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Does this look familiar to anyone?

founderscoop.com

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Re: Does this look familiar to anyone?

#41

Post by brfox »

vegashacker wrote: post #13
brfox wrote: post #8

hey guys, chill out. Is the application the same as YC? (It is not currently posted on YC, so I don't know). Other than the unattributed copying of the YC application... This seems like a totally different deal. He's not just giving a tiny bit of money to fresh college grads and making you move to San Jose for 3 months, it looks like it is going to be an actual co-op where each group accepted gets part of the pie fro…

Yeah, it's basically verbatim plagiarism. Check out, for example, http://web.archive.org/web/20060825161615/ycombinator.com/w7...

Here's their apology:

http://crashdev.blogspot.com/2008/04/sincere-apologies-to-pa...

Re: Does this look familiar to anyone?

#42

Post by allenbrunson »

wright wrote: post #17
wheels wrote: post #9

Again, I don't understand the super-reactionary responses here every time that there's something based on YC. By the YC founders own assessments they can't accommodate all of the good ideas that they're receiving. And what of this, "Well, they're going to suck..." Do you think YC was perfect right off of the bat? Really? Sure, the copy-cats will be rough at first, then they'll, like most ventures, find ways to differ…

It's not about copying the idea. It's about making yourself look like a total asshat by copying someone else's writing verbatim and passing it off as your own. > which I'm sure they'd rectify if asked, "If you have to ask..." > then they'll, like most ventures, find ways to differentiate themselves and do their thing or die. There's a YC copycat in India that differentiates itself by posting armed guards to keep you…

the site has since been amended to indicate that it was a joke.

  http://www.ciieindia.org/?page_id=93
"We don't want you to go to your accommodation before 12 midnight - so we provide you mattresses near your workspace for resting. There's anyways a security guard outside your work-area - so you don't get to leave the office before 12 midnight and you don't get to sleep in the office. Attendance happens at 9:30 am every morning. Sundays are off if you have met your weekly goals!

"(The team has tried to be funny with having framed the above rules - obviously none of these rules are for real. It was a failed attempt to be humorous, which unfortunately not a lot of people understood :(. However, guys/gals with less than average IQ and humor - who fail to understand the humor in the above para may not kindly apply. Being fun-loving and sharp are pre-requisites!!)"

Re: Does this look familiar to anyone?

#45

Post by webwright »

edw519 wrote: post #31

Look at how much you can learn about these people from this little bit of data: 1. They are creatively challenged. 2. They are professionally challenged. 3. They are ethically challenged. Suppose you get involved with them. What do you imagine would happen as soon as a difficult situation came up? Personally, this tells me just enough to run, not walk, the other way.

FWIW, I know one of the guys and he's a decent fellow-- he's sharp and has several exits under his belt. He drives a Prius and loves his family. He's not the anti-christ (or even the anti-PG). He spun up Seattle OpenCoffee a year back (before this venture was a twinkle in his eye), just to help the Seattle startup community.

I think this is probably a case of then launching this before they even had a web site up and getting buried in random solicitations. They probably tossed that up there just to start getting coherent submissions.

Re: Does this look familiar to anyone?

#46

Post by webwright »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #26
chaostheory wrote: post #6

what I don't understand is that why these people don't even try just changing around the wording at least just by a little bit... are they that uncreative and lazy? or at least (as brett mentions) give credit where it's due

becasue this is exactly what they intended to do. Have the entire YC community talk about it and cr8 some interest about their program. It seems to work.

Srsly? Do you really think that? Really stretches the definition of "all press is good press", don't you think?

Re: Does this look familiar to anyone?

#47

Post by lux »

davidw wrote: post #22
lux wrote: post #5

Another thing is trust -- would you trust a knock-off to have that much experience and insight, when you can verify via PG's essays the insight they'll bring to the table? Hard sell if you ask me.

Supposing you 1) dont' want to live in the Bay Area, or 2) weren't accepted to YC, or have some other issue with YC, having some other options isn't bad, even if they're not as good as the original. I don't get the need people seem to have to put these YC clones down. Yes, copying the application is lame (we'll see if the guy responds), but having more options is a good thing . If your idea (YC) is any good, people w…

I'm not putting the idea itself down at all. In my other comment I saw the likelihood of these types of investment companies increasing since YC proved the concept viable. This one here was blatant plagiarism though, which make it look like they didn't put the time into starting it properly, which means they're not likely to put due diligence into the companies they investing in. Trust is a big factor in accepting someone's money in exchange for part of your creation, and that doesn't instill it. Looks like they did apologize now though (haven't read it yet).

Local is a definite plus, having to move to Boston or Cali can be a deal-breaker for some I'm sure. I'm waiting to hear when a Canadian equivalent pops up myself ;)

They also had one other interesting idea I haven't seen before, which is that they ask companies to put up 5% to a pool that's shared among all the startups from that funding round. They figure that will encourage more collaboration and help, since everyone wins a little when anyone in the group wins. That was in their FAQ. I wonder how that will turn out for people in practice.

Re: Does this look familiar to anyone?

#48

Post by webwright »

antoineg wrote: post #43

Chris has responded to this issue on his blog: http://crashdev.blogspot.com/2008/04/sincere-apologies-to-pa... . Those of you throwing around uninformed, flaming commentary would benefit from a quick read followed by a few deep breaths.

He uses the phrase "modeled after", which is pretty light. They lifted most questions verbatim, removed the references to boston and News.YC (usernames, etc), and shuffled order on a question or two.

I'm a little iffy on whether I feel this is terribly unethical-- an application is not really a creative work. I do think it shows a lack of creativity! I can think of 2 or 3 questions that I'd add/adjust if I was spinning up an early stage outfit.

Re: Does this look familiar to anyone?

#49

Post by edw519 »

edw519 wrote: post #38
davidw wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if by "learn", you mean "extrapolate", "surmise", "conjecture" or "speculate". I don't think you can make such sweeping statements without knowing more.

They copied someone else's intellectual property without giving credit. What data could anyone possibly add that would change my thinking?

I sit here with egg on my face as I reply to myself. davidw, you were absolutely right and I never saw it.

When I wrote, "What data could anyone possibly add that would change my thinking?" I never expected an answer. I just read the Crash Dev apology, and that's the data.

My apologies. Now I understand the difference between "learn" and "infer".

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