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Is Y Combinator worth it?

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Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#111

Post by marcinzm »

robocat wrote: post #110
marcinzm wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone else said, as an employee my goals align better with investors than with bootstrap founders. I want good salary and equity that will grow rapidly in value and be liquid in reasonable time. I also want some reasonable measure that my equity is in fact growing in value. Even if the company doesn't go liquid in reasonable time with outside investors the chance of them being able to buy my stake at fair market…

> as an employee my goals align better with investors than with bootstrap founders. If you are a gambler, VC equity is best. If you want to maximise your expected returns, equity in a bootstrapped company is better IMHO. VCs have their risks spread across multiple investments, where you will only be able to work for a limited number of companies before burnout or ageism hits you (if you don’t win a D10 die roll). Als…

If you want expected returns then I'd argue that FAANG (or late stage startups) makes a lot more sense than a bootstrapped company. Same guaranteed monetary outcome, they're likely to pay much better and look much better on your resume. Startups offer higher potential return for lower average return than FAANG. Bootstrapped companies, unless you're a founder, offer neither.

edit: This is explicitly about employees at these companies rather than founders.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#112

Post by dmitriid »

marcinzm wrote: post #52
msoad wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an engineer I would love to work for a company that makes money and pays me from that money.

Curious, why does it matter if your paycheck comes from VC money or revenue money? In the end the same amount comes to your bank account.

It does. Revenue money (or a company on a well-defined/observable trajectory to actually earn money) means a sustainable business.

VC money means "we throw money at you until we no longer don't" or "we throw money at you because we're in hostile market takeover through price dumping".

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#113

Post by langitbiru »

vmception wrote: post #102
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…

Yeah, sounds about right. We should have more of these stories. I've seen it all. I've worked with co-founders that couldn't tell we were getting the run around when it was plainly obvious to me. I've worked with other startups in advisory roles seeing the same things from all their leads.

Someone should write "The Dark Side of VCs" book and lay bare the ugly side of VCs so the future founders can be spared from the cruel fate.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#114

Post by langitbiru »

doh wrote: post #109
vmception wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, sounds about right. We should have more of these stories. I've seen it all. I've worked with co-founders that couldn't tell we were getting the run around when it was plainly obvious to me. I've worked with other startups in advisory roles seeing the same things from all their leads.

I hear you. I seen worse unfortunately. Especially when founders are not white men (like myself). The way that some of my female founders friends were treated was orders of magnitude worse (if that's even possible). One friend wrote about her experience [0]. [0] https://medium.com/sparking-conversation/how-raising-a-2-m-s...

Don't forget the case of black CEOs mistaken as subordinates.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23540162

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#115

Post by [deleted] »

phjesusthatguy3 wrote: post #96

https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies has: 2 legitimate hits (stripe, dropbox) ? WTFs? (Cruise, Ginkobioworks,Flexport,Rappi,Brex) ? losers (AirBNB,Doordash,Coinbase,Instacart,Gusto, Reddit) I started writing this list up but can't bring myself to finish it because it's so bad. On the one hand, yes you should apply because people with money will give you some of it. On the other hand, they're not going to help you…

[deleted]

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#116

Post by askafriend »

mediaman wrote: post #20
s17n wrote: post #13

Y Combinator has one of the strongest brands of any investor, which matters a ton for recruiting. It's very hard for engineers considering working at an early stage company to determine whether it's legit or not, and Y Combinator is probably a better known name than any VC. Personally when I was looking for jobs I'd immediately disqualify any company that wasn't backed by a relatively small list of investors and YC w…

Would you disqualify companies that had bootstrapped successfully, were profitable, and did not take any outside money? Not a judging question - I understand the value of a good investor's due diligence and backing in improving the odds of sane leadership. But it's interesting to think how that can impact a successful, self-funded copmany's access to talent.

> Would you disqualify companies that had bootstrapped successfully, were profitable, and did not take any outside money?

Yes. Absolutely. If you're going to pay me in equity, I am an investor. If you can't paint a picture of goals, timelines and a sense of what an exit looks like - I'm not joining you.

If you're paying my comp in cash, then you can do whatever you want. But know that the cash comp will have to be very high to convince me - probably too high for a bootstrapped startup.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#117

Post by nirmel »

asou wrote: post #89

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'

They don't provide feedback if you don't get an interview. If you do get an interview and are rejected, usually, they provide feedback.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#118

Post by doh »

langitbiru wrote: post #114
doh wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear you. I seen worse unfortunately. Especially when founders are not white men (like myself). The way that some of my female founders friends were treated was orders of magnitude worse (if that's even possible). One friend wrote about her experience [0]. [0] https://medium.com/sparking-conversation/how-raising-a-2-m-s...

Don't forget the case of black CEOs mistaken as subordinates. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23540162

That's very disturbing. I never thought I will consider myself lucky after what I went through.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#119

Post by vmception »

doh wrote: post #109
vmception wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, sounds about right. We should have more of these stories. I've seen it all. I've worked with co-founders that couldn't tell we were getting the run around when it was plainly obvious to me. I've worked with other startups in advisory roles seeing the same things from all their leads.

I hear you. I seen worse unfortunately. Especially when founders are not white men (like myself). The way that some of my female founders friends were treated was orders of magnitude worse (if that's even possible). One friend wrote about her experience [0]. [0] https://medium.com/sparking-conversation/how-raising-a-2-m-s...

Right, I personally don't pick that battle.

I partner with the “local goyim” to get into the rooms I want in every country I’m in, in the United States that is a white man with an ivy league degree.

I don't know if I got the idea from anti-semitic drivel or accurate Jewish business ideas, but I’ve had a lot of success with this approach.

If you want to fight for inclusivity, do that with your non-profit or shelve the idea until you have a path of lesser resistance, such as with your cofounder that matches the predispositions of people.

I’m not advocating for this to be how the world should work, but dealing with inclusivity in Korea, for example, is going to be distracting business priority when you know the answer is to get a Korean person on your team page and get a white male in the advertisement or interview. It is a mistake to treat America differently and act surprised at the results.

Just because some people need to see me write it: I completely understand this is a barrier of entry that does not scale to service a broad population of founders. I’ve had a lot of success with this approach.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth it?

#120

Post by thursday0987 »

phjesusthatguy3 wrote: post #96

https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies has: 2 legitimate hits (stripe, dropbox) ? WTFs? (Cruise, Ginkobioworks,Flexport,Rappi,Brex) ? losers (AirBNB,Doordash,Coinbase,Instacart,Gusto, Reddit) I started writing this list up but can't bring myself to finish it because it's so bad. On the one hand, yes you should apply because people with money will give you some of it. On the other hand, they're not going to help you…

why do you consider AirBNB, Doordash, Coinbase, Instacart, Gusto, and Reddit as losers?

All of those are very successful in my eyes.

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