Whats the difference between Launch HN and Show HN?
Launch HN is for YC companies, although AFAIK it's just convention that keeps other people from using that phrasing.
Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
61–70 of 77 posts
Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#62Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Percentages in and of themselves are progressive pricing! If we believe we can get the student a 100k+ job, we'll definitely be incentivized to help them get there instead of telling them to settle for a 50k job. The progressive^2 pricing model is interesting though. It's a little legally complex unfortunately so we have to look into it, but I also like the aspect of the idea where the less you make as a student, the…
Hmm, so would a flat tax rate actually be progressive? ;)
Good point. It would certainly not be progressive in a political sense haha
Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yea, we definitely have to be sensitive about offering financing options directly to students. One of the ways we handle this now is we actually ask the students to consult their family before signing anything. We also allow the students to still drop out of the program at no liability within the first two weeks. The problem with upfront payment is that we are no longer held accountable by aligned incentives. The mos…
As an aside, I don't think "the most predatory thing" about student loans is the fixed cost regardless of profit. The same could be said of any business or real estate loan. The most predatory thing about student loans is that there's barely any rational qualification of the loan recipient.
Yea, you're right. I would say it's in part the disparity between the scale of the fixed cost and the amount of qualification that is predatory.
As in, if it was a loan for only $1000, it's certainly more ok to do less qualification. Versus if you were saddling a student with a loan of $40,000, you should probably be very careful.
Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#65You should tier this by industry or career goal more closely. For example, many students want to do high-profile consulting or banking gigs after undergrad. These have relatively similar starting salaries so you don’t need to worry about adverse incentives as mentioned below. Basically get the student to say “I will give you 7% of my salary if I get a job at McKinsey Bain or BCG”. That will be a lot of value for many students (7% is probably low pricing frankly). You’ll probably need to do more work on screening and the addressable market is probably much smaller. But the value prop for that market I think is way big vs. just “I want any job thanks”. Those interviews and prep are trainable and there is a pretty robust set of providers there already. Could also add investment banks, larger tech cos, etc. just get specific on goals.
Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Percentages in and of themselves are progressive pricing! If we believe we can get the student a 100k+ job, we'll definitely be incentivized to help them get there instead of telling them to settle for a 50k job. The progressive^2 pricing model is interesting though. It's a little legally complex unfortunately so we have to look into it, but I also like the aspect of the idea where the less you make as a student, the…
Hmm, so would a flat tax rate actually be progressive? ;)
This is a loaded question since a flat tax is a proportional tax (assuming we are excluding deductions/credits etc.)
Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#67> because we have aligned incentives [with our students] - we only make money if they do. If you sign up all students and do nothing further, you still get your 7%. That is not aligned. To align incentives you would have to align the students payments with how much you improved their outcomes - much harder to do of course. I think your model has the same risks as real estate commissions where the selling agent is hig…
Great point! Glad to see other skeptics already arrived. I'd love to see a concept like this work but it is very difficult to truly align the incentives between recruiters and candidates or companies. Like you said it's just like real estate, a turnover game where the broker doesn't really care about optimal outcomes for the transacting parties. That said this could still add a lot of value for students - I certainly…
It is only good for students that struggle with finding work. Maybe foreign students or students that are very smart intellectually but are weak in social/interviewing skills.
For most people (that tech companies/professional companies want to hire), they already have the skills needed to market themselves.
Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#68Cool idea, my university has a stellar co-op program for Engineering and Computer Science students, and other universities in Canada do as well (Waterloo, UBC, etc.) and I am curious as to what differs you from universities that have these co-op programs because co-op is mandatory at UVic and Waterloo and has helped fund my way alongside many other engineering students ways through their degree. Also 7% of first year…
> Also 7% of first year salary seems steep The real long term benefit is if using the service results in a better entry level position. A person starting a career developing on Win32 will have a significantly different career than someone starting a career in React Native. If Pathrise leads to an increase in job offers (quantity of offers) and an increase in the type of job offers (diversity of projects types) than t…
Recuiters will take around this 7% amount, so it doesn't seem absurd through that lens.
Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, but your revenues are also dependent on the cost or time it takes you to do. Let’s say it costs you $1000 of time to get someone a $100K job and $1500 of time to get them a $120K job. You are going to encourage them to take the $100K job to maximize your company’s revenues.
This is potentially a real effect, but in this case, the exact unit economics will determine exactly how much it matters. Thanks to a focus on software and automation where we can afford it without hurting the experience, it's been good enough so far where we haven't noticed this affecting our decision making yet.
"Potentially a real effect" meaning almost the definition of a principal-agent problem and a well-known problem in real estate. If you want to prevent it from happening (and I'm not saying that you do) you will have to try very hard, not just assume that it will happen.
Re: Launch HN: Pathrise (YC W18) – Career accelerator for students, free until hired
#70Can you clarify the percentages for internships? Equivalent annual salary as in, if a student is making $20/hr at a 3-month internship, then their equivalent annual salary would be $20/hr * 40 hr/ week * 52 weeks = $41600, and your payment would be $2912? Or is it just 7% of what they earned over the summer ($9600, and payment would be $672?)