31–40 of 57 posts
I always feel bad when I see startups come from a rich guy chasing fame or increasing the family wealth, they have a great and vital tool (money) but not a problem to solve nor an edge in the industry they are attacking. Kind of ironic, but hey throwing money to random ideas at least generates jobs and moves the economy.
I honestly do not gain anything from articles like this. They are so abstract that when it comes down to an actual actionable information - it doesn't apply anymore. It is sort of like reading one of those fluffy "How to become a millionaire" advice books. Nothing of substance comes out of it and they do not work for me. I recently watched Sam Altman's MIT lecture [1] on Youtube about startup advice for hard tech com…
The more and more I read on Altman, the more and more it feels like fluff and snake oil. Stanford dropout, a major failed startup, pretty much kinda "failed" into the position he is in today. He doesn't add value at all. Edit: This was flagged as "a personal attack" apparently.
If you add up all of the successful YC companies since he started leading YC, it's a pretty breathtaking number (the count, the valuations, and the value created). YC was having pretty serious scaling problems when he took the reins-- from my understanding, he resolved those pretty effectively. YC's growth since he's been leading it (in a lot of directions) has been impressive-- full-stop.
50 likes and 2 comments over an hour seems like too little engagement to be second on the list. Are posts about Sam effectively sticked on HN? Is there any more information on how the front page works?
It probably gets favorable weighting, but I've learned tolerating Sam's writing and seeing a few too many plugs for YC alum companies is a very small price to pay for this place to exist.
this place can exist elsewhere, too. Upvotes should be for quality, not servitude.
slightly offtopic, but startup related: why Sam Altman would post on atrium.co website? when checking their services, they provide incorporating and other legal services, is it more custom legal service than clerky.com? any idea about pricing? I'm looking to incorporate but slightly more complex than clerky standard templates
I always feel bad when I see startups come from a rich guy chasing fame or increasing the family wealth, they have a great and vital tool (money) but not a problem to solve nor an edge in the industry they are attacking. Kind of ironic, but hey throwing money to random ideas at least generates jobs and moves the economy.
Altman’s on point here: don’t follow a trend, focus on solving problems. And choose something hard. When money is growing on trees, pick a major problem with a huge upside should you solve it. Startups are hard; at least make it have a chance of being really worthwhile. — Someone who picked a small problem.
I honestly do not gain anything from articles like this. They are so abstract that when it comes down to an actual actionable information - it doesn't apply anymore. It is sort of like reading one of those fluffy "How to become a millionaire" advice books. Nothing of substance comes out of it and they do not work for me. I recently watched Sam Altman's MIT lecture [1] on Youtube about startup advice for hard tech com…
The more and more I read on Altman, the more and more it feels like fluff and snake oil. Stanford dropout, a major failed startup, pretty much kinda "failed" into the position he is in today. He doesn't add value at all. Edit: This was flagged as "a personal attack" apparently.
Edit: it looks like we've warned you repeatedly about making personal attacks in the past. That is the sort of thing we ban accounts for doing repeatedly, so please don't.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know it's not his fault per se, but YC has had a horrible track record since he joined, too.
Do you think it would have been any different if pg was in charge? I don't. I think it's rather that the 'low hanging fruit' are all gone. The whole mood has changed. It's become harder. Notice for example that YC places a lot of importance on growth when evaluating applicants, I think in early stages you could've had practically zero users of your product and they would have considered you -- now, not so much. Secon…
I honestly do not gain anything from articles like this. They are so abstract that when it comes down to an actual actionable information - it doesn't apply anymore. It is sort of like reading one of those fluffy "How to become a millionaire" advice books. Nothing of substance comes out of it and they do not work for me. I recently watched Sam Altman's MIT lecture [1] on Youtube about startup advice for hard tech com…
All his stuff are fluff pieces, it's like listening to a pitch coach. I have no idea why people see him as an authoritative figure in this space, when all he had was 1 failed start up.
What I do know is that listening stories directly from the founders is much more authoritative, informative and educational than listening to it from the investor's standpoint. Founders go through the stuff. Of course, investor's have their own stories which can be informative if they talk about specifics, not abstract things.
I just wish there was a way for people to share about their failed startups. Now, THAT would be truly educational. Majority of failed startups disappear without founders sharing their learnings and that knowledge is forever lost.
Altman’s on point here: don’t follow a trend, focus on solving problems. And choose something hard. When money is growing on trees, pick a major problem with a huge upside should you solve it. Startups are hard; at least make it have a chance of being really worthwhile. — Someone who picked a small problem.
Where it gets difficult to answer the very real internal almost contemplative question of 'am I solving a hard problem?' is when one looks at the history of fluffy rhetoric used by companies solving seemingly easy problems, making it impossible to convince them or their supporters they aren't solving something hard. For example, a website with photo sharing and a forum like feature called a newsfeed claims to be conn…