Live data from Hacker News

I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

news.ycombinator.com

161–170 of 458 posts

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#161
post #113

I noticed you guys added Food and Farming to the RFS. How did that decision come about?

The same way every other item on the RFS got there--a partner was passionate about it and chose to add it.

Which of the partners is passionate about financial services?(#16 on the old list at http://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/ )

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#164
I see a lot of companies being advised to focus exclusively on user growth, but many have no business model and must eventually make serious compromises, often at their users' expense, to succeed. How often would you say companies are able to tack on a profitable business model after the fact without making such compromises?

Twitter seems to be the example du jou, but there are many.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#165
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a company (other than SpaceX) with a super long-term goal that you are excited about?

Here are 5 out of ~200 that fit this category: Helion Oklo Rigetti OpenAI Gingko Bioworks

Thanks Sam -- OpenAI is the only one I'm familiar with, and Ginko Bioworks looks awesome. Are there any other companies that come to mind who are doing things now that will be critical to Mars colonial ventures?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#166
post #145
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What doesn't work about our process for this?

I have applied again and again and have been rejected each time. I honestly don't mean to be vague but have found that it is very difficult to convey in words. It's a graphical technology that takes just a very brief chat for people to understand. It's a large horizontal departure with wide possibilities. That makes it difficult to explain as a single targeted product

I would say that if you cannot explain it simply then you cannot sell it simply. You also sound like you 'deserve' to be heard while in fact nobody owes you a meeting.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#167
post #155
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>3) It turns out that it's harder than it sounds to capture the full value of a smaller market for a bunch of reasons, and so the failure rate is much higher than expected. What kind of reasons? Direct me to some resources if there are too many to enumerate

I'm interested in this as well. Doesn't this go against Rob Walling's advice in "Start Small Stay Small" as well as Peter Thiel's advice in "Zero to One"?

[deleted]

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#168
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have applied again and again and have been rejected each time. I honestly don't mean to be vague but have found that it is very difficult to convey in words. It's a graphical technology that takes just a very brief chat for people to understand. It's a large horizontal departure with wide possibilities. That makes it difficult to explain as a single targeted product

I would say that if you cannot explain it simply then you cannot sell it simply. You also sound like you 'deserve' to be heard while in fact nobody owes you a meeting.

I'm not saying I deserve a meeting, I'm saying the process doesn't work for me.

I don't agree with your simply conclusion. People didn't know what Twitter was for. And Gordon Moore didn't know why someone would want a home computer just to keep recipes. But those that understood it knew what the possibilities were.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#170
post #141
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) This is where effectively all of our returns come from. 2) These companies are the most fun to work with. 3) It turns out that it's harder than it sounds to capture the full value of a smaller market for a bunch of reasons, and so the failure rate is much higher than expected. I think the payoff, at least in our case, is well worth it.

>3) It turns out that it's harder than it sounds to capture the full value of a smaller market for a bunch of reasons, and so the failure rate is much higher than expected. What kind of reasons? Direct me to some resources if there are too many to enumerate

Primarily because it's hard to pivot in a small market.

When you are in a massive market there are lots of adjacent places to pivot. When you're in a small market, if you miss on the first try, you probably miss completely.

Post reply on HN