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Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

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Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#121

Post by danbmil99 »

_delirium wrote: post #55
endlessvoid94 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> applications (in general) are a backup filtering mechanism for people who haven't figured out a more effective way to get what they want yet. It blows me away how many people don't get this.

The flipside is that there are a surprising number of organizations with lots of money that haven't figured out a better way of distributing it, so applications can still be a good way of getting funds. One of my acquaintances, for example, just got $100k in seed funding (with no equity in return) entirely based on a 15-page application sent to a funding body, having had no previous contact with the funder.

> One of my acquaintances, for example, just got $100k in seed funding (with no equity in return)

One of my distant relatives won the lottery.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#122

Post by danbmil99 »

littlegiantcap wrote: post #72
patio11 wrote: post #39

Life skill for you: putting a message into a bottle and then flinging it onto the Internet could get it read, but that isn't the way to bet. Here's a hypothetical for you: how many people do you think have social permission to contact a YC partner and say "X is awesome and deserves a look." I'd ballpark that in the hundreds to low thousand range. Many of them are accessible on the Internets and less overwhelmed with…

http://b.qr.ae/Hktlyv This explains our dilemma. Frankly, we are a bunch of "nobodies" in the middle of Iowa. We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice". We have a lot of drive and are trying to prove ourselves any way possible. That's what we're trying to do with this post.

If you don't live here, and/or have social contacts here, well... do we have to spell it out for you?

Welcome to the snobbery of Silicon Valley.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#124

Post by GreenNight »

javajosh wrote: post #46
jessedhillon wrote: post #37

Even if PG gave you such a task, how would that demonstrate anything relevant? You getting a task and a deadline is the opposite of being entrepreneurial; that's called having a job and a boss and showing that you are an adequate or better employee. Being entrepreneurial involves you 1) generating ideas, 2) using your intuition to pick a good one, 3) testing it out to see if your intuition is correct (iterate if not)…

Oh, I don't know. Having a team that can solve any arbitrary difficult problem in three days could be quite useful in a startup. The (technical) execution of a startup idea can be cast as a series of arbitrarily difficult problems, after all.

Could be useful IN a startup, but not AS a startup.

AFAIK YCombinator is for creating startups, not for letting outside people be a part of one.

You want to prove your will? Ask your neighbours, parents, friends, people you find in the street, ask them for what troubles them, what little things they have to do what would rather not. Find a way to solve it, charging money, low enough that they would rather pay, high enough that you cover costs.

Then you either have a nice startup of your own or at least you have some experience that you can share here. Repeat until success or bust.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#125

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

You speak desperation language.

This is like a woman that rejects you on a date and you take it too seriously: " I will do whatever you wish to test my love". It does not work that way because you are putting her in a high pedestal and yourself in a lower status.(And you could be sorry for making commitments to people you don't really know yet, "may you get what you wish for" is a curse on China).

Maybe it is not the point that you could do something in 72 hours, but what you could do in 720 or 1000 or 3000. Sometimes you need to do marathon instead of 50 meters. I believe PG wants people that won't abandon on the hard moments of a startup, people that will "find a way" over difficult circumstances.

You don't need Y Combinator to success.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#128

Post by dominikb »

peterhunt wrote: post #68
dominikb wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, that is ridiculous. 72 hours is not even enough to analyze a fragment of the initial problems. I'm not even talking about coding yet. Just starting to code some crap is exactly what's wrong with the current market. Anybody can do that. And for most, it won't turn out well. What can you do differently? Invest more time and create something better.

When building the new Facebook photo viewer, we would ship a redesign to a small percentage of users, look at its metrics impact, and ship another redesign 2-3 days later based on the data. Simply being able to execute on something like this for 72 hours, no matter how blindly you do it, is indicative of a worthwhile skill that many people don't have.

I disagree. You don't need any skill. Anybody can ship a crappy photo viewer in 72 hours.

But many people can't ship a quality photo viewer even in months.

What heavily distinguished Facebook from Myspace in 2006 when it became open to public was the product culture and quality. It took 3 years to build.

Although I completely understand the point of being able to make quick decisions and execute, the problem is far from solved after spending 72 hours on it. It takes at least weeks to deliver a good solution.

I'm 100% sure you've spent a lot of time with that viewer afterwards until you were confident users will have no problems using it.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#129

Post by sgrove »

larrys wrote: post #92
littlegiantcap wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wanted to say you've brought up some good points and given us some things to consider. That being said, I would think that someone who had the guts to throw themselves out there and say let us prove that we're worth your time is the kind of guy who could make the next Dropbox. This may seem like a cheap stunt to a lot of the people on here, but we're just trying to prove that we're more than our credentials an…

"I would think that someone who had the guts to throw themselves out there and say let us prove that we're worth your time" The problem is what you are trying to do lacks creativity and originality. And without that I would question whether you could in fact build the next "dropbox".

This made me chuckle. Dropbox was one of the least creative or original startups I know. But it was born out an immediate unfulfilled need and a subsequent deep fury, and then executed and refined insanely. Before and since Dropbox there have been many, many attempts to fill this space, but their execution has been phenomenal.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#130

Post by dorkitude »

littlegiantcap wrote: post #118
newobj wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'''We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice".''' '''We have a lot of drive''' Somehow these statements seem contradictory... and I'd be taking a hard look at your "business guy" right now if he can't even start by at least attempting a little networking...

That would be me. :) The thing is I'm finding cold emails aren't generally well received, if they are even answered at all. We'd go to more networking events and the like but most are on the coast and plane tickets are expensive. We're building up a strong network here in Iowa. What I was referring too was Y Combinator specific people. So we do what we can with where we're at. Not that I'm complaining because im real…

Keep trying. This post raises all sorts of questions from my end.

How many of these cold emails have you sent? To what extent have you varied the copy in those emails? Are you just asking for something, or are you offering something as well? Have you gotten advice from other successful hustlers (concretely, talk to some seed stage founders for hustle ideation; abstractly, read How to Win Friends & Influence People at least once per year) on what you might want to put in the email?

What about non-email channels? Have you gone through Twitter (This is how I've met multiple investors and advisors, totally cold, with no friendly introduction.)? How about crawling toward them meticulously through LinkedIn? How about networking via HN? Have you tried hanging out on relevant IRC channels? Have you contributed to their questions & answers on Quora?

I don't mean to be overly critical here. The OP is a great example of inbound marketing hustle, and I commend you guys for it. Two of the key ingredients in startup success are determination and resourcefulness. Clearly you're resourceful, now crank up the determination a notch. Right now it sounds a bit like you've found good excuses not to keep trying. If you can't land a Skype call with someone who might be able to help you get noticed by YC, what evidence do we have that you're going to land a Skype call with a key distribution partner in six months?

Keep trying. Keep swinging and striking out. You'll see patterns. You'll improve. Eventually, you'll start making contact.

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