Live data from Hacker News

Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

techcrunch.com

71–80 of 101 posts

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#71
I'm really confused about "RigPlenish". One, who the hell is taking 40 minutes to write their chart? Second, I fail to grasp they can create a meaningful patient record (a legal document providing critical insight into the patient's history) through automation. If they're trying to undermine the process of creating the patient record, they're doing a disservice to the patient and to future healthcare providers of that patient.

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#72

>Quero Education is an ed-tech startup out of Brazil that is promising to help solve under-enrollment issues at Brazilian universities. Contrary to what most of us would think, coming from schools challenged daily by a lack of professors and dormitories, enrollment at Brazilian schools would need to double to just match the number of available seats. This is perplexing to me at first glance so hopefully someone from…

Techcrunch did a nice interview with them, asking some of your same questions.

These private colleges have a lot of government support through financial aid to poor/black/minorities attend a college. These colleges are profitable even with empty seats. Filling these empty seats for half of the price is awesome, but they won't crash without it. The company behind most of these colleges merged with another one this year and their stocks (KROT3 and ESTC3) are growing fast (50%+ this year).

https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/19/quero-education-an-online-...

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#73

Vetcove - my own knowledge says this is just another attempt to centralize. Vet care is too expensive and this doesn't address the cost Robby is directly in what I do. Although I can't see how it will work yet I believe certain things. Towns need to declare whether robotic driverless "Vehicles" can exist on their taxpayers' roadways. Like cell towers, towns need to make rules before Robby or similar non-human machine…

Vet care is not remotely expensive (compared to human medical care, which is completely outrageous). Vets are required to have the same amount of training as MDs (BS + 4yr DVM + Internship + Residency + optional further specialization training & fellowships), yet the starting salaries are in the $100k range. I'd argue that $3-5k for a major surgery is good value. The problem is insurance companies. By shifting the payer away from the consumer, prices over the past few years have started unpleasantly blowing up.

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#74

Is it just me or does anyone else think that many of the startups from Day 1 and Day 2 are well beyond the "seed" stage that YC claims to target? I get that YC is a perfect program to prepare a company for raising significant investment, so it makes perfect sense for the startups to join even at a later stage. Also derisks YCs investment on the standard terms (i.e. 7% of a later-stage company for 120k$ is a better de…

Hey guys, I founded ohmygreen and here are my reasons for attending: 1) community of other high quality founders which leads to helpful friendships and discoveries of new ways of thought 2) yc is a forcing function, e.g., experimentation with new business models, focus on growth, etc 3) it makes everything easier (hiring, fundraising, etc) => every little edge helps 4) long term investment: who knows, I might start another company with someone I met at yc or invest in yc companies 5) additional customers we might not have had access to (easy to reach out to any yc company) 6) while we're not quite seed stage, we bootstrapped a couple years and I wanted to scale things faster in order to bring healthy and blissful living to more people

We were at a stage where yc wasn't necessary but a very helpful catalyst. I hope this is helpful, happy to answer more.

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#75

Legalist just makes me sad, but I guess there's nothing more American than suing for absolutely anything. It's like the founders were looking for a business model that was even more parasitic than patent squatting. As a nomad, airfordable is the best of the bunch to me. It almost balances out the karma of Legalist.

You think their parasites because you don't trust the American judicial system. That is fair, but the fundamental nature of what Legalist does is actually quite good. Justice shouldn't be denied to someone just because they can't afford to afford the legal fees. Sure, lawyers can take clients on contingency, but they are often cash-poor because law school is expensive, so the rate of return needs to be much higher to justify the risk and delayed payment. Investors, on the other hand, lack the information necessary to judge whether or not a case has merits because they usually don't have the right background knowledge about the law or the domain of the case.

If Legalist were launching from, say, Canada or the EU I'm not so sure it would be so negatively received; and I would certainly want it to exist if I were a poor person with mercury poisoning.

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#76
post #73

Vetcove - my own knowledge says this is just another attempt to centralize. Vet care is too expensive and this doesn't address the cost Robby is directly in what I do. Although I can't see how it will work yet I believe certain things. Towns need to declare whether robotic driverless "Vehicles" can exist on their taxpayers' roadways. Like cell towers, towns need to make rules before Robby or similar non-human machine…

Vet care is not remotely expensive (compared to human medical care, which is completely outrageous). Vets are required to have the same amount of training as MDs (BS + 4yr DVM + Internship + Residency + optional further specialization training & fellowships), yet the starting salaries are in the $100k range. I'd argue that $3-5k for a major surgery is good value. The problem is insurance companies. By shifting the pa…

Absolutely false if one has to worry about money. Insurance is a puny percentage at the practice I know and the hundreds of pet owners I chat with daily.

