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A New Venture Animal

paulgraham.com

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Re: A New Venture Animal

#21

Post by paul »

apathy wrote: post #20

pg: But all it would have taken in the beginning would have been for two Google employees to focus on the wrong things for six months, and the company could have died. Actually, it's even more interesting than that. Prior to AdWords (and, more importantly, the acquisition of Applied Semantics that gave them AdSense), Google did not have a real source of revenue. At all. Google Appliances were cute but negligible. Aft…

What was the idea of an intern? Ads were part of the plan from very early on. Also, AdSense predates the Applied Semantics aquisition.

Re: A New Venture Animal

#22

Post by paul »

ph0rque wrote: post #10
vegashacker wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll try to answer my own question. I think it's about riskiness from the point of view of investors. The thing is, I think the wisdom is oft repeated as risky for the founders (though perhaps not in this essay), which is what I'm objecting to.

It's risky in the sense that you might fail, and not get paid (enough) for your efforts. I calculated my last startup to have paid me about $3/hour (not discounting the time factor) after all was said and done.

How much did your school pay your for your efforts there?

Re: A New Venture Animal

#24

Post by motoko »

pg wrote: post #18
sah wrote: post #17

It seems like maybe traditional incubators are closer than VCs to competing in the same niche as YC. Is there any reason why it would be misleading to look at YC as an innovation in startup incubation -- namely to move the model a little bit closer to VC in terms of the independence of the founders?

I didn't consider old-style incubators because as far as I know there aren't any left. At least, I can't think of any startups that came out of one.

What about PlugAndPlay Tech Center? They have an office in Sunnyvale that seems successful.

Re: A New Venture Animal

#25

Post by skmurphy »

How about "Startup Catalyst" You don't provide the raw starting materials but you help them to combine more rapidly and more effectively. Dictionary definition: "A substance, usually used in small amounts relative to the reactants, that modifies and increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the process."

Re: A New Venture Animal

#26

Post by TheTarquin »

mrtron wrote: post #11
ivankirigin wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

startup trebuchet

startup blowdart A few puffs of air in the right direction?

Venture musket: The aim isn't perfect, but it launches a significant projectile in roughly the right direction, at a substantial velocity.

Re: A New Venture Animal

#27

Post by TheTarquin »

ivankirigin wrote: post #19
mrtron wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

startup blowdart A few puffs of air in the right direction?

As long as we're listing weapons, the ideal choice is "startup tactical nuke". It's the model that has been woefully overlooked for 50 years.

Possible, but that would pretty much involve funding the hell out of everyone in a several mile radius, with long-term funding for people fortunate enough to be down-wind . . .

Re: A New Venture Animal

#28

Post by TheTarquin »

noonespecial wrote: post #2

Really we're more of a small, furry steam catapult. The man just has a way with words! :)

Agreed: money quote for the whole article.

It put me in mind of a fur-upholstered mousetrap for some reason. You know, the kind of thing David Bowie would put in his basement . . .

Re: A New Venture Animal

#29

Post by connellybarnes »

paul wrote: post #22
ph0rque wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's risky in the sense that you might fail, and not get paid (enough) for your efforts. I calculated my last startup to have paid me about $3/hour (not discounting the time factor) after all was said and done.

How much did your school pay your for your efforts there?

My grad school pays $25 per hour. I paid nothing for undergrad. This isn't atypical.

Re: A New Venture Animal

#30

Post by pg »

motoko wrote: post #24
pg wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't consider old-style incubators because as far as I know there aren't any left. At least, I can't think of any startups that came out of one.

What about PlugAndPlay Tech Center? They have an office in Sunnyvale that seems successful.

I'm not sure exactly what they do, but I think it's more like office space especially tailored for startups.
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