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Is Y Combinator worth the money?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#61

Post by shahargl »

pertymcpert wrote: post #58
ahstilde wrote: post #17

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 w…

> I was not allowed to meet people in large groups until April (after the batch). I don't understand this. Why would they stop people talking to each other?

covid

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#62

Post by yeldarb »

We did YC in S20 (fully remote during COVID) and, as a Silicon Valley outsider, it was absolutely, 100%, no-questions-asked worth it for the fundraising credibility alone.

After demo day, we were able to get in the room with dozens of top-tier investors, got multiple term sheets, and were able to pick the seed investors that were right for our business. This is a luxury none of my non-YC founder friends have had (being outside of Silicon Valley it was just such a stark, stark contrast in our fundraising experience to my friends'). Fundraising has always been a struggle and giant distraction for them.

The doors YC opened for us let us focus on building and have had an outsized impact on our trajectory. Re the 7%: I'd much rather have 93% of a giant pie over 100% of a small one.

Edit: I should caveat that YC and VC in general are built around finding & amplifying outliers. If you don't think you are an outlier founder and aren't trying to build an outlier company, our experience probably isn't relevant.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#63

Post by danenania »

dtagames wrote: post #47
danenania wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the rationale here is "be so good they can't ignore you". While advanced fundraising skills could potentially help someone to raise without first making a great product that people demonstrably want, nailing product and early growth sufficiently well makes fundraising achievable even for founders who are notably lacking in the charm and storytelling departments.

Here again, I think the complaint is the opposite. He's saying that if you have traction already, you don't need YC. You're further along than what they offer. They are there to help people who have no traction and no metrics and no money. The sad thing is that the hype cycle is more important than the product delivery. Many huge investments are made on products that have nothing delivered. It's more BS than we'd lik…

'Traction' is a pretty wide spectrum. Having some early traction with a small number of users who love your product is a sweet spot for YC imho, especially if you don't have connections or a 'pedigree' in the startup world. At that stage, VCs typically aren't interested unless you have something else going for you. YC helps you take the few sparks you've got smoldering in some twigs and turn it into a little fire that is potentially interesting to angel and seed investors without too much embellishment.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#64

Post by JohnFen »

itsoktocry wrote: post #36
hassy wrote: post #25

Did YC S21 which was an all remote batch. my 2c. YC is 100% what you make of it. It's not a lean back experience. I did not meet most of the companies in my batch but I've gotten to know many founders through YC that I would not have otherwise. Founders that have been source of advice and support. Network of clients - yep don't go into YC expecting to sell to other YC cos. It is easier to get warm intros through the…

> Some of the advice I did not take and did the opposite and it was the right decision. And some advice that I did not take was exactly right, but I only saw it in retrospect months later. Sometimes their advice is right, and sometimes it's wrong? That doesn't sound particularly valuable. > Fundraising - being a YC company definitely opens doors, and also helps protects you from bad actors who have to think twice bef…

> Sometimes their advice is right, and sometimes it's wrong? That doesn't sound particularly valuable.

This is true of literally every source of advice you'll ever encounter.

It's not that the advice is right or wrong in an absolute sense, it's that how good the advice is depends on the context of it. So you always have to evaluate the advice according to your own circumstances. Some of it will be appropriate to you and some will not.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#65

Post by vmatsiiako »

itsoktocry wrote: post #36
hassy wrote: post #25

Did YC S21 which was an all remote batch. my 2c. YC is 100% what you make of it. It's not a lean back experience. I did not meet most of the companies in my batch but I've gotten to know many founders through YC that I would not have otherwise. Founders that have been source of advice and support. Network of clients - yep don't go into YC expecting to sell to other YC cos. It is easier to get warm intros through the…

> Some of the advice I did not take and did the opposite and it was the right decision. And some advice that I did not take was exactly right, but I only saw it in retrospect months later. Sometimes their advice is right, and sometimes it's wrong? That doesn't sound particularly valuable. > Fundraising - being a YC company definitely opens doors, and also helps protects you from bad actors who have to think twice bef…

The advice can't always be right. As a founder, I get a lot of (also unsolicited) advice every day, and it is the founder's responsibility to decide what advice makes sense in the current context. YC partners always emphasise that, and I really appreciate that.

In general, I can only say positive things when it comes to YC advice (especially on the fundraising side - YC partners know A LOT about fundraising)

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#66

Post by EGreg »

hassy wrote: post #25

Did YC S21 which was an all remote batch. my 2c. YC is 100% what you make of it. It's not a lean back experience. I did not meet most of the companies in my batch but I've gotten to know many founders through YC that I would not have otherwise. Founders that have been source of advice and support. Network of clients - yep don't go into YC expecting to sell to other YC cos. It is easier to get warm intros through the…

How can one do an all-remote batch ??

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#68

Post by quest88 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #50
itsoktocry wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some of the advice I did not take and did the opposite and it was the right decision. And some advice that I did not take was exactly right, but I only saw it in retrospect months later. Sometimes their advice is right, and sometimes it's wrong? That doesn't sound particularly valuable. > Fundraising - being a YC company definitely opens doors, and also helps protects you from bad actors who have to think twice bef…

>>Some of the advice I did not take and did the opposite and it was the right decision. // FWIW that does not mean the advice was wrong. Trivial example: "head East, there's a great bakery there", "I went West and found a place for a lovely lunch". Unless the parent elucidates (and maybe even then) you can't tell if the advice was right or wrong.

Then why do you need the VC

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#69

Post by arbuge »

pclark wrote: post #11

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…

> 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.

Getting you to focus on those two things, particularly the second one which many technical founders are initially out of their comfort zone doing (I need to work on it myself), is probably a huge value add in itself if they're successful at doing just that.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#70

Post by vmatsiiako »

quest88 wrote: post #68
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Some of the advice I did not take and did the opposite and it was the right decision. // FWIW that does not mean the advice was wrong. Trivial example: "head East, there's a great bakery there", "I went West and found a place for a lovely lunch". Unless the parent elucidates (and maybe even then) you can't tell if the advice was right or wrong.

Then why do you need the VC

VCs are not gonna help you build your company (doesn't matter if it's YC or anyone else). As a founder, you're the only one responsible about what advice to follow or not (and very often you get conflicting advice from two very credible sources)
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