281–290 of 317 posts
Hi Michael, YC-funded companies are known to be large-scale consumers of free and open source software. They are able to leverage the competitive advantage provided by this digital infrastructure to build successful, high valuation businesses. Some of those companies have gone on to make great contributions to the Open Source community themselves. Would YC ever consider setting up a fund for the builders and maintain…
Hi, any advice for solo founders, if the startup isn't launched yet, but expected to launch in 1 month? Thanks.
Yes, you need to have many skills than writing software. You need to know how to cold call/email, how to cultivate relationships over many mediums, how to ask for more things that are offered, how to push for that sale, how to essentially moon-shoot and to know everything is a negotiation. Oh and work 18+ hour days as well.
There may be skills that you don't have yet. Don't worry, being an entrepreneur means that you'll gradually get better at each skill and with each attempt will get stronger until it feels second nature. Keep pushing your own boundaries.
Want to know the difference between a founder with his first company and a CEO (with his first company) at 3 years? He's just 3 years ahead of you and been through the mill and gained experience. There's nothing you can't do by yourself.
Should you get a co-founder? As someone who has gone through the carousel of missed opportunities such as:
- Starting a venture with 2 other people as a team, who through they brought in a lot of strengths and relationships, but when push came to shove, had squat to offer. It went nowhere quickly.
- Trying to start ventures where for the other person was a side hustle and for me, was the only thing going. You can't have 1 co-founder betting 100% and his time, where the other is giving 50% or less and is distracted!
- Finally, to then being a potential co-founder myself to a company that imploded after making them a monumental success (multiple millions generated - NET) in 12 months of joining and getting nothing. To then being a co-founder of another company with a parter and then getting nothing at the end!
To say things haven't gone well is an understatement. But with each step, a lot of lessons were gained. Now that knowledge and lessons are being applied to my venture and I'm making great strides.
For me personally, the only thing a co-founder could do at this point. Is dilute my share of the company to 50%. Hmmm, no thanks.
As a solo-founder, everything is done your way. You know the vision, the path to getting there, the sales pitch, the numbers, how you want to grow your company. The company should really bend to your will. I see the company as an extension of your will. If done right, the gaps that you have are either filled by 3 things:-
1) Companies that exist to fill it for you. If it doesn't work out, fire them and find one better. Your equity still stays the same.
2) Employees, hire fast and fire even faster. Again, you didn't lose any equity.
3) Contractors, have clear goals and time-schedules. Even reward with bonus for being early/on-time. Nope, no equity lost here.
As for me. I have multiple vendors which are going to fill gaps in my startup. I have contractors when the time is right and I already have potential employees when I have the funds.
I have a business plan which lays out the roadmap for the next 12 months post launch. Sure, things can change, but if you have guidance, you know when it's right to do something.
Having a co-founder(s) dilutes all of this. Now you have someone else's perspective you need to take into account. Oh that perspective conflicts with yours? Now you have to either give in or get them on board. If you give in, where are you going. Can you completely trust that what they say will work out? What does your gut tell you?
From previous experience, good luck with that and/or the outcome. I've been through plenty of mistakes where my gut was proven time and time again.
Oh and that co-founder, is he as good as you, or better? My previous co-founders were not a match to my technical skill with the skill they were bringing in. This lead to conflicts of understanding, both the vision and what technically could be possible. You know what lower smarts gets you? The co-founder coming into your realm and second-guessing you because his "friend" is now running some new stack/shiny object and you aren't.
My ethos. Don't get a co-founder, get an employee. An employee you can lead the direction and get what you want implemented. Oh and employees scale, more co-founders will just dilute equity until there's none on the table for an investor.
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Btw, if you have a co-founder and it works. Great. Understand, It's not for everyone.
Hi Michael, YC-funded companies are known to be large-scale consumers of free and open source software. They are able to leverage the competitive advantage provided by this digital infrastructure to build successful, high valuation businesses. Some of those companies have gone on to make great contributions to the Open Source community themselves. Would YC ever consider setting up a fund for the builders and maintain…
Awesome and well-reasoned question!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't you think the web is maturing and consolidating quickly and there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for a guy with a camera to build a billion dollar business?
Think about the evolution of various web technologies: Chat & Direct Messaging: Unix Talk, IRC, SMS, Jabber, XMPP, Snap, slack, etc. Message boards: Usenet, gopher, BBS, Wiki, Blogs, Myspace, Facebook, etc. You can literally look at almost any web technology, and it seems to be constantly reinvented, improved, and updated. It seems likely that the tools of today will necessarily evolve, at the hand of new upstarts.
(I'll assume you're rich and were smart enough to take a vacation somewhere along the line.)
Where is the coolest place you've ever visited ? (and what about it did you enjoy ?)
I want to be a farmer. I want to treat the farm like a startup. At which point in the application process can I try to convince you that you need a farmer in your portfolio? Also, when and where can I go into details to describe how it would be different from today's conventional operations?
YC has backed at least one startup for indoor farming lighting, Transcend (S15), and one for indoor gardening, Click & Grow (S15).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that if you are bootstrapping cause you need to in order to pay the bills then that is totally fine. If you can work full-time on your startup and your are aren't - you should ask yourself why.
What are examples of some good answers to the why question? And some bad answers?
Can you provide some info on how does YC support hardware startups? More specifically, what is a good stage to apply? We are working on building a demo-quality HW prototype, with the ETA of ~6months. That means we will not be focused on growth, but on tech development. Should we wait until we have a working system and apply to YC when we are ready to scale and grow it (this is our current thought).
considering the 1% rule, do you think our culture of media consumption is in our nature or something we've created? is it a trend? do you think there will be more room in the future for companies that serve amateur producers? can we create more producers?
sorry for so many question marks. it's a single question- poorly formed. :)