Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
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Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
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Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#2This is a really interesting story. I wonder if this YC power dynamic still exists today.
Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#3The way YC closed ranks was my favorite anecdote from Chaos Monkey’s.
I always find it interesting though YC leaders are extremely against cancel culture, but when it comes to business, its okay to threaten that someone will never work in the valley again if they don’t accede to their demands.
Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#4> This changed in the early 2010s, in part due to the emergence of the tech bubble of that decade (propped up, no doubt, by low interest rates). But it was also changed by the emergence of a new generation of rich ex-founders and early-employees — the result of the Google IPO, and also a smattering of startup acquisitions over the course of the late 1990s and 2000s. These newly rich individuals became investors, and some of these folks — such as ex-Googler and prominent angel Chris Sacca — raised small funds in the $20 million to $40 million range. This meant that the angels now had enough firepower to invest $200,000 checks instead of $20,000 checks — and early stage startups could go longer without talking to VC firms.
I feel like this timeline is off. I lived in San Francisco in the first half of the 2010s and the big turning point wasn't Google's IPO but Facebook's. Cost of living was already inflated by then ($2-3k/mo for a SoMa studio) but after end of the lockout period, the property prices started to really grow out of control and the number of luxury cars driving around SF exploded. Angel groups that invested collectively as a mini-VC firm also became much more popular at that point.
Googlers were plenty involved at the time but the FB IPO is when the character of the whole Bay Area seemed to change.
Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#5> > Y Combinator was the sort of unforgiving power player that remembered the names of investors who had crossed portfolio companies in the past, or who had disseminated unflattering portraits of YC, and blacklisted them from any YC dealings, or from the minds of YC founders.
Do we have to be careful what we say on HN?
Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#6If you’re wondering what to take away from this article: the simple take away is that YC has the power to get what it wants, for the companies it wants.
If you happen to be in YC’s good graces, they will reward you in ways described in the article. If you’re not, they won’t take the time.
I was in YC in 2012 (2 yrs after the founder writing this article, and one of the last years PG was directly involved). By that time it was clear that YC had turned into a “spray and pray” accelerator, meaning they started favoring volume of investments over everything else.
When they did that, it also required that they split their attention between more companies, which inevitably meant that the sort of anecdotes described in the article still happen, but only for companies YC likes and believes in post-accelerator. YC definitely discriminates from that perspective- they choose which startups they think have the most promise during any given batch, and they give those founders preferential treatment.
Which is to be expected. How else can you scale an accelerator?
Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#7The way YC closed ranks was my favorite anecdote from Chaos Monkey’s. I always find it interesting though YC leaders are extremely against cancel culture, but when it comes to business, its okay to threaten that someone will never work in the valley again if they don’t accede to their demands.
Standing against cancel culture is not the same as standing against social sanctions in any way, shape, or form. The problem with cancel culture is not that it's a social sanction. The problem is it's a particularly dysfunctional sort.
"They're against cancel culture... so why didn't they invite me to their house party? What hypocrites!"
Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#8The way YC closed ranks was my favorite anecdote from Chaos Monkey’s. I always find it interesting though YC leaders are extremely against cancel culture, but when it comes to business, its okay to threaten that someone will never work in the valley again if they don’t accede to their demands.
Standing against cancel culture is not the same as standing against social sanctions in any way, shape, or form. The problem with cancel culture is not that it's a social sanction. The problem is it's a particularly dysfunctional sort. "They're against cancel culture... so why didn't they invite me to their house party? What hypocrites!"
I disagree. There's no principle involved. It's all polarized partisan politics. Your "particularly dysfunctional" is extremely in the eye of the beholder. The rich and powerful silicon valley CEO/VC guys tearing the country apart over their woke crusade are just as ideologically irrational as the next twitter blue check.
Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#9How long until we find out the people doing the threatening and the ones offering 'protection' dine together and have a mutually beneficial relationship?
Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley
#10> > Y Combinator was the sort of unforgiving power player that remembered the names of investors who had crossed portfolio companies in the past, or who had disseminated unflattering portraits of YC, and blacklisted them from any YC dealings, or from the minds of YC founders. Do we have to be careful what we say on HN?
Not any more than you need to in any public forum