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Is Y Combinator worth the money?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#131

Post by BoorishBears »

rsp1984 wrote: post #90

Their logic can be understood: make a good product, and the rest will catch up. But in real life marketing and hype really matters, and when everyone does these things while you naively sit and code, they get an advantage in the market, and you get your cool product. I sometimes get the feeling, also by watching their public content on YT, that a lot of YC advice, especially w.r.t. what to prioritize, is from an era…

This logic just implies YC is more relevant than ever.

If there's 10-15 players in the space and you're the one with YC connections...

Meanwhile if there are barely any players in your niche you have time to get things wrong and iterate in isolation, no need for the all-or-nothing style of growth

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#132

Post by Dylan16807 »

JohnFen wrote: post #64
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…

> 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…

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

Right, that's the point. If the main thing you have to say about some advice is a thing that's true about all advice, then that's not a good endorsement.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#133

Post by acecreamu »

gamblor956 wrote: post #101

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 p…

That's an interesting perspective! Do you feel YC companies get too pampered / arrogant?

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#135

Post by rvnx »

vmatsiiako wrote: post #118
acecreamu wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add one angel or one early commit of 10k to it and the uncapped SAFE turns into a very bad SAFE. Basically it blocks you from flexibility of building up fundraising moment gradually.

Not true. You can still raise on uncapped SAFEs. This will not trigger the YC MFN safe

According to the contract, in exchange of 375K USD (+/- salary for 1.5 developer) you agree to this when you sign the MFN:

==

If the Company issues any Subsequent Convertible Securities with terms more favorable than those of this Safe (including, without limitation, a valuation cap and/or discount) prior to termination of this Safe, the Company will promptly provide YCombinator with written notice thereof, together with a copy of such Subsequent Convertible Securities and, upon written request of YCombinator, any additional information related to such Subsequent Convertible Securities as may be reasonably requested by the Investor.

In the event YCombinator determines that the terms of the Subsequent Convertible Securities are preferable to the terms of this instrument, YCombinator will notify the Company in writing within 10 days.

Promptly after receipt of such written notice from the Investor, the Company agrees to amend and restate this instrument to be identical to the instrument(s) evidencing the Subsequent Convertible Securities.

==

So, any type of issue triggers the MFN and the jackpot to YC.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#136

Post by turbonaut »

tptacek wrote: post #112
acecreamu wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any investor would hate this idea, it's a terrible deal for them, and YC are smart enough to get it out of you. The whole business of VC is to sell later at the higher price. If they give you money at val of 5M+ and you sell for 2M - they are in loss.

The whole business of business is to sell later at a higher price.

In some businesses selling earlier at a higher price is also acceptable. It’s only the delivery that is later (or indeed concurrent).

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#137

Post by rexreed »

acecreamu wrote: post #128
rexreed wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Purely based on numbers YC is more selective ;)

What are the numbers? Are they disclosed?

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#139

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

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…

> get an idea out and then do everything you can to make it grow 30% each week

Compounded? After 8 weeks you go from 10 customers to 81, seems doable. But after 6 months you'd have 5,428 customers. Maybe if it was an App Store app? But if you have to talk to any of them, yikes. Might not be the most sustainable rate of growth?

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#140

Post by ethbr0 »

BoorishBears wrote: post #131
rsp1984 wrote: post #90

Their logic can be understood: make a good product, and the rest will catch up. But in real life marketing and hype really matters, and when everyone does these things while you naively sit and code, they get an advantage in the market, and you get your cool product. I sometimes get the feeling, also by watching their public content on YT, that a lot of YC advice, especially w.r.t. what to prioritize, is from an era…

This logic just implies YC is more relevant than ever. If there's 10-15 players in the space and you're the one with YC connections... Meanwhile if there are barely any players in your niche you have time to get things wrong and iterate in isolation, no need for the all-or-nothing style of growth

I think parent's (and OP's) point was that YC was more valuable for investing and strategy, but less valuable for finding customers.

And since customers are the most difficult part now (because 10-15 players), it adjusts the relative value of something that doesn't help you acquire customers.

IOW, the differences between a "build it and they will come" historic era and a "make me care about you" modern one.

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