Great read! Applied for W23, so it was super relevant and interesting for me to read. :)
Good luck!
Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
11–20 of 85 posts
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#12> But, we got to the 2 week mark with 0 revenue and we still didn’t have a completed product. That’s not really an excuse that flies in YC What are they going to do, take their money back because you didn't meet their ludicrous immediate-term expectations?
Nothing would have happened at all.
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#13This was a great read, but after reading it and how the group got funded with just an idea and a mock-up that took 15 minutes to make would make me less likely to apply for YC in the future. Imagine you're building a business and put a lot of thought into the the product and start building it out. And you're basically getting the same deal as someone who just came up with an idea and wung the whole process? Sure, you…
Note : Chris is selling himself short by a large margin -- he has a shit-ton of expertise on the growth hacking side of things. (We were also in W22 batch and he was great for getting advice from on various things)
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#14This was a great read, but after reading it and how the group got funded with just an idea and a mock-up that took 15 minutes to make would make me less likely to apply for YC in the future. Imagine you're building a business and put a lot of thought into the the product and start building it out. And you're basically getting the same deal as someone who just came up with an idea and wung the whole process? Sure, you…
Who cares what someone else received vs what value they give? What I care about is what I receive vs what value I sell makes sense at my stage. This is about making your startup succeed not beating other companies in the program on terms.
If an investment of 7% for 750,000 makes sense go for it. Who cares if someone else gets 8% or 6%.. it's not your money.
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#15This was a great read, but after reading it and how the group got funded with just an idea and a mock-up that took 15 minutes to make would make me less likely to apply for YC in the future. Imagine you're building a business and put a lot of thought into the the product and start building it out. And you're basically getting the same deal as someone who just came up with an idea and wung the whole process? Sure, you…
I understand the sentiment. The reason the mock-up was quick to create was because the entire thing was already done in my head. There were plenty of folks with very little experience and some with quite a bit of experience. I can’t say that I have any real idea what goes on in the minds of the folks making the decisions, but they do seem to pick an outsized number of winners. Whether we’re in that bucket or not rema…
Selection bias is a tricky question when evaluating "they do seem to pick an outsized number of winners." Does that mean that the people they pick off personal traits and a 15 minute demo are intrinsically winners, or is it just possible for YC to turn almost anyone with the right skills into a winner?
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand the sentiment. The reason the mock-up was quick to create was because the entire thing was already done in my head. There were plenty of folks with very little experience and some with quite a bit of experience. I can’t say that I have any real idea what goes on in the minds of the folks making the decisions, but they do seem to pick an outsized number of winners. Whether we’re in that bucket or not rema…
Selection bias is a tricky question when evaluating "they do seem to pick an outsized number of winners." Does that mean that the people they pick off personal traits and a 15 minute demo are intrinsically winners, or is it just possible for YC to turn almost anyone with the right skills into a winner?
Great question, I imagine there is some truth in both statements.
The failure rate in the startup world, especially when success means a billion dollar exit or IPO, is incredibly high though.
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#17This was a great read, but after reading it and how the group got funded with just an idea and a mock-up that took 15 minutes to make would make me less likely to apply for YC in the future. Imagine you're building a business and put a lot of thought into the the product and start building it out. And you're basically getting the same deal as someone who just came up with an idea and wung the whole process? Sure, you…
Who cares what someone else received vs what value they give? What I care about is what I receive vs what value I sell makes sense at my stage. This is about making your startup succeed not beating other companies in the program on terms. If an investment of 7% for 750,000 makes sense go for it. Who cares if someone else gets 8% or 6%.. it's not your money.
If you think having a product/revenue is valuable and you have a product/revenue and someone offers you some terms and they don't care about your product or revenue, then you're probably not getting the best deal you could get. It could be the best deal, sure, but that's the floor, because that's the deal you could get without a product or revenue. So that's a big indicator that you're getting a worse deal than you could from someone who cares about product/revenue.
It's not even consistent with YC philosophy about the idea doesn't matter, MVC, get to revenue fast, etc
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#18This was a great read, but after reading it and how the group got funded with just an idea and a mock-up that took 15 minutes to make would make me less likely to apply for YC in the future. Imagine you're building a business and put a lot of thought into the the product and start building it out. And you're basically getting the same deal as someone who just came up with an idea and wung the whole process? Sure, you…
I understand the sentiment. The reason the mock-up was quick to create was because the entire thing was already done in my head. There were plenty of folks with very little experience and some with quite a bit of experience. I can’t say that I have any real idea what goes on in the minds of the folks making the decisions, but they do seem to pick an outsized number of winners. Whether we’re in that bucket or not rema…
Yeah I get it, I don't mean to disparage what you did and it looks like it worked out great for you. But how many hours would you say you've spent sketching it out, in your head at least?
It's just odd to me that someone can compare a million dollar ARR business with a cocktail napkin business sketch and give the company's equal terms.
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#19this was a great ad for YC :)
i think where people are more borderline is if they can raise at a decent seed valuation elsewhere already (eg based on existing revenue or prior reputation/technology being far more established).
It's well understood that YC has some value add. So the fun question is - what is the valuation you can raise at which it does NOT make sense to enter YC?
YC values you at ~2m when they invest (120k divided by 7%, 380k MFN SAFE aside). Lets say you come out of it worth $10-20m on average. Maybe the connections and other stuff gives you value worth $5-10m. so if your business is valued above 15-30m you should consider NOT going into YC.
Is that a good way to think about it? any of these numbers you would change?
Re: Reflections on my time in Y Combinator
#20This was a great read, but after reading it and how the group got funded with just an idea and a mock-up that took 15 minutes to make would make me less likely to apply for YC in the future. Imagine you're building a business and put a lot of thought into the the product and start building it out. And you're basically getting the same deal as someone who just came up with an idea and wung the whole process? Sure, you…
This is a fallacy.
The deal other people get has no bearing on your company.
Yes. If you compare what you did vs what they did. But really it's like winning the lottery and complaining that some other winner bought less tickets.
Imagine actually getting into YC and turning it down because someone you think is less worthy also got in.
Tbh it sounds quite entitled.
At worst those other companies are unrelated. At best they are inspiring.