[deleted]
Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
171–180 of 326 posts
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#172After a brief search, because I like the functionality and dislike the price point I found this: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1532419400
Open source, free (both as in beer and freedom), small memory footprint.
Previous discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23991111
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
For me that's still what it's best at and what it should focus on. "Paper", Signatures, Password, to me that feels like they're desperately trying to find something to not just be a reliable external hard drive for people. Oh and of course their number one ambition, trying to convince me to upgrade to whatever more expensive plan they have.
Dropbox could have carved out a niche for itself as a platform for backup and sharing of files. However, the amount of investment capital doesn't allow them to be just a successful medium sized enterprise.
> Dropbox could have carved out a niche for itself as a platform for backup and sharing of files
Serious question - hasn't it? I know there are other players in the space, but it's absolutely the #1 solution I think of.
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#174According to OP, YC would have lost its ways had it invested in TheFacebook. Why would anyone invest in a harvard exclusive social network.
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#175[deleted]
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#176Literally every time you see a startup release a product that seems trivial it's because that's not the full story. You're judging without complete information. For example, the public face might be a simple Mac calendar widget, but that could be the gateway to calendar sharing, native office apps, meeting booking, event management, ticket sales, corporate flight sales etc. Building an audience with a cheap tool that…
This. From my YC experience, I know that starting with a niche is good advice and advice they likely would have gotten.
Looking at the Launch HN [1], I think the question should instead be "has YC lost it's way when its latest company is founded by 4 University of Waterloo students?". When phrased that way, the answer seems obvious, given that YC started out funding current college students in Boston.
Having gone through YC in W19 with Wanderlog (https://wanderlog.com), I think one of its best parts is how it invests in founders who are outside the typical VC hobnob. I remember meeting folks who'd worked in utilities in Texas all their lives, multiple groups of university students taking a leave, and other groups to whom VCs would simply say "you need more traction"
Like most early stage investors, they're not investing in an idea -- they're investing in founders! I do have to say that YC partners probably encouraged the founders to pivot (like we had been told), but the ultimate choice of what to pivot to is the founders'. So like another comment said, cut these 20-year old university students some slack!
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#1772 observations: - I happily paid for a very similar product about 10 years ago (it was full screen width and had a brilliant timeline feature but otherwise very similar. It was broken when Snow Lion or something was released. I still look for an equivalent.) - Monthly payments forever for standalone apps is a big no no in my book. I get annoyed even just writing about it. Monthly payments for feature upgrades, perpet…
As a monthly payment, it doesn't make sense for individuals. But I think that's fine for selling to businesses.
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dropbox could have carved out a niche for itself as a platform for backup and sharing of files. However, the amount of investment capital doesn't allow them to be just a successful medium sized enterprise.
> Dropbox could have carved out a niche for itself as a platform for backup and sharing of files Serious question - hasn't it? I know there are other players in the space, but it's absolutely the #1 solution I think of.
Absolutely, but my point was it can't stop there. It has to keep trying a whole bunch of stuff to try to become more than just that.
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#179Literally every time you see a startup release a product that seems trivial it's because that's not the full story. You're judging without complete information. For example, the public face might be a simple Mac calendar widget, but that could be the gateway to calendar sharing, native office apps, meeting booking, event management, ticket sales, corporate flight sales etc. Building an audience with a cheap tool that…
I think the best example is when Dropbox was announced and how many people scoffed at the triviality of cloning data around.
Apples to oranges. Dropbox wasn’t complementing some other platforms core functionality that can be blocked by drop of a hat API change.
Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
$10/month is not a cheap tool. I'm paying $90/year for Intellij Idea which is my main development tool. IMO that cost is extremely prohibitive for most users and it's definitely not a way to get plenty of people on board to monetize it later.
I don't get when people say $X/month is too much. Too much for you maybe. But for me, if I can save 1 hour per month, that's worth $500. That's the top of what I've charged per hour for some consulting gigs. So $10/m is literally nothing for me if I can save time. Time is your most valuable asset. Money is nothing. Focus on time.
How many failure states does a conventional Meat Thermometer have?
How long of chain of dependencies on other technologies does a conventional Meat Thermometer have?