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Is Y Combinator worth the money?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#101

Post by gamblor956 »

At least from the perspective of a potential customer, I now view Y Combinator as a red flag for a service provider, for a variety of reasons.

The two big ones: YC companies try to "grow" too fast without any concern to the dynamics of how their market is supposed to work after they've achieved their targeted scale. The basic playbook seems to be: give stuff away for free until you kill the incumbents, then jack up prices to way more than what the incumbents used to charge while simultaneously reducing the services/products offered.

There's also the issue of companies basing their business models around regulatory arbitrage, ignoring the rules that incumbents (are forced to) live by and then using their size to try to get away with their past misbehavior.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#102

Post by acecreamu »

dilippkumar wrote: post #23
acecreamu wrote: post #2

Happy to honestly answer any brutal questions you have!

Thanks for sharing this. What’s the strongest counter argument you can make in favor of YC?

There are a lot of good, even in what I write. The strongest I believe is the early and fully independent support for ideas that received no other recognition yet.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#103

Post by necubi »

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.

FYI, YC is now back to primarily in person (although there is a remote option, it's strongly encouraged to be in SF).

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#104

Post by lr4444lr »

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…

Substantiating as an early employee of a YC company. There is much honor among thieves, so to speak.

EDIT - but to the OP's point, yeah, it's what you make of it. I would suspect that word could get out about founders who are rude or combative to important people as not being worthy of any veil of protection.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#105

Post by the_cat_kittles »

rhtgrg wrote: post #49
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…

YC will absolutely coddle you if you manage to become one of their “darling” startups, just like any other incubator or VC firm. That’s the type of thing that you have to earn, and if you earn it you don’t need it.

its almost like... and i know this is crazy... they are just money vampires?!

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#106

Post by zamnos »

acecreamu wrote: post #83
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…

> They are there to give you access to hundreds of exceptional founders Is there anything you can't do on your own? Like finding email and writing? Mentioning that you're from YC in the beginning adds less to the conversion than the actual message you're conveying, imo.

If you have enough of those to send, seems like something easy enough to A/B test. You only have a few sentences before an email recipient marks your email as spam. If one of those mentions your YC batch and that's what keeps their attention for another couple sentences, hey.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#107

Post by gist »

rexreed wrote: post #82
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?

I actually like the YC as Ivy League school comparison - it has many parallels. Highly selective, has a set regimen ("world view"), has a somewhat high cost of entry ($500k for 7%, not bad tho), and has a fairly exclusive clique that provides value by association that's difficult for outsiders. Given that, is it harder to get into Harvard or YC based on admission numbers?

> Given that, is it harder to get into Harvard or YC based on admission numbers?

I always find it laughable (sorry not directed at you in particular) when people make that type of comparison. Probability of something occurring for unrelated events ... why in the world does that matter at all? I could say it's harder to get accepted to a certain health club than Harvard or YC.

I am reminded of a restaurant in my city that opened and the local press talked about how hard it was to get a reservation. In fact this particular chef decided to open that restaurant both because he didn't have any experience and also the fact that it had a limited amount of tables would always make it seem more valuable in some way than it was. 'So hard to get a table harder than WONDERFUL RESTAURANT IN SAME CITY where it's hard to get a reservation HARDER THAN THAT EVEN!' Additional point in that restaurant was it took over the location (another PR win) of an old established and very famous restaurant in the same city. The press ate that up as a story angle. As if it mattered at all. It didn't only it made a good story angle. Otherwise why should it make any difference at all?

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#108

Post by paxys »

Think of YC like a Harvard MBA. You may or may not learn anything substantial from it. The quality of education may or may not be better than your local state school. Graduating with that brand, however, may be valuable enough in itself to justify spending the hundreds of thousands of dollars. How you leverage the network is entirely up to you.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#109

Post by gist »

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.

> It’s not like an Ivy League

The Ivy League is talked about and well known all over and public knowledge your neighbor your aunt, your wife, your mother, the guy who owns the local bakery etc. It's an international brand.

YC known in the startup community. Most likely the guy who runs the local 200 person wholesale operation wouldn't even know about it unless he read about it in the WSJ he reads print edition. Go to sell to that company and they will say HUH what's that mean 'YC'.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#110

Post by ginger2016 »

I didn't go to YC. My impression of YC is from news articles and hacker news. I believe that YC is good only if it helps you raise money.

Their advice is not worth it because advice is free on YouTube. Let's take PG; he often gives a lot of general and specific advice; he is a great writer and a fascinating mind. I enjoy reading his articles; they are outstanding, but they aren't any different from the many YouTubers giving advice. Unless you get personal time with YC staff, their services are not unique.

Do you need to be Peter Mckinnon’s apprentice to learn photography? No, likewise you don’t need YC.

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