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Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
21–30 of 110 posts
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#22Brian Eno: "I was an art student and, like all art students, I was encouraged to believe that there were a few great figures like Picasso and Kandinsky, Rembrandt and Giotto and so on who sort-of appeared out of nowhere and produced artistic revolution. As I looked at art more and more, I discovered that that wasn’t really a true picture. What really happened was that there was sometimes very fertile scenes involving…
We desperately need universal basic income.
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#23(Pioneer founder here.) Nat Friedman and I launched AI Grant last year ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14851806 ). The idea was to give out money to promising AI researchers around the world. To date, we've funded 50 researchers, from high school students in Hawaii to aspiring researchers in Africa. We’ve been inspired by the fellows we’ve funded all over the word. I’m following it with a new project called Pi…
"We expect a fraction of Pioneers to start companies. In exchange for the investment and benefits below, Pioneer will retain 3% of any company you found over the next eight years. Pioneer will also have the option of investing an additional $20,000 for 5% in any of those companies. These conditions apply if you already have an incorporated company." yeah, as an outsider looking for entry into startup - it just doesn'…
Without hitting on whether or not this is the right company to do this, I don't think the idea is itself at all unreasonable. By the time you're concerned about 8% equity, you've basically already 'made it' in the sense that you have likely have enough capital to start to more independently pursue your other ideas, or alternatively seek more favorable funding with some history for more traditional venture capital types.
This project seems to be clearly aiming people who have ambition and competence, but minimal to no current resources or connections; the goal being to get them to where that is no longer the case -- helping them to reach their potential. It's hard to call anything at all exploitative if it succeeds in getting people from that critical nothing to something point, regardless of how it does it.
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#24Brian Eno: "I was an art student and, like all art students, I was encouraged to believe that there were a few great figures like Picasso and Kandinsky, Rembrandt and Giotto and so on who sort-of appeared out of nowhere and produced artistic revolution. As I looked at art more and more, I discovered that that wasn’t really a true picture. What really happened was that there was sometimes very fertile scenes involving…
They also tend to have one thing in common - a very supportive, stable home environment.
This bit is key, and really tells me that the best way to address issues in science and trying to help students is not to have more programs for students, but to have more programs for helping families.
You really need a holistic approach to this sort of stuff, rather than targeting say funding someone who is good at a specific thing.
There are many more people who can't focus at school and so fail because they don't get enough food, or they don't have the support they needed to succeed.
This is why programs like the food stamps has a high return on investment, because it addresses the actual issue at hand rather than a symptom.
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#25I really like the idea behind this, but I take issue with the fact that if someone does start a company, Pioneer will take 3% with the option of buying 5% more of the company for $20,000. That seems pretty unfair. I would be inclined to participate if this term didn't exist, or if it were either more financially generous or took less equity. But I wouldn't want to develop any idea through Pioneer if any future idea (…
I could swallow the 3%, the networking opportunities are probably worth that to be honest (especially for a 'project' that isn't a tangible company or product yet), but the option is ridiculous. I also don't understand the system. I have to put my idea for a project on some leader board for other people to vote on? If I feel my idea has any worth why would I do that? I actually just planned on starting up a project,…
I agree on the 3% although the fact that it applies to any company founded over the next 8 years seems a little bit of a stretch. If you meet someone 5 years later who wants a cofounder, seems like it could be not-insignificant penalty. I would honestly prefer to not take the $5000 if it meant I could get the networking opportunities without the 3% equity.
The option is just egregiously not worth it and represents a major liability to anyone looking start a company that needs to raise significant amounts of capital
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
"We expect a fraction of Pioneers to start companies. In exchange for the investment and benefits below, Pioneer will retain 3% of any company you found over the next eight years. Pioneer will also have the option of investing an additional $20,000 for 5% in any of those companies. These conditions apply if you already have an incorporated company." yeah, as an outsider looking for entry into startup - it just doesn'…
Without hitting on whether or not this is the right company to do this, I don't think the idea is itself at all unreasonable. By the time you're concerned about 8% equity, you've basically already 'made it' in the sense that you have likely have enough capital to start to more independently pursue your other ideas, or alternatively seek more favorable funding with some history for more traditional venture capital typ…
8 years is a long time though, and could potentially be more than one company.
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#27interesting idea
will the general public get to see submissions in the tournament?
The bottlenecks around finding 'Lost Einsteins' (LEs) is an interesting problem
You have to make yourself known to potential LEs (NYTs & HN seems like good but not comprehensive start)
You have to have them make the connection that, yeah, they're the type of person you're looking for (difficulty unclear)
You have to make an offer that compels them to act
Once they act, you need a process for filtering them from the people you're not interested in having in your program
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idk, good luck
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#28I really like the idea behind this, but I take issue with the fact that if someone does start a company, Pioneer will take 3% with the option of buying 5% more of the company for $20,000. That seems pretty unfair. I would be inclined to participate if this term didn't exist, or if it were either more financially generous or took less equity. But I wouldn't want to develop any idea through Pioneer if any future idea (…
I could swallow the 3%, the networking opportunities are probably worth that to be honest (especially for a 'project' that isn't a tangible company or product yet), but the option is ridiculous. I also don't understand the system. I have to put my idea for a project on some leader board for other people to vote on? If I feel my idea has any worth why would I do that? I actually just planned on starting up a project,…
Ambitious, eager, and talented people that are likely already working on their own projects.
"Idea theft" is a thing that happens sometimes, but the far more common problem is "idea stillbirth", where people are willing to put ridiculous barriers up in front of themselves for fear of their idea being stolen.
If there's valuable help available that will improve the chances of turning an idea into a tangible thing, then people should accept it and let go of the fear that they're risking some kind of innate value in the idea itself.
I don't see that the ask from Pioneer is all that onerous either, although I'm not a cut-throat business guy. They seem to be pursuing people for whom this would be a fantastic opportunity regardless. I think HN is a being a bit quick to judge this through the lens of, "I already have lots of opportunities and this one just isn't good enough for me."
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#29I really like the idea behind this, but I take issue with the fact that if someone does start a company, Pioneer will take 3% with the option of buying 5% more of the company for $20,000. That seems pretty unfair. I would be inclined to participate if this term didn't exist, or if it were either more financially generous or took less equity. But I wouldn't want to develop any idea through Pioneer if any future idea (…
I agree and I disagree.
I agree if you're a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur who knows they can raise a seed round together. If that's you, you shouldn't take our offer. Raise the seed round; you'll get great terms.
There are about 7.4 billion people who aren't Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs. Most of them do not have a convenient line to investors, because investors don't happily fund writing the next great American novel, working on a demo tape, trying to prototype out an undergraduate research paper, or running companies in their neck of the woods. Pioneer could potentially fund all of those things.
We're going to be making bets on folks substantially before they have the indicia of success that investors screen for... substantially before anyone could even say "This person will someday found a company." The math for this to be sustainable requires that the equity slice be higher than someone would ask for if they knew 100% of their investments were in high-potential companies.
Re: Wanted: ‘Lost Einsteins.’ Please Apply
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without hitting on whether or not this is the right company to do this, I don't think the idea is itself at all unreasonable. By the time you're concerned about 8% equity, you've basically already 'made it' in the sense that you have likely have enough capital to start to more independently pursue your other ideas, or alternatively seek more favorable funding with some history for more traditional venture capital typ…
8 years is a long time though, and could potentially be more than one company.
Indentured servitude.