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Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

venturebeat.com

71–80 of 175 posts

Re: Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

#71

This guy is not really a good thing for YC, I honestly stopped caring that much about this incubator after that guy who was in before him left. Sam Altman should be removed.

I love the ambition of this dude to call out the valley to reach for more than what it is. The field needs 10000 more Sam Altmans.

I prefer a VC that doesn’t inject a political agenda.

Re: Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

#74

This seems like a signalling problem. If a YC company looks for funding at some point after demo day, the first question VCs ask is going to be "why didn't you raise money at demo day?" -- so there's going to be an incentive for companies to go after money at demo day even if they're not ready simply because it will be much harder if they wait. I wonder if it would be effective to tell YC companies that they can part…

> I wonder if it would be effective to tell YC companies that they can participate in a demo day, but it doesn't have to be the one for their batch -- so a company could wait and join the following cohort in order to avoid the stigma of being "the company which couldn't get funding at demo day and is now going around to VCs one by one".

You can defer your demo day.

Re: Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

#75

This seems like a signalling problem. If a YC company looks for funding at some point after demo day, the first question VCs ask is going to be "why didn't you raise money at demo day?" -- so there's going to be an incentive for companies to go after money at demo day even if they're not ready simply because it will be much harder if they wait. I wonder if it would be effective to tell YC companies that they can part…

This is one reason ICOs will hopefully disrupt VC strangehold. It's senseless for the fate of good companies to be determined by bogus social dynamics. I get the regulation argument, but protecting stupid people from themselves is a losing battle. Everyone will know not to mortgage your house to invest in a new startup the same way everyone knows not to do heroin. Some people will anyway. But they already can partici…

Looks like we have a disproportionate amount of VCs on HN. Luckily ICOs aren't going anywhere. Time to evolve or get left behind.

Re: Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

#76
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm missing something. I don't see how that would reduce anyones need to fundraise. No one can wait around 10 years for others in their class to become liquid to fund their company.

If you know you are a likely to get between $100k and $1m in ten years, then there is a lot less financial risk of not putting any money in a 401k for a few years when creating a startup that eventually fails. I think this is a really cool idea. It would also will bind the group together even more (if you think that is a good thing).

Does anyone running a startup actually put money in a 401k? (Serious question.) I do not, nor do I know anyone else who does.

I also don't see how that's enough money to tip the scale.

Re: Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

#77
If the artificially-created real estate "shortage" problem in the Bay Area was solved, lots of other problems would be solved.

- Companies raising money just to pay inflated (yet still insufficient) labour costs

- People who would love to work for startups but realize that most startup salaries barely gets you a studio apt, pretty cool until you have a family

- Companies who "cant find" talent

Is it any surprise companies need to raise so much funding, esp when operating out of the Bay Area?

Re: Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sam, let me offer one humble suggestion. 1) UBI (or anything similar) in Oakland is expensive. Back of the napkin calculation: $1,000/month/person = $12,000 = you need about $0.5M in capital to maintain that level of basic income without reducing the capital over time (I am applying the usual 4% interest on capital, for passive income - the number might be wrong or might change in the future (see Piketty) but let's u…

This micro-UBI thing is a bad experiment with good intentions. UBI only works if it's fairly 'U'. If you give UBI to 'one village' - that village will have tremendous leverage over the surrounding villages. Any rational application of commercial knowledge will - knowingly or unwittingly - drive competitors out of business, and that 'UBI village' could theoretically come to control a lot. It only took a very small mar…

You're making claims like you have empirical evidence, but I'm not aware of such an experiment.

Re: Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the ambition of this dude to call out the valley to reach for more than what it is. The field needs 10000 more Sam Altmans.

I prefer a VC that doesn’t inject a political agenda.

You prefer a VC that isnt human. All humans inject their politics into every action they take. Accept it.
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