Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months • Hacker News Board

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#61

Post by mysterypie » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:36 AM UTC

sushid wrote: post #6

"Sam Altman, president and co-founder of Y Combinator." Uhh, they clearly didn't do their homework if they thought Altman co-founded YC.

My theory about how this error happened:

Bloomberg reporter checked Wikipedia where it clearly says, "In 2014, Altman was named president of Y Combinator, which he had been a part of as a founder..."[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

Of course, if the reporter had spent a few more seconds reading the entire sentence he may have gotten it right: "In 2014, Altman was named president of Y Combinator, which he had been a part of as a founder in the first batch of funded companies in 2005."

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#62

Post by kylec » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:38 AM UTC

wheelerwj wrote: post #10

rezashirazian wrote: post #8

Still, hardware is, well, hard. Silicon Valley has produced a raft of world-changing software startups, from Airbnb (a YC veteran) to Facebook. But it's a whole lot easier to beta-test an app than to prototype and then manufacture a gadget with a bunch of moving parts. Then you have to market the thing to the masses, who are already enamored of their Apple and Samsung products. Exhibits A and B: Fitbit, the fitness t…

But just to be clear, hardware IS hard.

Yeah. Anyone remember WakeMate? They had nonstop problems with their hardware. And Lockitron had yield issues for two years on their deadbolt operating robot before cancelling it. Hardware is hard.

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#63

Post by rtpg » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:38 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #37

birken wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having read basically every news article ever about the startup I was involved in, they get the most basic, easily checkable facts like: What year was it founded? What does the company do? Who is the CEO? wrong at least half of the time. And they get the more complicated facts wrong much more often, but that is because they generally directly printing either what the founder tells them or something they think that is…

I learned that when there was a natural gas explosion in the building I worked in in the 80s (nobody was hurt). I recorded several TV news broadcasts on it, and every one got the basic facts wrong in different ways. Things like one called the building a warehouse (it was an office building). There were no political issues nor agendas nor money at stake, the news reporters just didn't make any effort to be correct. I'…

It could be they tried to be correct and did the best they could on a meager time budget. Doubly so for TV news

I have a hard time ascribing too much to effort. For the one wrong fact, there could be many things that were checked and were true. But of course the wrong thing stands out

That said, I feel like journalists know how to Google for basic company info...

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#64

Post by calbear81 » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:38 AM UTC

sushid wrote: post #6

"Sam Altman, president and co-founder of Y Combinator." Uhh, they clearly didn't do their homework if they thought Altman co-founded YC.

They also said the fund was based in Palo Alto instead of Mountain View.

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#65

Post by Jugurtha » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:38 AM UTC

There's "silicon" in Silicon Valley. The reason it exists is hardware, yet they seem oblivious to that fact and make it seem that, somehow, SV's pursuit of hardware is a new path.

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#66

Post by function_seven » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:44 AM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #41

birken wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having read basically every news article ever about the startup I was involved in, they get the most basic, easily checkable facts like: What year was it founded? What does the company do? Who is the CEO? wrong at least half of the time. And they get the more complicated facts wrong much more often, but that is because they generally directly printing either what the founder tells them or something they think that is…

Can't find this, but just recently I asked what it's called when you see reporters getting basic facts wrong about your area of expertise, but continue to trust their reporting in all other areas.

Answered in this thread 7 minutes after you posted :)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12877188

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#67

Post by chubot » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:46 AM UTC

hanoz wrote: post #40

birken wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having read basically every news article ever about the startup I was involved in, they get the most basic, easily checkable facts like: What year was it founded? What does the company do? Who is the CEO? wrong at least half of the time. And they get the more complicated facts wrong much more often, but that is because they generally directly printing either what the founder tells them or something they think that is…

Almost every time the mainstream media covers a subject I have some level of expertise in, the coverage is laughably inaccurate or misleading, and almost everyone I've talked to about this says the same thing for their own field, and yet inexplicably it still takes a conscious effort to remind myself to bear this in mind when they cover subjects I'm ignorant of.

Btw this is known as the gell-mann amnesia effect.

I don't read much news, but I do read the nytimes tech section. It seems accurate with some necessary simplification that doesn't hurt the truth.

Their other articles seem pretty well researched and fact checked.

That said their election coverage seems pretty biased.

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#68

Post by WalterBright » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:47 AM UTC

rtpg wrote: post #63

WalterBright wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned that when there was a natural gas explosion in the building I worked in in the 80s (nobody was hurt). I recorded several TV news broadcasts on it, and every one got the basic facts wrong in different ways. Things like one called the building a warehouse (it was an office building). There were no political issues nor agendas nor money at stake, the news reporters just didn't make any effort to be correct. I'…

It could be they tried to be correct and did the best they could on a meager time budget. Doubly so for TV news I have a hard time ascribing too much to effort. For the one wrong fact, there could be many things that were checked and were true. But of course the wrong thing stands out That said, I feel like journalists know how to Google for basic company info...

No google in the 80s :-)

It was clear they just assumed things and didn't do any checking. Part of that was probably the pressure to hurry up and get it in the can, the rest was it was just a job to them and they simply didn't care. They got the video of the hole in the building, and that was good enough.

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#69

Post by kinkora » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:48 AM UTC

tedmiston wrote: post #54

sushid wrote: post #6

"Sam Altman, president and co-founder of Y Combinator." Uhh, they clearly didn't do their homework if they thought Altman co-founded YC.

As Kanye said once, "They rewrite history; I don't believe in yesterday." I have seen some startups even use this technique themselves to "erase" past or exited co-founders. Once you edit the AngelList, Crunchbase, team page, etc, you really can erase the existence of co-founder or early team member(s) if desired because eventually no one will look hard enough to find the early material. It's something that bothers m…

Not just startups, the trope is prevalent even among established companies. Off the top of my head, here are some examples:

• Cisco was started by a husband & wife duo - Sandy Lerner and Lenard Bosack

• Steve Jobs did not start Pixar - depending how far you go back, it was Alexander Schure that gave birth to the original roots of the company (as CGL) and later on, branched off by Edwin Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith.

• Elon Musk did not cofound PayPal - He founded X.com and that company merged with Paypal which was founded by Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Luke Nosek and Ken Howery)

• Same Elon did not cofound Tesla - it was started and incorporated by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning

• Etsy was not cofounded by Jared Tarbell - It was a trio of Robert Kalin, Chris Macquire and Haim Schoppik that launched the initial company.

I could go on but my memory is escaping me at the moment. I am sure other people have more examples.

tldr; this is common enough. :)

Re: Y Combinator's Hardware Guy Leaves After 14 Months

#70

Post by sama » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 12:49 AM UTC

I counted at least 5 factual errors in the photo caption and first 3 paragraphs.

We also heard that this reporter was 'encouraged' to write this by someone from a competing accelerator with an obvious agenda. Seems like manufactured controversy otherwise.

All that said, we like hardware and we like Luke, and we're excited he's in the new batch! And we're thankful for the work he did to get our hardware program set up.