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Why YC went to DC

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Re: Why YC went to DC

#191

Post by ethbr1 »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #158
ethbr1 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happens via, but starts with individuals (or should!). What we have now is the worst of both worlds: - Individual speech is censored at whim by non-government platforms that are unavoidable. - While giant companies are empowered to speak anything they want (speaking as the company). That doesn't seem ass-backwards? We should be prioritizing individual speech / power, and disempowering corporate speech.

Says who? Even the aspiring indie filmmaker wants limited liability not unlimited liability.

That's backwards reasoning though.

If limited liability is a concern... we can just create that for individuals.

I'm not convinced that Meta also needs the right to do whatever it wants, for the sake of aspiring indie filmmakers.

Re: Why YC went to DC

#192

Post by dheera »

stetrain wrote: post #95
downrightmike wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare insurance - employees of SMBs automatically get access to medicare This puts you in the same company of abusing the system as Walmart, the nation's biggest welfare queen. Employers should just have to give health benefits. You want workers, you pay benefits. Period. Maybe then you all will get on board for a single payer system. Its what you want, but only in fits and starts. quit fucking around already.

I really don't want my at-will employment status to be the arbiter of whether an unforeseen health issue will bankrupt me. Tying either private insurance or public insurance eligibility to your employer seems like a bad pattern we should be trying to get away from.

Not only that, but very often health issues are the cause, not result of, bad employment performance.

Re: Why YC went to DC

#193

Post by deadwindsails »

waprin wrote: post #70
mrb wrote: post #14

"This year, we’ll fund more than 500 companies out of 50,000 applications, and almost all of them are related to AI in some way." So, what this means: that in 2024, if you want to get VC capital, your startup must be related to AI.

What’s ironic is that Michael Seibel has discussed many times on the YC podcast that you should avoid building whatever’s hot for VCs because their attention tends to change every year but you’ll be stuck building for a decade. 2020 was remote work, 2021 was web3, now we have the big LLM boom. Honestly it seems there’s a lot of advantages to “riding a wave” and a lot of advantages to being contrarian. But if raising…

> What’s ironic is that Michael Seibel

unfortunately Michael is no longer running things and it shows in the lack of long-term vision vs. hypecasting

Garry has had this rep for a long time-disappointing to see this changing of guard

Re: Why YC went to DC

#194

Post by benslavin »

stackskipton wrote: post #146
benslavin wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in the DC area for almost two decades, I don't agree. There are absolutely pockets that match your description but, if that's all you see I think you might be stuck in a bubble. I see so much more. There are cool companies that have been and are being built here (I was going to list them, but the Washingtonian "DC Tech Titans" list has lots of good examples), many not B2G... and people who still have 'th…

Washingtonian is very pay to play. However, I'll point some that appear private like Cvent are in DC area because their early customers were trade groups that put on big conferences. These trade groups are here because they lobby the government. So doesn't appear government focused at first but is. Others may have private sector customers but do huge amount of business with government. Appian, looking at you. Yes, al…

Completely agree those lists are pay to play, but they also include some cool companies that underscore my point.

Rocket Money (nee True Bill; Silver Spring) is fintech. Optoro (Bethesda) is retail supply chain. Alarm.com (Tysons) is home security. FrameBridge (also Tysons) is home goods. (Beyond that, you've got companies like Mapbox, ID.me, Opower, Motley Fool, and Capitol One.)

Cvent - agreed on causation, but don't agree that it's government focused. The US Government spending is something like 1/3 of GDP. It has massive ability to influence policy and national investment. It makes sense that non-profits, associations, and others would congregate in the DC region. It's why we have at least 2 nuclear fusion companies based here (one of which has a freaking rail gun in Chantilly).

I should really do the math, but it feels like a significant portion of the Fortune 500 have "more than just lobbying" footprints within ~25 miles of DC.

On hiring I agree that it can be hard, but I do still see cool small companies in the "#DCTech" scene. I think there's talent out there that could be moved to companies doing interesting impactful work.

