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What I Learned Going Through YC as a 17 Year Old

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

#131

Post by jedberg »

tjchear wrote: post #65
lordnacho wrote: post #8

It may be true that you don't need to have worked in a white shoe firm to be respected in SV, but I'm pretty sure there's certain characteristics that are advantageous: - Got into a top university. Good grades are popular, unsurprisingly. A proxy for intelligence and hard work. - Speaks English. How many YC folks don't? I'm sure there are a lot of smart people in the world who just didn't grow up with English and so…

I vaguely remember Paul Graham said (and I'm paraphrasing very much) good grades or bigco background sends a signal that you're more cut out for working for others than running a business. But of course, the two don't have to be generally mutually exclusive.

Which is ironic coming from a guy with a PhD from Harvard.

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

#132

Post by jedberg »

> Silicon Valley doesn't care about your background

To an extent yes, but generally it still matters a lot. Look at any big tech company, and you'll find a significant number of Ivy League grads and Forbes top 25 grads.

Or look at YC itself. Anecdotally I'd say at least 50% of the YC founders have a degree from a Forbes top 25 school (it would be great if someone had the real stats).

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

#133

Post by jariel »

Silicon Valley cares very much about your background.

50% of VC's are Harvard/Stanford.

FB, Insta, MS, Snapchat, Amazon, Google etc. - Ivy League or Stanford.

(Ok, Amazon and MS are not 'Valley' but ...)

So the industry is more open to 'outsiders' of the cliques than say, banking - definitely, but it's still a clique, don't kid yourself.

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

#134

Post by jariel »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #51
neom wrote: post #50

From my experience east cost VCs are mostly former wall st folks, lawyers or family offices who are playing VC. Very few of them have any operating experience, and if they do, it's at BigCo, not in or around startups. I don't think they are well tuned to what non-traditional success looks like, and as a result they have problems pattern matching.

This has been exactly my experience. Even in the earliest stage startupS they’ll be looking for the fastest line to profitability rather than prioritizing to build something that’s big and important. It’s low conviction investing where the financial model matters more than traditional west coast indicators of future success.

"they’ll be looking for the fastest line to profitability rather than prioritizing to build something that’s big and important"

First - don't assume that the 'big thing entrepreneurs are building' is in any way 'important'.

9 times out of 10 the 'big thing' is just neat idea, a project, and may have nothing to do with profiability.

Most 'grand visions' are that.

MS, Amazon, Snap, FB, Insta, Google - they all started pretty small, and worked at a fairly small scale. Surely they had visions, but they were fulfilling needs from the get-go.

I think what you are confusing is probably 'risk profile' of smaller VC funds, who in fact, don't have the patience to worry about building large marketplaces for example. It has to do with mentality, but also the size of the funds, and their experience with bigger bets.

And of course, nothing compares to SoftBank in terms of a 'massive fund looking to support global penetration'.

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

#135

Post by user5994461 »

disown wrote: post #128
austenallred wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be easier if you have credentials, but it’s certainly possible without them. I’d argue how your business is running is 10x as important as credentials. (I dropped out of a non-prestigious school and had work experience at one company, have raised $120m+ in <4 yrs).

> (I dropped out of a non-prestigious school and had work experience at one company, have raised $120m+ in In other words, you had connections? I'm guessing you weren't a poor single mother who dropped out of school to raise her kid. How do you drop out, have 1 job experience and raise $120m? Either you are extremely privilege and/or extraordinarily lucky. Stop making it sound so easy like everyone can do what you di…

You don't drop out and get 120M.

You drop out, start a company because nobody wants you, get some seeds funding with sheer luck, grow the business progressively, hire some more people, grow some more and eventually raise 2 more rounds reaching 120M. That takes many many years.

It's a massive combination of luck and being at the right place at the right time selling an okay thing. Then persevering over numerous years and executing decently. Most people won't get there not because they are incapable but because they don't have the environment and the bit of luck.

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

#136

Post by exolymph »

disown wrote: post #128
austenallred wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be easier if you have credentials, but it’s certainly possible without them. I’d argue how your business is running is 10x as important as credentials. (I dropped out of a non-prestigious school and had work experience at one company, have raised $120m+ in <4 yrs).

