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Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

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Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#181

Post by jasfi »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #172
jedberg wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC has only been investing in deep tech for about a decade, I'm not sure that's long enough for them to have had a home run yet. For example, Boom Supersonic was founded 10 years ago, and just this summer completed their second test flight. They are scheduled to launch commercial operations in 2029. Lucid bots was founded in 2018, and just did their Series A to fund their growth of their autonomous drone fleet. I wou…

What is "deep tech"?

Things that are difficult to do in tech, e.g. AI/ML that's in-house (not using an API).

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#182

Post by fsckboy »

Clubber wrote: post #174
fsckboy wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Steve Jobs or maybe just Apple used to pit teams against each other to develop a solution to a problem and then pick the strongest of the two. probably that's Apple. Steve Jobs is more famous for jumping from the failing project (Lisa) onto the winning team (Macintosh)

Macintosh was, by all financial accounts, a failure; at least the first iteration. That's what got him fired. https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-how-the...

if they were firing him for failures, he would already have been fired for Apple 3 and then Lisa

the Apple /// shocked people when announced, instead of being a 6809 or 68000, it was... two 6502's? what? who does that

but you're making the same point, he was casting about for success, not predicting the future.

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#183

Post by fsckboy »

tptacek wrote: post #128
fsckboy wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would be weirder, much weirder, if they kept a conflict list like a law firm modern portfolio theory (MPT) is the only acceptable measure of investment performance, and calculating co-variance is the salient feature of MPT, so no, it would not be weird to track overlap. to sum it up in a single sentence, is OpenAI a good investment for you at $50 a share? Without even knowing anything else about the company, if…

At 5000 companies this is a little like saying that investors should avoid the S&P 500 because it includes both Coke and Pepsi.

it's a good point you raise, you are definitely paying attentiong, but no, that's literally not the right interpretation of what it says.

it says you should own both Coke and Pepsi instead of either one exclusively; you actually want Coke, Pepsi, and 7up and Polar and Canada Dry and/or Dr. Pepper and/or whatever else is an independent company. In what proportions should you own them? weighted by their market caps.

but you also want to own every other company as well, weighted by their market cap.

Wilshire 5000 >> S&P 500

The reason to avoid the S&P is not because it contains competitors, it's because it does not include 4500 other companies. But that aspect of investing is CAPM.

Portfolio theory refers to your own portfolio. Never think "I made a great investment in Company X earlier this year." why? because what was the rest of your money in, you didn't put it all in X, did you? And what was your money in when it wasn't in X? You must always look at your entire portfolio, and you must always look all the time. Nobody cares if you won a hand of poker, the question is, how do you do on average and over time.

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#184

Post by ribadeo »

meta_x_ai wrote: post #136
light_triad wrote: post #49

> YC startups don’t have to be unique. Far from it. Slow news day. YC has made it clear over the years it's almost all about the founders not the idea. It's almost impossible to know if an idea is good at the early stages, and ideas change, startups pivot, often the timing is wrong, and the market unproven etc. More often than not most of what startups do is not unique, otherwise there's no market for it. A new take…

HN has turned into an anti-billionaire, anti-VC, anti-success cesspool. It's a very dangerous echo chamber that'll destroy within

I can see that it has already eaten both your participles and your punctuation. Your user name couldn't be more apropo. However your sycophantic ramblings will not likely enhance your own bank account.

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#185

Post by ribadeo »

mrandish wrote: post #134
onion2k wrote: post #7

I think there's something missing from this analysis - YC companies might duplicate one another's products but that doesn't say anything at all about their target markets, route to market, product focus, etc. As an example, my first startup was a requirements management app that, on paper at least, was a copy of IBM DOORS. Except DOORS is a massive enterprise app targeted at companies who are building a new airplane…

Yes, I agree and would add other reasons. It's always seemed obvious to me that YC would invest in multiple startups working on the same problem space for these reasons: First, compared to a traditional VC, YC is micro-investing in far more startups and doing so faster and more frequently. Second, YC highly prioritizes founder/team quality over ideas but teams come to YC by pitching an idea. I just read an article ye…

I wonder how successful market pivots are, on average. Seems like flailing to me. How can one take money to achieve x, build plans and hire people to achieve x, and then do y instead and not fall down in the necessary interval, unless the y product happens to be a side effect of x?

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#186

Post by throwaway314155 »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #173
throwaway314155 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoiler alert: it's "easy" when you narrow down to applications who come from wealth and/or went to a prestigious university.

What is wrong with selecting founders who attended a prestigious university? It seems like an excellent signal. Also: "Come from wealth" might be useful if their idea will take a bit longer to germinate. They can survive longer in "ramen profitable" mode.

One could imagine a more equitable society where startups weren't solely (hyperbole) reserved for those who come from wealth and privilege. Nothing wrong with prestigious schools until that's the only metric you're looking at when you could also evaluate on sound fundamentals, ability and technical competence.

Of course modern investors (or a least the ones at VC) probably aren't qualified to judge applicants on merit.

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#187

Post by 999900000999 »

keiferski wrote: post #106
j45 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first resonating problem you solve is rarely the bigger problem you end up completely solving.

But AirBnb didn't "completely solve" the hotel industry, and hotels still exist. If anything, they seem to still basically be operating in the same space as they started: owner-based rentals, for both individual rooms and entire properties.

Ignoring local regulations, like Uber also was an "innovation".

Uber is a net good since it reduces drunk driving. Not sure about Airbnb destroying the rental market...

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#188

Post by chrisandchris »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #163
onion2k wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could, but it's IBM so any 'lite' version wouldn't stay lite for very long. They mostly excel at making huge, complicated things to sell to other huge, complicated businesses. They aren't very interested in, or very good at, making small things they need to sell lots of (and, to their credit, they recognize that and stick to what they're good at.)

Well they clearly have the potential to sell the same but without any of the add ons, or most of the support or guarantees, and with functionality restricfed. Wouldn’t they do so once they notice there is a serious challenger?

1 times a large sale is still most times better than 10 small sales, if your company is focused on larger sales. Smaller sales are a whole different thing and needs a different (organizational) architecture.

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#189

Post by thrw42A8N »

throwaway314155 wrote: post #186
throwaway2037 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is wrong with selecting founders who attended a prestigious university? It seems like an excellent signal. Also: "Come from wealth" might be useful if their idea will take a bit longer to germinate. They can survive longer in "ramen profitable" mode.

One could imagine a more equitable society where startups weren't solely (hyperbole) reserved for those who come from wealth and privilege. Nothing wrong with prestigious schools until that's the only metric you're looking at when you could also evaluate on sound fundamentals, ability and technical competence. Of course modern investors (or a least the ones at VC) probably aren't qualified to judge applicants on meri…

Where do you see that it's reserved? I get that it's a hyperbole, but startups are the best, most used and most successful tool for upwards social mobility. Nothing has changed the life of so many people, no amount of taxes or regulations was able to improve lives of so many, so much.

Re: Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows

#190

Post by K0balt »

alganet wrote: post #137
dxbydt wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how pelicans will raise two chicks and then kick the weakest there is a youtube video ( pls don’t watch ) that gave me nightmares for days on end. i had completely forgotten about those pelicans and now you had to bring it up again in the comments. the little pelican had a broken leg. It was limping, so mom and brother together pushed it out of the nest. Very cruel.

Pelicans are brutal mindless beasts. They are known to fly to neighbour nests and eat other birds, sometimes other pelicans. So similar to companies.

Or, maybe they know exactly what they are doing.

Nature has a tendency to ignore human ideas of justice and ethics.

The will of the stronger is the primary “law” of nature.

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