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Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

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Re: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

#11

Post by RyanMcGreal »

jonathanberger wrote: post #8

It's interesting to see pg's opinion about what is important in founders evolve over the years. When I applied to YC in late 2008, I was told by alumni that YC was "looking for smart people." Although he's talked about discipline and determination as early as May 2004 in his essays those words were most commonly found next to the words "talent," "skill," or "smart," as if the two qualities were equally important. Now…

Maybe they've figured out that there are plenty of smart people, but not as many truly determined people. Determination then becomes the limiting factor once smartness has been established.

Re: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

#12

Post by patio11 »

lurker19 wrote: post #10
patio11 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how much you can do when you start unbreaking things. Edit: That was excessively brief. So many parts about the whole investment cycle were broken. Some are marginally less broken now. Having a negotiation between a fresh engineering graduate who does not know what "pre-money valuation" means and the principal of a firm with 9 figures under management, and expecting that negotiation to produce an equitab…

Your comment made me look at YC as an extended extremely thorough onsite interview, and it really clicked. But then I remembered that YC companies pitch demo day to a bunch of relative strangers-to-the-teams, not the YC investors themselves. Or do Demo Day investors get quality time with the teams during the season? Of course YC is overall a mix of interview and internship and summer camp and summer classes and more.…

The angels get one extraordinarily significant bit about all presenters prior to the Demo Day presentation: they were in YC. That is a very significant bit relative to another similarly situated twenty-something which a gleam in their eye and prototype on their MacBook.

It used to be implicit that some angels were saying "If you're good enough to be in YC, you're good enough to get investment from me." That is now 100% explicit for at least one deal. The vetting is getting outsourced, streamlined, and productized.

Re: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

#13

Post by sane_delirium »

jonathanberger wrote: post #8

It's interesting to see pg's opinion about what is important in founders evolve over the years. When I applied to YC in late 2008, I was told by alumni that YC was "looking for smart people." Although he's talked about discipline and determination as early as May 2004 in his essays those words were most commonly found next to the words "talent," "skill," or "smart," as if the two qualities were equally important. Now…

According to the interview, pseudo-determination happens often within a ten minute interview. Yes, they're looking for people with that quality but I don't think that's their goal.

They simply don't have enough data yet for an accurate model of recruiting.

Re: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

#14

Post by kemiller »

This is probably the single most discouraging thing I've ever read about startups, but at least it's honest. Entitlement? "Naughtiness"? I think after Google, the idea got out there that it's possible to succeed by just being good. Technically and morally. This sounds like a return to status quo. Not saying he's wrong. He's almost certainly right, it's just depressing.

Re: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

#15

Post by lurker19 »

kylemathews wrote: post #9
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's definitely true, but what that doesn't accurately capture is the time / mentorships and introductions that the YC team invests in all of their startups.

Ok, double that 5 million then to 10 million (a very generous assessment of their time). It's still an incredible return.

5ish years for 5ish people, some of whom could draw quite a fine salary in the M&A division of a big company or hedge fund or VC firm, and $5M doesn't seem too very generous an estimate. It is close to dead-on.

Re: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

#16

Post by tlb »

kemiller wrote: post #14

This is probably the single most discouraging thing I've ever read about startups, but at least it's honest. Entitlement? "Naughtiness"? I think after Google, the idea got out there that it's possible to succeed by just being good . Technically and morally. This sounds like a return to status quo. Not saying he's wrong. He's almost certainly right, it's just depressing.

The Google founders were more than simply good. They were determined to be #1. Most people aren't.

Re: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

#17

Post by lurker19 »

patio11 wrote: post #3
zachallaun wrote: post #2

> "YC has invested a total of around $5 million" It's incredible to think of the value that has been added to so many companies for the price of a single large series A.

It's amazing how much you can do when you start unbreaking things. Edit: That was excessively brief. So many parts about the whole investment cycle were broken. Some are marginally less broken now. Having a negotiation between a fresh engineering graduate who does not know what "pre-money valuation" means and the principal of a firm with 9 figures under management, and expecting that negotiation to produce an equitab…

This is a good point, but to your original point: "invest in me just because I impressed PG (plus more good reasons that may be true but the investor cannot see)" does not fall into your category of "unbreaking things" like the rest, especially at the start of YC. By now YC has certainly built institutional credibility, but even that can be broken if one day PG turns evil and sells out the brand like Pyrex or show or a grade-inflating college.

Re: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham: We’re Looking For People Like Us

#18

Post by phillijw »

kemiller wrote: post #14

This is probably the single most discouraging thing I've ever read about startups, but at least it's honest. Entitlement? "Naughtiness"? I think after Google, the idea got out there that it's possible to succeed by just being good . Technically and morally. This sounds like a return to status quo. Not saying he's wrong. He's almost certainly right, it's just depressing.

Has YC had the time to see the results of their naughtiness though? Scribd seems like a poor product based on my run-in with it this morning and the comments of a few people saying how bad it was. But personally I haven't really used it. And Dropbox had a lot of hype at first until it was realized that their security wasn't so secure after all. I see these types of things as being naughty because its somewhat underhanded, cutting corners, etc. Could the naughtiness cost them in the end? Perhaps. I guess we will see.
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