollar company because they happen to have a family and a job while they're hacking away on a revolutionary project?

[deleted]

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see where you're coming from, but environment has many subtle factors that lead to, I believe, missed opportunities if they aren't taken advantage of. For example, what would a Houston Oil startup gain from spending a few months of critical startup time in a city with high rent, drastically different driving culture, little access to oil companies, services, equipment, fields and etc, and a completely different set…

Precisely. People need to be where their customers are.

How many YC company customers are in SF?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#264
Hi Sam,

What are some actions people like myself can take to push our community, nation, and world towards Basic Income?

This is particularly important to me because of how fast Uber/Tesla are rushing towards fully autonomous vehicles. Over 4 million jobs in US alone are as drivers. They're all gonna be laid off soon.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#265

Hey Sam, Any comment regarding Jason Calacanis being banned from YC's upcoming demo day? Jason tweeted[1] his side but didn't know what the YC side of it was and was curious. [1] https://twitter.com/Jason/status/710176806184349696

To be clear, it has nothing to do with all the shit he talks about YC. Though that's annoying, it's fine.

We collect feedback from YC founders on investors (we have a giant database of this). If you mistreat founders, we don't invite you to Demo Day. This isn't permanent--if you stop mistreating founders we start inviting you again. Also, it's possible that our founders are wrong in their assessment of how a particular investor is treating them, but investors have enough advantages in the system and we unashamedly take the side of our founders.

EDIT: I also never think these things are black and white, and that all of us have good and bad parts. I've heard from plenty of founders that Jason has been very helpful to their companies.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#266
post #219
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada just accepted 25,000 Syrian refugees fleeing war and something much worse than communism. The social and economic climate has changed dramatically, you're right. We no longer have a climate condusive to a free-for-all exploitation of Aboriginals, Africans, and the environment.

> Canada just accepted 25,000 Syrian refugees fleeing war and something much worse than communism. This is to my point, there is less scrutiny for immigrants in 'dire straits'. > The social and economic climate has changed dramatically, you're right. We no longer have a climate condusive to a free-for-all exploitation of Aboriginals, Africans, and the environment. Unclear how this goes to show that anybody should be…

How long did it take for us (the West as a whole) to recognise the situation in Syria, and how many Syrians died in the meantime?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#267
post #174

I'm from a team of first time startup doing a hardware medical device company. We have computer science, mechanical and electrical engineering background but very little experience with medical devices. Is this a big red flag for you guys?

Hope @sama answer this question. IMHO hurry up to get a prototype in the client's hands. there you will know how good your team is and if you stand a chance in the industry (afaik your team looks very good)

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#268
Hi Sam!

We here in Finland have been slowly developing a startup ecosystem.

The effort started 5-years ago and now finally, thanks to the amazing bunch of volunteers, we have stuff like Slush and Startup Saunato show for it.

What would be your advice in rocketing the finnish startup ecosystem to the next level?

P.S. You should visit us sometime, we'd love to host you at Startup Sauna!

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#269

What would you value more for the application: a potentially huge, innovative idea plus a weekend-hack prototype/demo but no market validation yet, or a more mature, somewhat validated product but with existing startups on the space, some YC-backed? I have a very clear vision of what we want to accomplish, but we're selling a much more down to earth service to our customers and prospects. I do think there's a path le…

It would depend on the specifics in each case, but probably the potentially huge idea.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#270
post #112

> I'm on a H1-b visa and I'm basically in prison I know this is an exaggeration, and I'm fully aware the current visa situation in the US could be better, but I really take issue with the sentiment of your statement. You're being afforded an enormous opportunity here, and should not compare it with being in a prison. Think about it -- you clearly decided your home country was not as conducive for building your future…

It's not prison but an H1-B is basically indentured servitude.
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