Usually the cost is sticker shock especially for Specialized Care and there is no alternative. People do not expect to have bills of $500, $1,000, $1,500 and more for routine things. [ The surgeon charges $8 a minute ]

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#77

>Quero Education is an ed-tech startup out of Brazil that is promising to help solve under-enrollment issues at Brazilian universities. Contrary to what most of us would think, coming from schools challenged daily by a lack of professors and dormitories, enrollment at Brazilian schools would need to double to just match the number of available seats. This is perplexing to me at first glance so hopefully someone from…

The number of higher education institutions more than doubled in Brazil in the last decade.

I'm not an expert, but I think this was largely because of a government program called FIES, which finances private colleges and universities for students and the student will only pay the government a year after receiving the diploma. Payment is divided into very low portions. It is an excellent deal for the student and the educational institution. This program was greatly expanded in recent years and almost every student was able to receive funding.

With the crisis, the program suffered a major cut. I believe this will further increase the spaces not occupied.

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#78

Is it just me or does anyone else think that many of the startups from Day 1 and Day 2 are well beyond the "seed" stage that YC claims to target? I get that YC is a perfect program to prepare a company for raising significant investment, so it makes perfect sense for the startups to join even at a later stage. Also derisks YCs investment on the standard terms (i.e. 7% of a later-stage company for 120k$ is a better de…

Hey guys, I founded ohmygreen and here are my reasons for attending: 1) community of other high quality founders which leads to helpful friendships and discoveries of new ways of thought 2) yc is a forcing function, e.g., experimentation with new business models, focus on growth, etc 3) it makes everything easier (hiring, fundraising, etc) => every little edge helps 4) long term investment: who knows, I might start a…

I think it's clear why you joined YC as it can be very beneficial to any company. The comment is questioning whether YC still remains to be a company focusing on the seed stage of investment. Nowadays it appears that a lot companies that go in have a business already in place and a significant amount of traction. This contrasts with YC's earlier companies in which many of them had only an idea or a prototype with no traction. Whether or not this is true I'm unsure of, but it definitely seems to be the overall perception of what YC has become.

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#79

Is it just me or does anyone else think that many of the startups from Day 1 and Day 2 are well beyond the "seed" stage that YC claims to target? I get that YC is a perfect program to prepare a company for raising significant investment, so it makes perfect sense for the startups to join even at a later stage. Also derisks YCs investment on the standard terms (i.e. 7% of a later-stage company for 120k$ is a better de…

Hey guys, I founded ohmygreen and here are my reasons for attending: 1) community of other high quality founders which leads to helpful friendships and discoveries of new ways of thought 2) yc is a forcing function, e.g., experimentation with new business models, focus on growth, etc 3) it makes everything easier (hiring, fundraising, etc) => every little edge helps 4) long term investment: who knows, I might start a…

I think it is a no brainer given your reasoning but I think it is fair to say you would have done it without the cash investment. I think this is just a testament to how far yc has come from an incubator taking 7% and giving 20k (or was it even less?) to some unknown hacker types with a paper napkin prototype.

YC is more of a "business club" than an incubator from some points of view, I don't blame either side and is probably the reason they are diversifying with various programs to ensure they aren't missing out on the unknown hacker with a paper napkin prototype.

Re: Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 2

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You get the YC stamp of approval, which makes selling, recruiting, fundraising (everything, really) much easier. It's like asking why a genius would go to Harvard, when he can just teach himself everything.

To extend your Harvard example, yes the genius needs a stamp of approval from Harvard totally agree it's the best there is But if the genius already founded and is running a growing business at $800k MRR, then maybe she shouldn't pay the 7% entrance fee to get Harvard stamp of approval right Stamp of approval is great. All I'm asking is, where is the line when cost/benefit makes sense. Can't be infinity right

If you are in the business of supplying startups with healthy snacks and a sales person came along and said hey I can bring you 620 new accounts for 7% would you take that deal? Now consider they sweeten the pot and say I'll also give you $120,000 up front; on top of that I bring connections to money guys; also connections to 1,000s of people who have already been where you are trying to go that are notoriously helpful; and I have a track record of touching things that turn to gold and while there are no guarantees the second you make this deal I guarantee you will get media coverage and every opportunity to succeed.

I know personally asked to forego the Fellowship financial investment for a credit to Gigster to develop apps for my beta, of course that was ignored, but a deal I am sure any non-technical person would make any day of the week if they were serious about success.

Post reply on HN