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Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

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Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#21

Post by skeeter2020 »

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…

Funny to me is that the earlier years where when YC was at it's peak signalling point, yet when I see a company I've never heard of tagging their name with something like (YC12) I assume (unfairly) that they're a zombie.

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#22

Post by atlasunshrugged »

whimsicalism wrote: post #12
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.

I recently wrote a few articles for a couple different publications and while I suggested headlines, the editor is who chose them in every case

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#23

Post by coldcode »

Is being in Y Combinator in the long run make any difference to the median startup, or just really affect the companies that succeed big time, measured once they attain that big time?

Is it really fair to measure valuations early on and call it a success, or does it make more sense to wait X years? Is raising money early on any indicator of later success inside YC (as opposed to doing it outside of YC)?

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#25

Post by mojuba »

ignoramous wrote: post #15
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 $15…

Just realized how no traction can be nicely repackaged as pre-traction. Language matters!

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#26

Post by kweinber »

tptacek wrote: post #16
version_five wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It’s an old story that only the dregs are left over by demo day?

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#28

Post by tptacek »

kweinber wrote: post #26
tptacek wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It’s an old story that only the dregs are left over by demo day?

It's an old story that a huge amount of fundraising is done around (and before) demo day. At least: that was very true 5 years ago.

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#29

Post by matsemann »

I used to read the articles about the YC batches and the launch threads here, hoping for many of them to succeed and be interested in the various ideas. But later years I've stopped. First reason is because it's so damn many. If all of them had a launch thread here on HN it would probably be more than one a day.

Secondly because so many of them now feels like "X for Y". Or just X in a new geography.

Re: Y Combinator's Demo Day loses luster

#30

Post by new_realist »

ignoramous wrote: post #15
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 $15…

Valuations everywhere are at an all-time high. That doesn't mean YC is a better value than other VCs.
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