This seems ethically dubious.
Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
21–30 of 204 posts
Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#22Note incidentally that I'm talking about the performance of the IPO, not the performance of Facebook itself. I think Facebook as a company is in a strong position. The problem is simply that Mr. Market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Intelligent_Investor) doesn't think so at the moment.
Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#23It's very possible that the Facebook IPO came early enough in this bubble to actually prevent a huge disaster. I did not like where things were headed with most startups in the past couple of years. The Facebook IPO was like a fire extinguisher that happened to contain a small fire before it got way too out-of-control.
If your startup has no business model, you better think of one fast. If your startup has no revenue or a lack of it, you better start generating a lot more really soon. If your startup has a solid business model and is cash-flow positive, it's time to start leap-frogging the competition and adjusting the course. This is the time when good companies become great ones.
Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#24Can someone explain the perception that Facebook's IPO was a disaster? Doesn't the fact that the stock has not risen mean that the offering had the correct price?
Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#25This happens every couple of years in tech. I've personally witnessed 3 downturns now. One was real and two were arguably the best time to start companies. Raising money might be harder, but generally only for bad companies.
Why would they be good times to start companies? Less clutter for investors to sort through and more available talent?
Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#26This happens every couple of years in tech. I've personally witnessed 3 downturns now. One was real and two were arguably the best time to start companies. Raising money might be harder, but generally only for bad companies.
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Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#27Note incidentally that I'm talking about the performance of the IPO, not the performance of Facebook itself. I think Facebook as a company is in a strong position. The problem is simply that Mr. Market ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Intelligent_Investor ) doesn't think so at the moment.
> I think Facebook as a company is in a strong position.
Just curious, but I'd like to hear your opinion on why this is the case, vs all the naysayers that are betting against the company now. Do you have any specific point you find that Facebook can leverage to maintain success?
Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#28This happens every couple of years in tech. I've personally witnessed 3 downturns now. One was real and two were arguably the best time to start companies. Raising money might be harder, but generally only for bad companies.
Why would they be good times to start companies? Less clutter for investors to sort through and more available talent?
Mostly: Less competition for users (e.g. there are 600K iOS apps now - too many), and easier to hire (main alternative right now is to get funding and start a company).
Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#29Who is emilepetrone? Did pg really write this? Also why did this disappear from the front page, and then reappear?
PG wrote it but sent it to YC Companies, not publicly on Hacker News. emilepetrone took what PG sent and posted it here.
Re: Paul Graham's Letter to YC Companies
#30[deleted]