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

#191

Post by swyx » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:05 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…

i had thought myself reasonably well informed on the Reddit story but this is surprising. you're saying if they had their 7% of the ~1-2b it wouldve paid for every YC startup since? but its not liquid...

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

#192

Post by PaulDavisThe1st » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:06 PM UTC

s_dev wrote: post #187

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then don't start one if you can't consume the risk. Corollary: startups can only be started by people in a position to consume [sic] the risk. Do we, as a society, or even just an economy, really want that? And the point was not a "special exemption for people with kids". It was that "consuming the risk" when you have no safety net (e.g. move back in with family etc.) is a much bigger issue than if you do.

> It was that "consuming the risk" when you have no safety net (e.g. move back in with family etc.) is a much bigger issue than if you do. My point is these are the same. One individual has a different risk profile because (s)he made different choices and thats fine. If you have kids -- it will negatively affect your capacity to start a company. >Corollary: startups can only be started by people in a position to cons…

There are many people (the vast majority of people, in fact) who could not deal with risk for reasons entirely unrelated to having kids. A person's risk profile (particularly if they are young) has much more to with their family background than choices they made (or didn't make).

I'd rather not have new ideas for businesses filtered through "can afford zero income for N months".

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

#193

Post by phkahler » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:08 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…

I think the money needs to cover your rent. It should not be enough to hire technical people to build the product - that was supposed to be the founders thing.

In that light, SF is the wrong place because the rents are so high.

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

#194

Post by wnevets » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:08 PM UTC

SamReidHughes wrote: post #142

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…

What sort of joke is this? Having parents with an extra bedroom, once used by kids, is perfectly ordinary.

I'm not perfectly ordinary I guess

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

#195

Post by codegeek » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:11 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…

I think the financial argument is an interesting one. It is true that you need to be financial stable so that you can really focus on the startup BUT on the other hand, too much money can spoil you and you could end up burning the cash without lot of trial and error which can be useful starting up.

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

#196

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:11 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…

[deleted]

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

#197

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:11 PM UTC

_curious_ wrote: post #124

xwdv wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can absolutely hire a rockstar dev, you need to think in terms of cashflow. You may not be able to pay a full year of salary, but you can still pay their full weekly salary as you go until you either run out of money or produce enough revenue to get to that point.

Agreed, it's not even about the money. My last company had a technical cofounder who by all means was highly sought after and managed a team of 15-20 other developers in their primary dev consulting company meaning not only did they rock technically but also had biz acumen. That individual worked FOR FREE for 3 years 25 hrs/week before collecting any money. Don't ever think you have to pay a developer some market sal…

[deleted]

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

#198

Post by swyx » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

danenania wrote: post #172

richajak wrote: post #123

Several years ago I used to read pg old articles (also Joel S, pgreenspun) without realizing who he was or know what YC was. It clicked with my nerds mindset. I had an impression that he was a champion for the underdog, nerds like me who is smart enough (but not genius), willing to work hard and live frugal. I also had the understanding that ambition to be a unicorn not necessary, it is much more important to be rame…

I don't think pg or the YC partners more generally have anything at all against bootstrapping or smaller scale businesses. But they're a business too and have their own investors to answer to. Billion dollar exits are what make their business work. $5k MRR is a great goal, but you shouldn't expect investors to give you money if you there's no potential upside for them.

there's definitely some jockeying for "the YC of bootstrappers" among the indie hacker crowd now

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

#199

Post by danenania » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

felipellrocha wrote: post #89

> 3. When i went through YC (recently), we had a "masterclass" of sorts on growth with @patrickc & @collision . Once of the first questions they asked the group was "how many of you are consumer companies?" > Like... 2 people raised their hands and everyone else laughed hysterically. Are B2C inherently better than B2Bs? What's his argument here? I, for one, was never one to enjoy B2C products (matter of fact, I think…

I don't know if it was the case here, but it's also worth mentioning that these YC workshops often run alongside other workshops at the same time, and founders choose the ones they find most relevant. It makes sense that most of the founders who would choose to go to a growth workshop led by the Stripe founders would be running b2b companies.

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

#200

Post by jedberg » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 5:15 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…

> 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.

I can't give details, but I can tell you that the $80K would not have made a difference. What would have made a difference was a small seed of a few million, which YC is pretty good at getting for companies these days.