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Congrats Dropbox

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Congrats Dropbox

#2
I like Dropbox and YCombinator, but this line near the end was odd: "Today is a big milestone for YC. When we launched 13 years ago, we never imagined that a company that we’d funded would one day go public."

Really? What were they doing funding it, then? I hadn't realized that wasn't the original idea at YCombinator.

Re: Congrats Dropbox

#5

I like Dropbox and YCombinator, but this line near the end was odd: "Today is a big milestone for YC. When we launched 13 years ago, we never imagined that a company that we’d funded would one day go public." Really? What were they doing funding it, then? I hadn't realized that wasn't the original idea at YCombinator.

I could be wrong, but wouldn't VCs prefer some type of large acquisition, a la WhatsApp, as opposed to an IPO?

Re: Congrats Dropbox

#6
lol, I was just 'asking HN' why the DropBox IPO was not #1 on HN. It wasn't even on the front page 5 minutes ago. Thankfully, I decided to check before posting.

Congratulations all around, and we finally get to see whether DropBox is actually minting money or not.

Good Luck!

Re: Congrats Dropbox

#7

I like Dropbox and YCombinator, but this line near the end was odd: "Today is a big milestone for YC. When we launched 13 years ago, we never imagined that a company that we’d funded would one day go public." Really? What were they doing funding it, then? I hadn't realized that wasn't the original idea at YCombinator.

The original idea was to make a summer camp alternative for students so that they didn't have to be interns at big tech companies. I think YC was first called "Summer Founders Program."

Funding a company that IPOs is pretty wild when you think about it in that context.

Re: Congrats Dropbox

#8

I like Dropbox and YCombinator, but this line near the end was odd: "Today is a big milestone for YC. When we launched 13 years ago, we never imagined that a company that we’d funded would one day go public." Really? What were they doing funding it, then? I hadn't realized that wasn't the original idea at YCombinator.

Agreed, that line seems like ludicrous false modesty. If anything, I think they should be shocked about how long IPO#1 took.

Re: Congrats Dropbox

#9

I like Dropbox and YCombinator, but this line near the end was odd: "Today is a big milestone for YC. When we launched 13 years ago, we never imagined that a company that we’d funded would one day go public." Really? What were they doing funding it, then? I hadn't realized that wasn't the original idea at YCombinator.

I think they mean that Paul Graham et. al launched YC as a small, cheap experiment, and never imagined they would have success like this.

Re: Congrats Dropbox

#10

I like Dropbox and YCombinator, but this line near the end was odd: "Today is a big milestone for YC. When we launched 13 years ago, we never imagined that a company that we’d funded would one day go public." Really? What were they doing funding it, then? I hadn't realized that wasn't the original idea at YCombinator.

I think you're simultaneously reading too much and too little into it. I think when they first started it they didn't even know if the premise would catch on. But also a lot of startups fail or get acquired and acquisitions are also a favourable outcome for YC.
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