This is almost as embarrassing as data centers in space getting funded. lol.
Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
21–30 of 272 posts
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#22I don't track these things, but as far back as I can remember, the appeal of YC was the tutelage of experienced founders, availability of office hours, and the atmosphere of being surrounded by like-minded, ambitious people. When did that change?
That tight-knit environment couldn't last when they keep taking on a bigger volume of startups every year.
2005 - 8 startups
2010 - 63 startups
2015 - 216 startups
2020 - 435 startups
2024 - 509 startups so far (likely 600+ when the Fall batch is done)
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#23IMHO this post misses the fact that YC becoming a prestige institution is itself a sort of failure mode. You don't want to attract founders who figure YC is a low-risk alternative to grad school that will look good on their resume. It's tough to avoid that outcome while still conferring positive signal to VCs/potential employees, though. I'm sure YC/Garry see something in the PearAI founders' ability to market themse…
I think you mean PearAI[0], not to be confused with Pair AI[1], which YC also funded.
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#24Article's assumption is that a totally incompetent set of startup founders were admitted to YC because it "loses quality in exchange for quantity" (not a direct quote but the gist). And this startup was nothing more than a copy of a different startup.
Maybe it is the prestige game that became a death knell for YC. Because it is "cool" to be accepted to YC, the "cool people" with a coolness factor started applying and tried to game through the evaluation process into acceptance. But these cool people aren't really cut out for doing sweaty, gross, sleeve-pulling work. So they likely fail.
What does Sam do? Refocus the company to drift away from the "cool" tech sector where cool people are looking to make their name cool. And start doing stuff in multiple sectors (that will seem cool in the future!).
What didn't he do? Make the grind of becoming a YC selectee even sweatier and harder. Or change the selection process entirely so that all previous books trying to get you through the system fall flat on their faces.
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#25IMHO this post misses the fact that YC becoming a prestige institution is itself a sort of failure mode. You don't want to attract founders who figure YC is a low-risk alternative to grad school that will look good on their resume. It's tough to avoid that outcome while still conferring positive signal to VCs/potential employees, though. I'm sure YC/Garry see something in the PearAI founders' ability to market themse…
I think you mean PearAI[0], not to be confused with Pair AI[1], which YC also funded. [0] https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/pearai [1] https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/pair-ai
oops, thanks, fixed.
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#26IMHO this post misses the fact that YC becoming a prestige institution is itself a sort of failure mode. You don't want to attract founders who figure YC is a low-risk alternative to grad school that will look good on their resume. It's tough to avoid that outcome while still conferring positive signal to VCs/potential employees, though. I'm sure YC/Garry see something in the PearAI founders' ability to market themse…
> You don't want to attract founders who figure YC is a low-risk alternative to grad school
Of course YC would want that (in the short- to mid-term).
The only thing YC has to do is produce a portfolio of companies that looks good enough that other VCs invest into that. This is completely disconnected to building viable businesses, as they just don't have to be the ones that are left holding the bag, and as an accelerator they are in the best position to do that.
The easiest way to fill that pipeline is to pair current hype XYZ with Harvard (or other ivy league) undergrads (or high-level ex-FANG people). As long as their ROI stays above a certain threshold, that's the main way to scale up YC.
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’ll have to expand on this for us plebs. To whom is it a net negative signal?
I mean I can't speak for that commenter, but I hold any VC backed startup in suspicion for a good amount of time because if they can't reach the size demanded by their investors, which runs the gamut from ambitious-but-achievable all the way to not-in-my-or-your-lifetime, a perfectly profitable modestly sized business is almost bound to be shut down and it's services terminated with little drama, leaving behind poten…
> if they can't reach the size demanded by their investors
In this sense, how is YC any different from any other VC firm?
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#28At some point, you have to turn reputational capital into real capital. The hope, then, is that you only spend the interest on that capital.
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#29Counter point: there are so many more accelerators now. It was basically getting into MIT/Stanford in term of opening up big doors. Now you have schools with accelerators right out of undergrads. So, YC has to compete in the space (sort of). It’s still one of the highest prestige (as in validation) you can get EVEN IF YOU FAIL.
Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth
#30I don't agree at all with this post. YC's mission is to help founders start companies and help them build sustainable businesses. Towards that they've made it super simple to get started and funded, and provide guiding principles and support in the form of advice and a strong network to help the startups survive. They were never about prestige -- that came as a byproduct.
Scaling this model is hard, however, and I think they may be running into scaling limits. There just may not be that many fast growing businesses (startups) every year. We won't know until years from now.