Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective • Hacker News Board

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#131

Post by pantaloony » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:24 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #95

> You're going to end up with a bunch of rich white dudes as founders Why not just say "rich dudes" ? That is the qualifier. The race might be true too, but it's not what defines the argument.

A lot of those sorts of phrases become automatic even when they don’t make much sense. A bit like “African American” accidentally being used as a label for people who aren’t American at all. Right now throwing in “white” and “men” is kinda automatic with “rich” even when the “rich” part is the main thing that matters, as here.

[edit] Jesus, this is a real issue one has to look out for when writing and speaking: falling into using easy, worn phrases when they’re less effective at communicating what you’re trying to say than an alternative, and often explains these cases of overreach or somewhat “off” usage with cliché phrases, which was what was asked about. It’s very easy to let one’s fingers type right through a worn rut, once one starts into it, when some reflection might reveal that was a bit off. Struck a nerve for some reason, I guess? I have exactly no idea why.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#132

Post by hardwaregeek » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:24 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #95

> You're going to end up with a bunch of rich white dudes as founders Why not just say "rich dudes" ? That is the qualifier. The race might be true too, but it's not what defines the argument.

You might get some Asians as well but white households have 10x the wealth of Black households and 8x the wealth of Hispanic households. Restricting to the wealthy will restrict to primarily white and Asian.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/01/how-wealth-...

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#133

Post by hkt » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

peterwoerner wrote: post #98

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the idea of creating an environment that only favors young, privileged, unattached folks has always been pretty off-putting for me. Larger checks certainly attract the 'free sabbatical' folks that the author seems to dislike so much, but it also enables entire classes of potential founders to have access to capital that enables them to focus on their business rather than their kids' stomachs.

Counterpoint. As a father of a baby, I have significantly less energy and time for work. With starting a company you tend to have to plow a ton of hours and energy into the endeavor, especially if you want to move at bottleneck speed. With the baby there are many weeks where I have a difficulty working a mere 40 hours. That being said, I have significantly more insight (due to experience) than I did when I was more f…

As a father of a 4 year old I don't think it is my job (or yours) to vet who gets the help they need when they decide they need it. You may not have felt you had the time and ability to commit, but why should you be able to speak for anyone but yourself?

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#134

Post by Spooky23 » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

awillen wrote: post #9

The idea that check sizes should be small so people should be forced into dire financial situations is a terrible one, and one that would absolutely hurt diversity. You're going to end up with a bunch of rich white dudes as founders (because very, very obviously the other way that people can afford to take smaller checks is if they have a lot of money in the bank). The smaller class size issue is probably fair, but r…

IDK, in my observation as a working-class white dude, comfortable white people are less likely to start an entrepreneurial venture. Why take the risk when you have easier employment options?

There were pretty obvious, observable backgrounds/personality types that were starting businesses in my circle. Mostly SMBs like trading/retail firms, personal services, etc.

Well do to people assume that the masses are a bunch of hardscrabble foster children. Those folks exist. But the reality is that most people have families and have support systems to fall back on -- perhaps not as comfortable a fall-back as the kid where mom and dad are dentists or F500 executives, but not intolerable.

Startups aren't really businesses, so maybe they are different. Optimizing for successful venture funding cycle is a different problem.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#135

Post by soneca » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

MattGaiser wrote: post #50

I am somewhat sympathetic to the check size argument simply because I have seen a lot of people drift from accelerator to accelerator to accelerator and mostly focus on getting to their next one. They become really good at the pitch and grant collecting, but have websites that barely work or rarely go and meet customers. There is a perverse incentive in the accelerator spot in itself being a reward. I suppose it depe…

So don’t change the check size, just filter out companies that passed through other accelerators and still failed to gain significant traction.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#136

Post by pwinnski » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC

Jommi wrote: post #93

doorstar wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a silicon valley success story in our family. His parents were telling me how he built everything up out of nothing, clearly unaware of their own contribution. He could pour all his money into his start-up because if he'd lost every dime he could have moved back in with them. He'd have his own bedroom, bathroom, and a fresh-cooked meal every night. He could have stayed with them as long has he wanted. Very fe…

I don't know think this is as clear. Can you link me to some researcher where a stronger social net leads to better entrepreneur outcomes? Because looking at country level data, USA, with it's terribly scary and risky path of entrepreneurship completely outperforms welfare state countries like the Nordics. You could say the difference is from capital markets, but still even the difference in startups that are not suc…

There are cultural factors as well that make entrepreneurs valued and respected in the USA in ways they aren't in other places, so the right comparison doesn't seem to be across countries (where non-financial cultural factors may overshadow all else) but within a country in which the government-supplied safety net is severely lacking. In the USA, those best-suited to pursue entrepreneurship are those for whom the personal safety net is strong, despite the overall national safety net being weak.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#137

Post by sp332 » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #95

> You're going to end up with a bunch of rich white dudes as founders Why not just say "rich dudes" ? That is the qualifier. The race might be true too, but it's not what defines the argument.

Access to capital is partly based on social and professional networks, which are harder for black people to access. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/22/black-e...

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#138

Post by cryptonector » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC

awillen wrote: post #9

The idea that check sizes should be small so people should be forced into dire financial situations is a terrible one, and one that would absolutely hurt diversity. You're going to end up with a bunch of rich white dudes as founders (because very, very obviously the other way that people can afford to take smaller checks is if they have a lot of money in the bank). The smaller class size issue is probably fair, but r…

If you have no capital to bring, then you will have no equity either unless you provide labor for free. Labor compensated with equity is capital, since you have to pay your living expenses out of savings or loans that you are liable for. And you'll just be an employee of sorts, except with less pay and more risk. Why bother?

If you're unsure where your next meal is coming from, then you probably aren't currently a good candidate to be a founder. Maybe later you will be, but first things first: accumulate a bit of wealth. Venture capital isn't a government welfare program. You might get YC or others to pay a sort of a social tax by providing a sort of welfare, but the founders won't be owners (see above).

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#139

Post by jlokier » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

> "make founders take on massive personal debt to survive"

That assumes massive personal debt is even an option.

A lot of poorer people are turned down for personal debt with respectable institutions.

They go to the bank, credit company or whatever, and the answer is a straight no, we have nothing for you. Maybe if they're lucky they can have a small overdraft, worth less than a month's rent. Not enough to move the needle. Loan sharks exist but that's a terrible idea.

I mention this because I have the impression some people, who are used to easy credit (especially credit cards), don't realise there are a lot of people who can't get any.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#140

Post by awillen » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #25

awillen wrote: post #9

The idea that check sizes should be small so people should be forced into dire financial situations is a terrible one, and one that would absolutely hurt diversity. You're going to end up with a bunch of rich white dudes as founders (because very, very obviously the other way that people can afford to take smaller checks is if they have a lot of money in the bank). The smaller class size issue is probably fair, but r…

It also doesn't make any sense from an investment perspective. Reddit would have been one of the most successful YC companies of all time, except for that they basically had to shut down because they couldn't raise money. This happened to lots of early YC companies that could have otherwise been successful. Had Reddit not sold for pennies on the dollar to Conde Nast, that alone would have probably paid for the extra…

Great point. People think a willingness to take extreme financial risks is somehow a useful personality trait when it comes to entrepreneurship because of selection bias. People who take that risk and make it tell that story. People who take that risk and don't make it aren't heard from. People who don't take that risk also aren't heard from.

There are lots of people with great ideas and the ability to execute on them who also have a deep sense of financial responsibility that precludes them from going 50k into credit card debt.