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How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#11

Post by olalonde »

dotBen wrote: post #8

Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most…

Up voted you because I agree that people who would really benefit this most likely don't have 500$ to spend.

However, you're implying the 20k$ startups get from YC represents all the value derived from being a YC startup. If I ever apply to YC, it will be for press coverage, the YC network and sound advice.

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#13

Post by Eduis »

ibejoeb wrote: post #6
cperciva wrote: post #2

1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US Ok, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Who the hell goes across the country compiling a list of the top ten nursery schools ? I'm not convinced that such ratings are useful for universities, never mind high schools or lower tiers of education. The concept of a top-ten list of preschools just blows my mind. (I still think it's great that PG is contributing to this in such…

Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite exper…

Kudos for PG opening another channel for people to talk to a guru. Even if it's a purchased avenue, that can't hurt in the long run.

But on ranking preschools...? That seems to be a stretch. All you parents out there, feel free to correct me. But my vague recollection of preschool consists of running around a playground, finger painting, and a nap.

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#14

Post by poet »

mahmud wrote: post #10
ibejoeb wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite exper…

You're both off-topic and dead wrong. Don't you know there are tons of successful people who taught themselves everything from basic literacy to advanced sciences later in their life? Not even talking about "late bloomers", rather, people who lived illiterate well into their teens and twenties. How do you explain this ability to learn?

They're outliers? There are physical realities that happen to your brain that make it more difficult to learn as you get older. Now, I certainly recognize that many aspects of the current education system are overblown. But you're going to have a difficult time convincing me preschool is as dispensable as college.

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#15

Post by JCThoughtscream »

dotBen wrote: post #8

Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most…

The valuation for his advice may be at $500, but it's pretty arbitrarily assigned, I suspect, and more to illustrate the perceived worth than to actually drive the auction for it to $500 or more.

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#16

Post by sliverstorm »

ibejoeb wrote: post #6
cperciva wrote: post #2

1 of the top ten nursery schools in the US Ok, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Who the hell goes across the country compiling a list of the top ten nursery schools ? I'm not convinced that such ratings are useful for universities, never mind high schools or lower tiers of education. The concept of a top-ten list of preschools just blows my mind. (I still think it's great that PG is contributing to this in such…

Tangent: I don't know anything about early childhood education, but now I'm interested. (Also, I'm not implying anything of your post; I agree that the rankings can get silly.) Is there any data to suggest that preschool is, in fact, less important than university? It's easy to scoff at the notion that pre-K and K are significant, but I'd guess that some high quality nurturing at this age might be the requisite exper…

If you ever take your child to a good pre-K school (not a daycare) you will quickly learn it is really adult education- teaching the parents to be better parents, in a hands-on-environment with the kid around.

High-quality nurturing can only be done by the parents (generally speaking).

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#17

Post by wlievens »

dotBen wrote: post #8

Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most…

Not really. If you have reasonable savings, but lots of doubts about any idea you can come up with, you fit in this category.

I do. I would probably donate up to $500 for this prize, but mr Graham would have to fly to Europe :-)

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#18

Post by dotBen »

olalonde wrote: post #11
dotBen wrote: post #8

Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most…

Up voted you because I agree that people who would really benefit this most likely don't have 500$ to spend. However, you're implying the 20k$ startups get from YC represents all the value derived from being a YC startup. If I ever apply to YC, it will be for press coverage, the YC network and sound advice.

So, it's a bit of a long-running thing with me... that I continue to comment that YC = $20k + all the extra benefits.

The issue I have with YC is that I think the 'extra benefits' can be gained in other ways that doesn't require you to put a valuation on your company. I've been living here in SF for many years and I feel I have access to many of the 'extra benefits' YC gives through my own network (without having to take a specific route of funding)

Re: How to get Paul Graham to take you to lunch and review your start-up idea

#19

Post by aneth »

dotBen wrote: post #8

Surely the type of people most likely to benefit from PG's advice are some of the least likely to have the disposable income to be able to spend (up to) $500 for his time? That's 1/40th of the $20k most startups get from YC. [I don't mean to detract from the good cause being raised for here - but I think society should expect people to give back to charity/good causes/etc proportionally to their wealth - surely most…

I think an entrepreneur who can't scrap up $500 for lunch if they believed it would help them succeed is unlikely to be much of a success. You must have some marketable skill and ability to make money with that skill....
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