Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster • Hacker News Board

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#11

Post by version_five » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:32 PM UTC

mrcwinn wrote: post #4

I might be missing something - it’s early in the morning - but a VC at another investor says Demo Day isn’t that good, and Axios runs with a story saying as much? I think capital is plentiful for quality companies so there are certainly options out there. But from what I can see anecdotally, YC is, now as much as ever, a fantastic opportunity to gain visibility to high-quality investors.

Isnt the story saying that the demo day itself is becoming less important, and deals are being signed before or outside of it? I didn't take it as disparaging YC, just that the "reveal" aspect of demo day has given way to a making deals on a one-on-one basis

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#12

Post by whimsicalism » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:33 PM UTC

pyb wrote: post #7

I am not 100% sure that the author wrote this title. It is much more dramatic than the article.

Don't know how it's changed over time, but traditionally the author does not write the headline.

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#13

Post by flyinglizard » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:34 PM UTC

Following YC launches, it seems to me like YC, after analyzing where they made their money over the last 15 years have taken the “spray and pray” model to the extreme. If it’s only one company per batch that makes most of the returns, you just need to make sure there are enough companies and let natural selection run its course.

The problem is this model doesn’t really work for traditional VCs - they can’t support so many companies (not just money but also partners attention) so there’s an adverse funnel.

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#14

Post by blueboo » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:42 PM UTC

Of course it has. Spending a today chatting with folks as you walk through 60 demos vs a webpage that lists 400? Fortunately the demo day isn’t the totality of YC’s value, as e article notes

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#15

Post by ignoramous » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

mrcwinn wrote: post #4

I might be missing something - it’s early in the morning - but a VC at another investor says Demo Day isn’t that good, and Axios runs with a story saying as much? I think capital is plentiful for quality companies so there are certainly options out there. But from what I can see anecdotally, YC is, now as much as ever, a fantastic opportunity to gain visibility to high-quality investors.

Pretty much.

Immad Akhund (pg once claimed immad was the best at fundraising among all yc founders [0]) tweeted that the yc-batch valuations were at an all time high [1].

Y Combinator valuations are up from 1 year ago. Rest of seed market will prob follow. This YC batch:

Pre-revenue in non hot market: ~$15m (was $8m)

2nd time founder and pre-traction: ~$20m (was $12m)

$30k+/month/revenue or hot market: $25m+ (was $15m)

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2006095

[1] https://archive.is/GYIH0

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#16

Post by tptacek » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

version_five wrote: post #11

mrcwinn wrote: post #4

I might be missing something - it’s early in the morning - but a VC at another investor says Demo Day isn’t that good, and Axios runs with a story saying as much? I think capital is plentiful for quality companies so there are certainly options out there. But from what I can see anecdotally, YC is, now as much as ever, a fantastic opportunity to gain visibility to high-quality investors.

Isnt the story saying that the demo day itself is becoming less important, and deals are being signed before or outside of it? I didn't take it as disparaging YC, just that the "reveal" aspect of demo day has given way to a making deals on a one-on-one basis

That's... a pretty old story too, isn't it?

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#17

Post by ryanSrich » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:58 PM UTC

I don’t get this article. In order to objectively claim YC has somehow lost value, they’d need some measurable proof.

Unless YC companies are failing to find funding, which is exceedingly doubtful, I don’t know how you could claim they’ve “lost luster”.

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#18

Post by detaro » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:59 PM UTC

ryanSrich wrote: post #17

I don’t get this article. In order to objectively claim YC has somehow lost value, they’d need some measurable proof. Unless YC companies are failing to find funding, which is exceedingly doubtful, I don’t know how you could claim they’ve “lost luster”.

Where does the article say that YC has lost value?

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#19

Post by nikanj » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 3:00 PM UTC

flyinglizard wrote: post #13

Following YC launches, it seems to me like YC, after analyzing where they made their money over the last 15 years have taken the “spray and pray” model to the extreme. If it’s only one company per batch that makes most of the returns, you just need to make sure there are enough companies and let natural selection run its course. The problem is this model doesn’t really work for traditional VCs - they can’t support so…

Supporting that many companies is easier if you don't really support them. Toss them a little cash, tell them to get a shared house in SF for a months-long hackathon and hope for the best. After the first 12 months, start looking more closely at the fraction of startups that got anywhere.

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#20

Post by skeeter2020 » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 3:07 PM UTC

A lot has changed:

   * batch size
   * remote participation
   * international companies
   * YC's size and # of partners (vs a few principals)

so to say demo day has lost it's impact is a big stretch (not that the story even really says this). There are too many variables.

The real story is that being part of something exclusive and successful is viewed as more valuable than something much larger and but no more successful. No kidding.