Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is Y Combinator worth the money?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 349 posts

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#151

Post by jseliger »

gumby wrote: post #117
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. As others have commented, all advice is like that. The person offering it cannot know your precise situation, but just pattern match on what they hear. That's life. I turn this around the other way: if I am asked for my advice but the asker uses none of it, I don't feel bad, but stop offering advice. I'm clearly not…

As Gildor says in The Fellowship of the Ring:

    ” ‘… The choice is yours: to go or wait.’ [Gildor said.]
    ‘And it is also said,’ answered Frodo, ‘Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.’
    ‘Is it indeed?’ laughed Gildor. ‘Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill. But what would you? You have not told me all concerning yourself; how should I choose better than you? But if you demand advice, I will for friendship’s sake give it.’“

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#152

Post by dang »

acecreamu wrote: post #88
cl42 wrote: post #37

I went through YC in S12 and have been investing in YC companies + active on Bookface and YC’s founder matching program. I recommend YC to almost everyone I meet and plan to apply again when/if I am working on a new product company. We’re all adults and we all have agency. Every community is a function of how much you put into it; how much you invest in getting to know others. It feels like the author expected YC to…

As a YC founder, never received a single reply to a couple of emails sent to Garry Tan ;(

When did you email Garry? He's only been back at YC for a couple months.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#153

Post by indymike »

xiphias2 wrote: post #141
gumby wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sometimes their advice is right, and sometimes it's wrong? That doesn't sound particularly valuable. As others have commented, all advice is like that. The person offering it cannot know your precise situation, but just pattern match on what they hear. That's life. I turn this around the other way: if I am asked for my advice but the asker uses none of it, I don't feel bad, but stop offering advice. I'm clearly not…

Whenever I see interviews with YC advisors, they blame mistakes of founders of not taking their advice as the biggest as mistake. I don't have a strong opinion on this, and I believe YC is worth it, as 7% of nothing is still nothing, so any way a startup can decrease its risks is great.

> Whenever I see interviews with YC advisors, they blame mistakes of founders of not taking their advice as the biggest as mistake.

This is normal human behavior. You did X and failed. If only you had done Y as I had suggested... Monday morning quarterbacking at it's finest.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#154

Post by dang »

ethbr0 wrote: post #140
BoorishBears wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

YC has never taught "build it and they will come" – they give plenty of advice and encouragement to find customers and will add, er, kinetic energy if you're not actively on that. That's a huge focus.

This, however, not so much:

> "You basically need 1-2 full time staff doing nothing but content creation and social media outreach marketing"

If that's the way you're thinking, YC's going to try to change your mind, and if you don't want to change your mind about that, YC's probably not a good fit.

(I'm not speaking for YC here! just from my own experience as a founder, observer, HN mod)

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#156

Post by jawns »

At the very bottom, in a post-script:

> The constant comparison and growth benchmarking triggered us to look differently at our business and we decided to wind up its operation right after the Demo Day.

What happens in this scenario? YC gave them $500K in exchange for 7% of the business, and then they immediately shuttered the business?

Did they get to keep the $500K?

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#158

Post by vmatsiiako »

rvnx wrote: post #135
vmatsiiako wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What I'm saying is that you can issue the exact same $375k YC MFN SAFE to other investors (with a different $$ value). This will not trigger the MFN because the terms are absolutely the same

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#159

Post by burnished »

tptacek wrote: post #111
acecreamu wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a YC founder, never received a single reply to a couple of emails sent to Garry Tan ;(

Did you expect YC status was going to get you a direct channel to one of the busiest people affiliated with YC?

>Folks like Michael Seibel, Garry Tan, and other partners all respond to emails + engage as much (or as little) as you ask them to.

Re: Is Y Combinator worth the money?

#160

Post by cwp »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #139
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?

Yeah, it's hard. But sustaining that is how you get the next Facebook.
Post reply on HN