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2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

startupschool.org

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Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#31

Post by icey »

il wrote: post #29

Can anyone who has attended a past Startup School share their experience? What's the general atmosphere of the event? Is it similar to other conferences you've attended? Does it offer value on its own merits, or is it simply a day-long sales pitch for YC?

I attended last year's startup school. It is absolutely not an advertisement for YC. It's basically a bunch of people who are deeply involved in the startup world offering their advice on how to start up.

If you are contemplating a startup or you're already doing a startup I would say it's worth attending. Outside of the interesting talks (which will most likely find their way online anyways), it's a great opportunity to talk to other like-minded people and hear about what sort of stuff they're working on.

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#32

Post by dariusmonsef »

il wrote: post #29

Can anyone who has attended a past Startup School share their experience? What's the general atmosphere of the event? Is it similar to other conferences you've attended? Does it offer value on its own merits, or is it simply a day-long sales pitch for YC?

It's what you'd expect from Y Combinator... Top Notch speakers, being candid and telling stories as if you're personally having a conversation with them. Speakers stayed after and were approchable.

It is well worth a few hundred bucks to attend... and ridiculous in that it is free.

So yeah, apply. It's worth it.

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#33

Post by wooster »

il wrote: post #29

Can anyone who has attended a past Startup School share their experience? What's the general atmosphere of the event? Is it similar to other conferences you've attended? Does it offer value on its own merits, or is it simply a day-long sales pitch for YC?

The talks are interesting, with some fun (sometimes conflicting) variation between approaches, advice, and strategies. The people, as usual, really make it worthwhile. I met a lot of really interesting people last year and had a lot of wonderful conversations.

Startup School is my favorite tech conference-alike-thingy (not really sure I'd call it a conference), by far. I'd be going this year if it wasn't in the middle of my trip to Nepal.

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#34

Post by pg »

philwelch wrote: post #28
mrduncan wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That list probably isn't complete yet either, those are just the current confirmed speakers. If I remember correctly, last year the list wasn't final until right around the time that acceptances were sent out.

The list is definitely incomplete judging by the number of speakers at earlier Startup Schools.

Yes, I'm still working on a bunch of other speakers.

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#35

Post by dschobel »

jackowayed wrote: post #20
stevejohnson wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, no then? I'm pretty sure he didn't ask his question because he was unaware of the existence of flight. Your link initially led me to believe that there is actually some other conference called Hipmunk in the Midwest, but instead it was a LetMeGoogleThatForYou.com-style flight search page. For those of you actually interested in events in the Midwest, I can tell you that we're doing some interesting things in Clev…

I think PG hears a lot about location ("We're the YC of Alaska!", "Do we have to move if we get into YC?") and is getting tired of it. If you want to start a startup, moving to a startup hotspot will help a lot. If you want to attend cool conferences, move somewhere that frequently has cool conferences, or be willing to get on a plane for a good event. The Midwest won't have a successful Startup School clone (at leas…

I think asking why Silicon Valley almost completely ignores the midwest when there is engineering talent here in spades (I'm in Chicago and we have the population and the top flight engineering schools to, I believe, merit some attention) is perfectly legitimate and saying "just go to SV" is a "let them eat cake" answer which misses the fundamental issue.

Even if the answer is as simple "YC's plate is totally full just keeping up with the SV scene" or "pg hates the cold", that would be more compelling than just a brush off and link to some plane tickets.

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#36

Post by wmblaettler »

bricestacey wrote: post #21
grinich wrote: post #4

For anyone on the East Coast, we're having a similar event at MIT in September, open to anyone. http://startupbootcamp.mit.edu/

Can't scroll on iPhone.

That's a bit ironic, as the scrollbar is styled like the iphone's scrollbar - at least on Chrome.

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#37

Post by startupgrrl »

I, too, have attended last year's startup school. It is not an advertisement for YC. It was always about a certain someone in the startup community. But...love won out. He was always so patient and giving and eventually I was able to get over all these issues and really be in a position where I could love somebody...and I basically woke up one morning and realized that I was in love with him, and he was the man I would marry. So, I took him to the pier we launched canoes from, and told him how I had overcome all these issues and wasn't scared to let him in anymore and that I was so glad he failed in all his initial plans after college, because it meant we were together in Silicon Valley.

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#38

Post by cperciva »

jl wrote: post #23
arfrank wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last years talks were live streamed if I recall and are still accessible at: http://www.justin.tv/startupschool . I'd say its safe to assume that'd also be the case this year.

Yes, you can catch the talks on Justin.tv again this year.

Thanks!

I'd personally prefer having talks downloadable in a standard format (say, mpeg) rather than only via justin.tv, but they're still much better than nothing. (Or maybe they have a download feature I haven't been able to find?)

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#39

Post by pg »

jackowayed wrote: post #20
stevejohnson wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, no then? I'm pretty sure he didn't ask his question because he was unaware of the existence of flight. Your link initially led me to believe that there is actually some other conference called Hipmunk in the Midwest, but instead it was a LetMeGoogleThatForYou.com-style flight search page. For those of you actually interested in events in the Midwest, I can tell you that we're doing some interesting things in Clev…

I think PG hears a lot about location ("We're the YC of Alaska!", "Do we have to move if we get into YC?") and is getting tired of it. If you want to start a startup, moving to a startup hotspot will help a lot. If you want to attend cool conferences, move somewhere that frequently has cool conferences, or be willing to get on a plane for a good event. The Midwest won't have a successful Startup School clone (at leas…

I didn't mean anything quite so rude. I meant it more as invitation. Lots of the people who come to Startup School fly in to do it. That's why we have 2 weeks between acceptances and the date of the event-- so people can buy cheap plane tickets.

Re: 2010 Startup School: October 16 at Stanford

#40

Post by limedaring »

I'm semi-technical — designer and front-end developer and building my own startup at the moment. However, since the conference is centered around programmers, I'm wondering whether I'll be accepted to go (application already submitted). Any other designers/front-end people go to last years?
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