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Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

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Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#161

Post by Ntrails »

0______0 wrote: post #153
nkotov wrote: post #77

To be honest, this feels like a PR stunt since we all know if you add "YC is bad" and share it on HN, people will look and react. I haven't heard of Bolt, I'm not familiar with the space at all. I use Stripe because the product just works and I can trust my business with it. Seeing a CEO who publicly complains turns me away from even wanting to try the product. On a related note - I helped review a little over 100+ Y…

> Seeing a CEO who publicly complains turns me away from even wanting to try the product. Really? That turns you off? What a lame argument. Your criteria for using Stripe is that "the product works" but not using Bolt is "CEO who complains".

A CEO spouting a contrived storyline where they are fighting against nefarious SV forces makes me question their rationality. Which, you know, is an attribute I care about if they're running a payments processer

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#162

Post by dang »

log4shelled wrote: post #117
dang wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's the main result of the post, then it's a reductio, because YC funds competitors all the time and would never turn down an innovator for anti-competitive reasons—only because they thought it wouldn't be a good investment at that moment. Anything else would both be bad for YC's business and against its principles ( https://www.ycombinator.com/principles/ ). Of course it still happens that YC turns down good c…

Creating a cartel is "bad for business"? Are you sure about that?

Turning down good deals is bad for a startup investment business, yes. In fact it's the worst mistake such a business can make. This observation is so commonplace that it's long been a cliché.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#163

Post by gorgoiler »

aerosmile wrote: post #51

Public fights can occasionally be net positive for one of the participants, but your arguments will be publicly scrutinized and they better be watertight. If the logic you presented is your best work, then I can easily see why you've experienced some trouble in getting people to support you. Let's start with the very first argument you presented: getting rejected by YC is a clear proof of collusion. Getting rejected…

Ahem, on triumphalism, I would recommend re-reading the very start of the thread.

> Today we’re a successful company with 600 employees, billions in GMV, and growing rapidly

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#164

Post by reilly3000 »

DarylZero wrote: post #103
aerosmile wrote: post #51

Public fights can occasionally be net positive for one of the participants, but your arguments will be publicly scrutinized and they better be watertight. If the logic you presented is your best work, then I can easily see why you've experienced some trouble in getting people to support you. Let's start with the very first argument you presented: getting rejected by YC is a clear proof of collusion. Getting rejected…

I don't think you're using the word "contrarian" correctly.

No post body was provided.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#165

Post by samwillis »

oefrha wrote: post #113
gondo wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you change the dates sometimes? :)

Second chance stories have submission time reset IIRC. It’s a routine thing, nothing nefarious.

From memory, I think if you go to the user who submitted the posts “submissions” list it will show you the original time rather than the “second chance time”.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#166

Post by nextaccountic »

aerosmile wrote: post #51

Public fights can occasionally be net positive for one of the participants, but your arguments will be publicly scrutinized and they better be watertight. If the logic you presented is your best work, then I can easily see why you've experienced some trouble in getting people to support you. Let's start with the very first argument you presented: getting rejected by YC is a clear proof of collusion. Getting rejected…

You started with the weakest argument, that was based all hearsay and had no smoking gun. It was first only because the Twitter thread told the story in chronological order. And then.. you stopped there?

For me the strongest argument is that hours after they reached #1 on HN, Stripe posted, got #1 themselves, then Bolt's own post somehow disappeared, suggesting foul play. Twice, in two separate occasions, this is alleged to have happened. This is both pretty damning for HN itself (and in this case, @dang has some explaining to do), and pretty easy to confirm or refute with Wayback machine and such.

edit: but it appears.. Stripe post was earlier than Bolt's own post? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30068406 Were Bolt posts even removed? And if they were removed, for which reason, each of them?

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#167

Post by that_guy_iain »

nkotov wrote: post #77

To be honest, this feels like a PR stunt since we all know if you add "YC is bad" and share it on HN, people will look and react. I haven't heard of Bolt, I'm not familiar with the space at all. I use Stripe because the product just works and I can trust my business with it. Seeing a CEO who publicly complains turns me away from even wanting to try the product. On a related note - I helped review a little over 100+ Y…

> Seeing a CEO who publicly complains turns me away from even wanting to try the product.

I see comments like this all the time. I'm pretty sure these companies are happy they drive people away who seem to be high maintenance. Companies hate high maintenance customers. Yes, they want customers but they want good customers and not high maintenance customers.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#168

Post by KptMarchewa »

dang wrote: post #56
parhamn wrote: post #10

I think if you get over the drama here and implied "dirtiness", the main result is still a bit interesting. Even if you exclude the implied carteling and take everything he said with a grain of salt, the outcomes of this incentive structure are clear: once SV (i.e. the YC centered VC machine) gets into a space and has a main horse, SV can no longer incubate new innovation/competition in the space. It can also very li…

If that's the main result of the post, then it's a reductio, because YC funds competitors all the time and would never turn down an innovator for anti-competitive reasons—only because they thought it wouldn't be a good investment at that moment. Anything else would both be bad for YC's business and against its principles ( https://www.ycombinator.com/principles/ ). Of course it still happens that YC turns down good c…

>Anything else would both be bad for YC's business and against its principles

Come on. It's like saying crime won't happen because it's illegal.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#169

Post by nextaccountic »

ttty wrote: post #99
tzury wrote: post #87

Never herd of Bolt till this post. That made me think, how come I've never heard of bolt up until this moment? Is their marketing so bad? They managed however to get to a poont of a "successful company with 600 employees, billions in GMV, and growing rapidly", right? I visit HN at least 10 times per week. So I decided to check how many posts have they posted on this site since founding the company. I currently see 4…

Actually you should use this https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=bolt.com Not much difference, I think 1 more and many dead/flagged

Why so many [dead]?
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