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Is Y Combinator worth the money?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#11

Post by pclark »

This stood out to me:

> In their picture of the world, you, the founders, should only build a product and talk to customers, everything else is superfluous and waste of time. Hiring is waste of time, paid advertising is waste of time, content is waste of time, talking to investors is waste of time, getting media coverage is waste of time.

IMHO YC doesn’t want you to “build” a product they want you to “grow” a product. I think the YC framework (again IMHO) is to get an idea out and then do everything you can to make it grow 30% each week, and if after a few months you’re obviously failing at that — maybe that product isn’t working.

This seems, on the whole, like kind of reasonable high level operating parameters for startups, since traction is what defines revenue and fundraising chances.

I do think there is a flip side to this approach which is it can kind of lead to short-term-erism where if things aren’t working you flail about, and/or it can encourage founders to specifically tackle things they can ship quickly rather than things that are maybe more compelling.

I would argue that when things are slowly working that’s exactly when you need skilled advisors and founders to give you critical advice. Most dying startup don’t flat line… they slowly grow.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#12

Post by xwdv »

silverlake wrote: post #5

I always thought the primary benefit of YC was the brand. It's like an Ivy League school for startups. The article suggested it didn't help much. Perhaps going too big has diluted the YC brand?

It’s not like an Ivy League, it’s more like joining a frat, but for startups. Except, it used to be more fun, when all companies worked at the same location and you could bump into people in halls and then go do keg stands after work or sleep on couches, etc.

Now it’s just remote webinar garbage, talk to some people on Zoom, etc.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#13

Post by armatav »

silverlake wrote: post #5

I always thought the primary benefit of YC was the brand. It's like an Ivy League school for startups. The article suggested it didn't help much. Perhaps going too big has diluted the YC brand?

The article literally only gives high star rating to demo day, predicated on the prestige factor of YC

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#14

Post by dtagames »

aatd86 wrote: post #10
dtagames wrote: post #3

Interesting quote: Even when it came to fundraising, all the YC’s advice came down not to how to raise smarter and more, but to the fact that everyone needs to follow their simple framework, not try to shine too much, not try to choose the right words, wash off all the makeup, put on a gray uniform, and present dry facts—how much money customers already paid you, what the size of the market, if you count all the unit…

Or maybe they have learnt that investors due-diligence is about the hard facts and not sentiment? Not everyone is a good story-teller either so to avoid the confounding charm factor, just be as boring and straight to the point as possible? Which should also keep every startup of their batches on equal footing and hopefully mitigate the hype factor? Not defending them, just me brainstorming about what could be plausib…

It's the opposite! Only the good hype-makers and storytellers get early access to investors before demo day. If you're a good huckster, no one finds out about your stats. Even though... YC tells people to be dry and boring and focus on stats.

That's his complaint.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#15

Post by dtagames »

nonethewiser wrote: post #4
dtagames wrote: post #3

Interesting quote: Even when it came to fundraising, all the YC’s advice came down not to how to raise smarter and more, but to the fact that everyone needs to follow their simple framework, not try to shine too much, not try to choose the right words, wash off all the makeup, put on a gray uniform, and present dry facts—how much money customers already paid you, what the size of the market, if you count all the unit…

I guess both perspectives seem completely rational to me. Why shouldn’t Ycombinator care most about viability and why shouldn’t startups care most about vision? Each side needs to cater to the other a bit but ultimately this is just the difference between funders and builders.

I think the complaint here is that the current "mass market" version that treats all founders the same isn't really able to deliver on the promise of helping most of them achieve their vision. If YC makes all its money from tentpoles, the fund doesn't care. But founders probably care.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#16

Post by mbesto »

YC doesn't scale for students. In fact, no accelerator does (500startups has ~3k investments as well). Accelerators are about relationships, signalling, prestige, advisory, networking, etc. The success is asymmetric, because YC is a numbers game - the more bets they make, the higher likelihood they are to succeed.

Many of the negative criticisms here have to do with the fact that there are 4k companies that have gone through YC, and this batch specifically had 400 companies, so it's no wonder there are aspects that are less than ideal.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#17

Post by ahstilde »

I did YC in W21 in NYC. I was not allowed to meet people in large groups until April (after the batch).

I disagree with each and every one of these ratings and conclusions.

Firstly, the comparison should be "Is the alternative to YC worth it?" For many companies, the alternative is raising nothing and bootstrapping, or raising at significantly lower valuations.

Additionally, I believe founders approach YC the wrong way. YC is not there to coddle you. They are there to give you access to hundreds of exceptional founders, brilliant partners who have seen much more than you, and a fundraising platform.

It is on the founder to adapt their behavior to get the most out of Y Combinator. Unfortunately, many founders are unable to do so, and waste the opportunity.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#18

Post by avree »

xwdv wrote: post #12
silverlake wrote: post #5

I always thought the primary benefit of YC was the brand. It's like an Ivy League school for startups. The article suggested it didn't help much. Perhaps going too big has diluted the YC brand?

It’s not like an Ivy League, it’s more like joining a frat, but for startups. Except, it used to be more fun, when all companies worked at the same location and you could bump into people in halls and then go do keg stands after work or sleep on couches, etc. Now it’s just remote webinar garbage, talk to some people on Zoom, etc.

I think it would have always been the same for overseas companies - I've had several YC-founder friends, and the experience is vastly different if you're YC-in-the-Bay versus YC-elsewhere.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#19

Post by monetus »

acecreamu wrote: post #2

Happy to honestly answer any brutal questions you have!

With the market conditions right now, have any ideas about how it could be better?

It sounds like structural critiques; like a smaller, tighter community that onboards with better incentives, enables more efficient engagement with the alumni and batch would be a big gain. And importantly, like ycombinator could show more flexibility and interest in the batch. That sounds like a smaller network overall though, with less success stories to tout. If they have a better 'batting average' so to speak, though, that would help the investor environment. How does it affect their income and social lives, balancing it all I wonder. Thanks for the article!

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