> (I dropped out of a non-prestigious school and had work experience at one company, have raised $120m+ in In other words, you had connections? I'm guessing you weren't a poor single mother who dropped out of school to raise her kid. How do you drop out, have 1 job experience and raise $120m? Either you are extremely privilege and/or extraordinarily lucky. Stop making it sound so easy like everyone can do what you di…

https://twitter.com/Austen/status/997604313362034689

> My experience: everything I own in one suitcase, here’s my sleeping situation. Would shower at YMCA and work at coworking space. $300/mo personal burn. If you could combine the two you’d fill it 100% and make SF possible again.

https://twitter.com/Austen/status/1093540469022195712

> Lambda School wouldn't exist without Gumroad.

> We bootstrapped for the first several months without salaries from the proceeds of the book I sold there. Gave us enough runway to try the crazy “pay back when you’re hired” things. Thanks Sahil!

Wanna try again?

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

#137

Post by schwartzworld »

ian-g wrote: post #88

I have a lot of thoughts about this. I'm glad he's seen some success! That's great for him! I just don't know that all or even much of what he's learned is transferable > I was able to get a job in SF with a single cold email and zero connections This seems like sheer dumb luck. For every one of him (or you, if you're reading this) there's a lot of people who thrash and struggle. I went through 80+ job applications b…

the oddly shaped food box isn't about the novelty of oddly shaped food. it's about making you feel like your money is doing good. Look! We aren't wasting! We eat the avocados with the brown spots!

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

#138

Post by disown »

exolymph wrote: post #136
disown wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (I dropped out of a non-prestigious school and had work experience at one company, have raised $120m+ in In other words, you had connections? I'm guessing you weren't a poor single mother who dropped out of school to raise her kid. How do you drop out, have 1 job experience and raise $120m? Either you are extremely privilege and/or extraordinarily lucky. Stop making it sound so easy like everyone can do what you di…

https://twitter.com/Austen/status/997604313362034689 > My experience: everything I own in one suitcase, here’s my sleeping situation. Would shower at YMCA and work at coworking space. $300/mo personal burn. If you could combine the two you’d fill it 100% and make SF possible again. https://twitter.com/Austen/status/1093540469022195712 > Lambda School wouldn't exist without Gumroad. > We bootstrapped for the first sev…

> Wanna try again?

No need. Everything you linked is self proclaimed tweets. By someone obviously very good at selling himself.

I'm sure I can link to Zuckerburg tweeting about how concerned he is about privacy issues. Does that make it so?

I've actually lived like the guy claimed and even worse. You certainly don't have time and energy to write a book. Certainly don't take pics. Seems more like the guy was hipster "slumming" for cred rather than someone truly struggling.

So a classic dropout bum who magically sells a book to start a startup? Like I said, " Either [he is] extremely privilege and/or extraordinarily lucky."

Do you want to try again?

If his story is true, he is extremely privileged and/or extraordinarily lucky. How about this, if every college student dropped out and lived like a bum, what percentage of them would be able to raise $120 million?

Also, lambdaschool isn't a new idea. The idea of tech training school has been around at least since the 90s.

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

#139

Post by kevc »

bsenftner wrote: post #24
blocked_again wrote: post #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.

Silicon Valley cares about your age - young entrepreneurs get more attention than older. I think it is because the younger are more manipulable.

This is a pervasive myth. Young founders get pr because it’s notable and drives clicks, but the average age of a successful founder is older. The average age of a YC founder is 30. According to a Harvard Business Review article I remember reading, the average age is 45.

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

#140

Post by bergstromm466 »

disown wrote: post #138
exolymph wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://twitter.com/Austen/status/997604313362034689 > My experience: everything I own in one suitcase, here’s my sleeping situation. Would shower at YMCA and work at coworking space. $300/mo personal burn. If you could combine the two you’d fill it 100% and make SF possible again. https://twitter.com/Austen/status/1093540469022195712 > Lambda School wouldn't exist without Gumroad. > We bootstrapped for the first sev…

> Wanna try again? No need. Everything you linked is self proclaimed tweets. By someone obviously very good at selling himself. I'm sure I can link to Zuckerburg tweeting about how concerned he is about privacy issues. Does that make it so? I've actually lived like the guy claimed and even worse. You certainly don't have time and energy to write a book. Certainly don't take pics. Seems more like the guy was hipster "…

> lambdaschool isn't a new idea. The idea of tech training school has been around at least since the 90s

Yep, and the apprenticeship model even longer (which I'd argue is a category lambdaschool falls under)

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