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Is Y Combinator worth it?

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Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#81

Post by closeparen »

benjaminjosephw wrote: post #67
closeparen wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some point “chugging along” rounds down to “failure” for employees with equity compensation. Particularly at 10 years when it expires.

Who would consider building a successful and stable business a failure? Surely not the people that helped build it. Isn't early employee equity compensation more a case of "if the founders make a lot of money from this, I deserve a fraction of that too" rather than being an IOU in place of compensation?

Equity compensation is asking employees to invest their labor in the company. If you’re honest about your intention not to generate any return on their investment and they do it anyway, I guess that’s fine, but it seems more likely that people taking those offers are being misled.

Sustainable businesses can buy the labor they need with present cash flows and don’t need to sell people on the possibility of future ones.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#82

Post by radley »

> kind of like asking "is exercise worth it?"

Actually, it's more like "do I need a trainer?" If you already have a routine and it's working for you, then no. But if you've never exercised or exercise and are getting nowhere, then it's a huge boost to learn how to do things right and achieve your goals faster (with a high but worth-it price).

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#83

Post by doh »

3np wrote: post #72
doh wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this was meant as a sarcasm, but in a chance that it wasn't here are some extreme cases (these are all different investors): - they asked me to pay for attendance in their seminar that will teach me how to raise money before they consider investing - I got stood up for a meeting with no word from the person. He followed up two weeks later that they are not interested. 3 years later we met at an event thrown…

Thanks for sharing. BTW, you still have time to insert extra whitespace for those bullet points.

Thanks for the nudge. I keep forgetting the markdown here is different

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#84

Post by newera2016 »

We built our $100mm startup after getting rejecting in YC interview back in 2014. Even since than I am actively involved in YC. We submitted our new startup's application this fall. Lets hope they hear us this time.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#85

Post by newera2016 »

taytus wrote: post #23

I think it is worth it but less every year. I got an email to apply (we got rejected in the past) and I just ignored it. We raised our seed round, in the middle of Texas... there is a lot of capital out there and a lot of amazing investors. The world is much larger than SV.

congrats

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#86

Post by justinclift »

doh wrote: post #64
langitbiru wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"abusive investors" -> Tell me more about them.

I believe this was meant as a sarcasm, but in a chance that it wasn't here are some extreme cases (these are all different investors): - they asked me to pay for attendance in their seminar that will teach me how to raise money before they consider investing - I got stood up for a meeting with no word from the person. He followed up two weeks later that they are not interested. 3 years later we met at an event thrown…

Ouch. Especially with the one which led you through 9 months of due diligence, then refused to sign.

I'm kind of surprised they didn't string you out for a while longer, then offer to buy the entire operation when you were forced to fold.

Have seen that done before - on purpose - by a place that knew the value of the operation and figured they could get the whole thing cheaply that way. And did so successfully. :(

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#87

Post by phjesusthatguy3 »

radley wrote: post #82

> kind of like asking "is exercise worth it?" Actually, it's more like "do I need a trainer?" If you already have a routine and it's working for you, then no. But if you've never exercised or exercise and are getting nowhere, then it's a huge boost to learn how to do things right and achieve your goals faster (with a high but worth-it price).

Actually it's more like "is this one particular trainer better than anyone else?"

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#88

Post by ausbah »

radley wrote: post #82

> kind of like asking "is exercise worth it?" Actually, it's more like "do I need a trainer?" If you already have a routine and it's working for you, then no. But if you've never exercised or exercise and are getting nowhere, then it's a huge boost to learn how to do things right and achieve your goals faster (with a high but worth-it price).

even those who are experienced with exercise can always learn something!

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#89

Post by asou »

Does anyone know if Y Combinator provides good feedback when sending out rejections . The best way to learn anything is to try , but I want more than ' Better luck next year'
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