As for data centers, I'll concede that point. I almost omitted it originally because I couldn't connect the dots either.... I should have.

Re: Why YC went to DC

#195

Post by lmeyerov »

islewis wrote: post #78

> First, let’s prioritize open source models and more tailored AI applications to shape the competitive landscape and create real opportunities for startups My read on this is YC believes that small companies will (are?) be locked out of the AI arms race, and are pushing for legal action to hold the door open for them. Pushing disruptive technologies has made YC insane hoards of wealth- the fact that they feel like t…

He is referring to laws like SB1047 that will make open source model makers liable for who uses them, and may scare companies like Meta from releasing any more. E.g., preventing the release of llama 3 400b, which might be the first GPT4-grade OSS release.

Locked out maybe, but more about 'not closing the door' vs 'keeping the door open'.

Re: Why YC went to DC

#196

Post by philwelch »

downrightmike wrote: post #77
siliconc0w wrote: post #9

If you need more things to fix: * Software R&D Amortization - taxes on make-believe profits * Patent law - protect small businesses from patent trolls * Automate government-driven compliance standards - enable small businesses to sell into large companies/government entities, automatic certification when using pre-approved cloud solutions. * Healthcare insurance - employees of SMBs automatically get access to medicar…

Healthcare insurance - employees of SMBs automatically get access to medicare This puts you in the same company of abusing the system as Walmart, the nation's biggest welfare queen. Employers should just have to give health benefits. You want workers, you pay benefits. Period. Maybe then you all will get on board for a single payer system. Its what you want, but only in fits and starts. quit fucking around already.

I’ve never understood the idea that employers like Walmart are “abusing the system” or “welfare queens”. If Walmart employees were capable of getting jobs that paid enough that they weren’t eligible for public assistance, they wouldn’t work for Walmart. Conversely, if Walmart didn’t employ those people, they would be an even greater burden on the welfare state.

Re: Why YC went to DC

#197

Post by [deleted] »

waprin wrote: post #70
mrb wrote: post #14

"This year, we’ll fund more than 500 companies out of 50,000 applications, and almost all of them are related to AI in some way." So, what this means: that in 2024, if you want to get VC capital, your startup must be related to AI.

What’s ironic is that Michael Seibel has discussed many times on the YC podcast that you should avoid building whatever’s hot for VCs because their attention tends to change every year but you’ll be stuck building for a decade. 2020 was remote work, 2021 was web3, now we have the big LLM boom. Honestly it seems there’s a lot of advantages to “riding a wave” and a lot of advantages to being contrarian. But if raising…

[deleted]

Re: Why YC went to DC

#198

Post by philwelch »

candiddevmike wrote: post #168
nurple wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bad pattern for the employee, but a good pattern for employers and the healthcare industrial complex. The possibility that you could be bankrupt if you let your insurance lapse is an enormous concern for employees that may want to leave but can't; much more powerful, and cheaper, than golden handcuffs. COBRA is a joke, as if most could afford multi-thousand dollar a month bill when unemployed. What that commun…

IME, COBRA is almost always a better deal than the marketplace offerings typically, unless you qualify for marketplace-only subsidies. COBRA premiums for whatever reason are hundreds of dollars (or more) cheaper than marketplace plans.

I’ve consistently had the exact opposite experience.

Re: Why YC went to DC

#199

Post by philwelch »

luma wrote: post #101

Why should healthcare be tied to employment? "Quit fucking around" and institute a national, single-payer plan that covers everyone, like every other modern industrialized country.

Not every modern industrialized country has a single payer system.

Re: Why YC went to DC

#200

Post by dbancajas »

siliconc0w wrote: post #9

If you need more things to fix: * Software R&D Amortization - taxes on make-believe profits * Patent law - protect small businesses from patent trolls * Automate government-driven compliance standards - enable small businesses to sell into large companies/government entities, automatic certification when using pre-approved cloud solutions. * Healthcare insurance - employees of SMBs automatically get access to medicar…

Can you expand on the last one? Is there no market (providers/demand) for this right now?
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