Y Combinator's 2005 Summer Founders Program: A Complete Dud • Hacker News Board

Re: Y Combinator's 2005 Summer Founders Program: A Complete Dud

#11

Post by alps » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 1:43 AM UTC

Thanks for posting this.

It kind of confirms why I don't really bother to read blog posts that are just rants. I wonder what he has to say about Reddit today...

Re: Y Combinator's 2005 Summer Founders Program: A Complete Dud

#12

Post by Agathos » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 2:55 AM UTC

alps wrote: post #11

Thanks for posting this. It kind of confirms why I don't really bother to read blog posts that are just rants. I wonder what he has to say about Reddit today...

I don't know what he's saying, but personally I'm still not sure why anyone paid money for it.

Re: Y Combinator's 2005 Summer Founders Program: A Complete Dud

#13

Post by paul » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 6:24 AM UTC

I love reading old opinions and predictions.

"During my summer, I created Print Promotion, worked on a top secret project with Adaptive Path that will soon change the way you feel about blogging, and am now working with O’Reilly on an amazingly innovative project. Quite productive for 3 months."

I wonder what his "top secret" project was?

Re: Y Combinator's 2005 Summer Founders Program: A Complete Dud

#14

Post by Xichekolas » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 6:51 AM UTC

This was pretty light and fluffy when it was written in 2005. How is this relevant now? His main example is how reddit is a failure. Say what you want about reddit (I don't like it), but it sold for money. Of the stuff that came out of 2005, it's the one everyone remembers (although I imagine Loopt will be a household name soon enough with the Verizon deal).

Seriously, where is my down arrow?

Re: Y Combinator's 2005 Summer Founders Program: A Complete Dud

#15

Post by subwindow » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 12:37 PM UTC

This is what happens when you confuse technical complexity with product success. A complex product, or one that takes "more than a weekend to build" will not necessarily be successful, and a simple product will similarly not necessarily be successful.

It has much more to do with demand. The wheel isn't terribly complex, nor is it original. Yet, if I came out today and started selling wheels, I could probably sell a few thousand. There's a demand for wheels, and so it makes sense to sell them. I think that in this age we forget this part of the equation way too often.