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A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

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Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#51

Post by s1artibartfast »

anileated wrote: post #5

I want to start a company, but will not. The main reason why the existence of YC does not change this is because I know my idea, even if I go all in, does not promise explosive growth on par with Airbnbs of this world, and therefore is not attractive to investment. It does have the potential to eventually become a lifestyle business, though, which would be good enough for me. Unfortunately, I guess it will have to wa…

As you point out, not all VCS are right for all businesses, nor should anyone expect them to be. Some businesses aren't suitable for Venture Capital at all.

There's a lot of friction and transaction costs around finding capital for even suitable Investments. Reputation is one way to overcome this but it's difficult to bootstrap reputation.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#52

Post by mistermann »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #50
eshack94 wrote: post #18

Feels like someone's trying to sell me something.

Most things are ads, but especially this. I like the list of sites in as success stories. I find the majority of them absolutely awful for humanity.

As long as the stack of cash keeps getting higher, all is well. No need to overthink things. :)

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#53

Post by mistermann »

sonicshadow wrote: post #33
scrozier wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol...I came to post this EXACTLY. Having been in, or on the periphery of, the startup world for a long time (ending about ten years ago), I've come to see it as pretty vapid, unimaginative, and even downright destructive. If a bunch of young-ish guys (and a few women) with elite upbringings want to have an incestuous little money party, well, good on them, I guess. But all the eloquent words trying to obscure the th…

I'm not in the startup world and live in a city that Silicon Valley considers "tech-adjacent". I excitedly attended a start-up event a few months ago where people pitched ideas, and I was massively disappointed by how unoriginal every single idea was. Everyone proposed creating an app that does xyz pointless service that they think will make money. I also hated how many people showed up thinking they could con some h…

I wonder if our Brightest Young Minds pursuing solely/overwhelmingly financially rewarding undertakings has anything to do with the persistence of the various "unsolvable" problems humanity constantly whines about.

I suspect we will never know.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#56

Post by KArgos »

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Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#57

Post by [deleted] »

Domenic_S wrote: post #45
tiedieconderoga wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simple: capex and economies of scale. Suppose that I have an idea for a widget which market research indicates could sell for $20/, but probably not $50/. I can hit the $50/ target with small contract runs, which would cost about as much as a down payment on a house. Or I can make it in volume for less than $10/, but I need a large minimum order, space, equipment, logistics. Now we're looking at 7-8 figures. If you a…

If you're really sure, you do that first run and lose money, then show a bank/investor the explosive popularity and get money for manufacturing at scale. Relatively speaking it's close to the easiest type of funding you can get.

[deleted]

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#58

Post by xigency »

sonicshadow wrote: post #7

> If Bell Labs’ scientists invented the transistor, the laser, Unix, information theory, etc, then YC’s “economic research scientists” invented OpenAI, Stripe, AirBnB, Instacart, Doordash, Dropbox, Reddit, and many more. Interesting, comparing core scientific research and output by Bell Labs to just techi-ifying existing industries and not really adding much new value (other than OpenAI).

Actually seems like a prescient comparison to me. Relevant here is ‘economic research’ which is developing new methods in business, not technology. If YC isn’t a function which transforms startups, then at least it’s a transistor which amplifies VC capital.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#59

Post by jononor »

anileated wrote: post #28
brigadier132 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need investment? If you can build it on your own and there is a real niche with people willing to pay money for what you build then you can make a lot of money as an individual.

I can’t because I need money to survive, and this will not provide that money for months until the thing is written, deployed, and has an established enough paying user base… And good luck me not getting seriously ill or get affected by whatever calamity in meantime!

Sell it first, build it after. Helps with this conundrum - but more importantly it forces you to focus on the customer and their problem, finding what people are willing to pay for. And that is what successful business is made of.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#60

Post by bagacrap »

adventured wrote: post #20
jrvarela56 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny how you just picked out OpenAI, maybe Stripe and the others create value too?

OpenAI shook the planet with something fairly groundbreaking. It's closer to the iPhone in the rapid impact it had, moving a lot faster than the iPhone did, than the extension of a payment processor made easier (which is what Stripe is). Stripe, Airbnb, Doordash, Uber etc. They're services that add value by extending existing concepts to the Internet or in a slightly better way. There's nothing revolutionary or earth…

Openai hasn't really proven itself to be a profitable business so the economic research is at best incomplete.

I'm sure AI has real value, but what percent of that comes from LLMs and what contribution OpenAI will wind up making to the business of AI is not very clear. I don't really think the world will be different in ten years than it would have been without openai.

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