391–400 of 458 posts
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https://www.ycombinator.com/ethics/
So the answer is not that much - as long as it doesn't damage the image of YC it's okay.
Funny choice of topic for an ethics page.
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Raising the floor logically implies redistributing real wealth to the poor from the non-poor, but implies nothing about the value of a dollar.
It seems to me that prices and wages would rise as a result of raising the floor. The important question is where the money comes from to raise the floor. If it is not from the top end, the gap between rich and poor doesn't change in terms of actual buying power. It may just widen the gap.
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We have discussed trying a remote group through the YC batch. Although we're all varying degrees of skeptical, I think it's worth a try. As you point out, there are (some) good reasons that MV doesn't make sense, like your customers being very far away. That said, it's only three months.
I think it can be tough to move to SV for someone who is married with kids. That is what has stopped me from applying, and I have definitely thought about creative ways I could make it work logistically. :)
Just running a profitable business is not enough for them. They only want startups that have a chance to be grand-slam home runs. Paul Graham has written about this before.
The requirement to live there for 3 months is a useful filter for finding that type of founder. It eliminates people who might want to have something else (like their kids) in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd slot.
I don't expect YC to ever say that out loud though.
Could you outline the exact reasoning why YC still believes SV is the place to be for a startup. I've never heard any explanation that went deeper than "well investors are there and network duh" It seems very broken that IT specifically should be bound to a physical place. Are there any plans to innovate in this regard or any research YC is doing?
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Do you think it's usually possible for two potential cofounders who don't already know one another to sufficiently evaluate one another quickly enough to start a company together in the short term (say, less than 3 months)? There seem to be similar challenges to creating a scalable solution for finding an SO/spouse (another unsolved problem).
There are precedents for quickly building trust among people who don't know each other. For example a mountaineering class at the National Outdoor Leadership School puts students who don't know each other, and might not know anything about climbing, into serious high-mountain situations for a month. At the end of the class, groups of students head off on "small group expeditions" for a few days without instructors. N…
Like you said, in a constrained environment like the military, it might be possible to achieve this in a short period of time through deliberate actions. I'm not sure how much that approach would prepare potential cofounders, since they're going to be operating in a much more ambiguous and freeform environment.
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Do you think it's usually possible for two potential cofounders who don't already know one another to sufficiently evaluate one another quickly enough to start a company together in the short term (say, less than 3 months)? There seem to be similar challenges to creating a scalable solution for finding an SO/spouse (another unsolved problem).
Perhaps YC could pay people to take a 4-12 week startup school, in which group projects were heavily encouraged. If a company was formed out of the school, YC would get the right to invest at the standard investment terms.
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What we've thought about the most is creating a better way for potential cofounders to meet each other.
I spend more time with my cofounder than with my wife. I cannot imagine co-founding with anyone I havent known closely for 1yr+, ideally much longer. This is especially for non-technical co-founders who would provide value after i've put in the work to technically de-risk the company. I dont think this is about gauging technical skills, it is about gauging long-term aspirations, motivations, behavior under pressure,…
There are more single founder successes[1] than VCs would lead you to believe. Maybe not so many in the unicorn category which is all VCs really care about - but you're not a VC, it's not unicorn or broke for you. I think most of us would still consider it a success if you only managed to replace your income, but got to work on something you enjoy and to be your own boss. But you'll need to bootstrap rather than secure VC funding if your company doesn't have unicorn potential.
That said, being a single founder is HARD. You need someone else to talk to, to bounce ideas off, to offer emotional support during the dark days where you doubt yourself and can't see a path to success. But you can get those things from other people, you don't have to have a cofounder.
Does the YC Group provide any psychological counseling/guidance/referals for attendees? Does it feel any responsibility to?
yep, i do this for yc! just like the rest of yc, taking care of yourself and your cofounder relationship is DIY but we offers resources to help. i'm an executive coach (with a specialty in startup founders) and our founders book office hours with me when they need support around managing stress/anxiety, troubleshooting conflict in difficult relationships (with cofounders, investors, loved ones, etc), communicating ef…
My first thought after reading this was that it may be kind of like being a resident advisor. I was an RA for Freshman in undergrad, and found it very rewarding helping students make the transition to a college lifestyle. Although this has a bit higher stakes, working with young founders likely isn't very fundamentally different.
How do I get your job?
Hi Sam, in interview with Elon Musk, you asked him 'Do you think people that want to be useful today should get PhDs?' Elon: Mostly not. Here are my questions: 1. Do you think people need to get a PhD degree to become useful research scientist in AI industry? 2. Do you think people need to get a PhD degree to become Member of Technical Staff (Machine Learning) in Open AI? Thank you.
This is similar to the state of physics in the 18th century. Significant discoveries were made by gentlemen researchers.
Today it is very difficult to advance the boundaries of older, more well-established scientific disciplines like physics or biology without a high level of training--if not a doctorate specifically, its equivalent in education and training. AI will get there eventually as well.
IMO software in general is in its infancy. We still build important computer programs the same way gunsmiths made guns in the 18th century--by hand, using intuition and art as much as science.