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What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

tieshunroquerre.com

11–20 of 155 posts

Re: What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

#11
post #6

> East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is ultimately bad because it results in less moonshots succeeding. This is really accurate, at least from my experience as someone of a similar age working on my first startup at the time. With cold outreach to VCs in NYC I had zero responses, and only two meetings with BigCos curious about us; they seemed easier to get the attention of. When I reached out to investo…

> East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is ultimately bad because it results in less moonshots succeeding.

"East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is actually better in a longer term because it results in more stable return rates (less failure)"

Re: What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

#12
post #6

> East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is ultimately bad because it results in less moonshots succeeding. This is really accurate, at least from my experience as someone of a similar age working on my first startup at the time. With cold outreach to VCs in NYC I had zero responses, and only two meetings with BigCos curious about us; they seemed easier to get the attention of. When I reached out to investo…

I wonder how close or far the strategy for getting investment is to the strategy for growth/profit.

Re: What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

#13
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reply to his email now?

I lost the domain of the email address a while back so I can’t even see it anymore... Will try to guess his email address to send a thank-you later today; better late than never even if very late? One of those funny situations of “ah, yes, now with my own domain Gmail can never take my email away from me!” but then my payment failing and my domain going to auction before I notice.

A little old fashioned, but you could try a snail mail thank you card. I'm definitely showing my age a bit here, but it's something that I've started doing with my clients.

Regardless, it's definitely never to late to say thank you whether it's via email or some other medium.

Re: What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

#14
post #6

> East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is ultimately bad because it results in less moonshots succeeding. This is really accurate, at least from my experience as someone of a similar age working on my first startup at the time. With cold outreach to VCs in NYC I had zero responses, and only two meetings with BigCos curious about us; they seemed easier to get the attention of. When I reached out to investo…

> East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is ultimately bad because it results in less moonshots succeeding. "East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is actually better in a longer term because it results in more stable return rates (less failure)"

I should’ve only quoted the first part of the sentence as relevant to me, but:

Better for whom?

I agree it could result in better average returns for the firm, but it likely isn’t better for moving society forward as a whole.

Re: What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

#16
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is ultimately bad because it results in less moonshots succeeding. "East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is actually better in a longer term because it results in more stable return rates (less failure)"

I should’ve only quoted the first part of the sentence as relevant to me, but: Better for whom? I agree it could result in better average returns for the firm, but it likely isn’t better for moving society forward as a whole.

What makes you think moving society forward is on anyone's agenda?

The best we can do is align incentives.

Given recent events, incentives seem to be far from aligned, even in the most basic & important aspects of our society (policing, pandemic handling).

Re: What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

#18
> Silicon Valley doesn't care about your background

This is BS. You have a much higher chance of rasing money for the same idea if you worked in FAANG than if you worked in Accenture.

Same goes to someone who went to Harvard vs someone who went to University of Colorado.

Re: What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

#19
post #6

> East Coast VCs are much more conservative, which is ultimately bad because it results in less moonshots succeeding. This is really accurate, at least from my experience as someone of a similar age working on my first startup at the time. With cold outreach to VCs in NYC I had zero responses, and only two meetings with BigCos curious about us; they seemed easier to get the attention of. When I reached out to investo…

I can see a parallel with the "why Europe doesn't have as many big tech companies as the US" discussions. Now change the question to "How many companies does the East Coast have in comparison with the West Coast." Or even SV. (Even if most companies are actually established in Delaware)

Ease of finance and management vision (which kinda related to the first point) seems to be the main drivers.

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