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Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

commoncog.com

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Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#11

Post by anshulbhide »

I particularly love the following quotes from "Chaos Monkeys." This is "The Social Network" level of commentary:

The harsh reality is this: to have influence in the world, you need to be willing and able to reward your friends and punish your enemies.

But in the passive-aggressive popularity contest that is Silicon Valley, someone actually going to bat for you—really going to bat, like telling important people to go fuck themselves—that’s rarer and more short-lived than a snowflake in a bonfire.

Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#12

Post by nabla9 »

ec109685 wrote: post #3

The 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.

> I always find it interesting

That's not interesting. That's not understanding capitalism. It's all about Incentives.

The idea that business leaders can be ever considered genuine political or cultural voice or actor is the problem. Silicon Valley and hacker culture has created an atmosphere of business politicians and for some reason hackers take them seriously and don't laugh at their faces.

The talk is just empty PR. Somehow smart people working for OpenAI, Google, keep eating it.

Traditionally business people don't get into discussions of culture or politics directly. They might work in the background, but never directly. There is a good reason for that.

Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#13

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

neilv wrote: post #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?

Not because of YC. I think that what people say here, is only a fairly small data point, for them.

But I would encourage folks to consider their approach, in general, whenever we are in a professional context (and, despite the casual nature of HN, this is very much a “professional context”).

I think that some few people here, are able to post in a truly anonymous fashion, but most folks could be doxxed fairly easily, if they piss off the wrong people (not always movers and shakers; we have some truly amazing talent, hereabouts).

In my case, I just make it clear who I am, and post carefully (I know it may not seem so, but look closer). I learned, long ago, that I’m not actually able to maintain true anonymity, so I don’t even try.

Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#14

Post by worksonmymach »

Commoncog hits a home run again. This is fascinating. It is more Suits than Suits. Showing how strategy > law when fighting a case. But also the interesting fraternity (not all boys of course) that YC is. Feels like the only other place you would see it is organized crime or corrupt politics where you then owe a favour. But that isn't what it is here. I guess it is about honour.

Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#15

Post by adastra22 »

jf wrote: post #10
neilv wrote: post #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?

Not any more than you need to in any public forum

Not the point. One should be allowed to be critical of the institutions of the valley without getting their name written down in a secret blacklist.

Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#16

Post by michaelt »

cj wrote: post #6

If 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 ti…

> How else can you scale an accelerator?

I mean, you could delegate the scaling to the startups you're investing in.

If I'm gambling at the horse races, should I bet $100 on every horse to make my gambling scalable and diversified, because I don't feel I can pick winners with any reliability?

Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#17

Post by worksonmymach »

cj wrote: post #6

If 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 ti…

I'd love to know who "wins" in a scaled YC vs. the oceanic tide that is the SP500 and it's capital sucking and brain sucking ways. A Google can stop 10000 potential startups simply with RSUs and cap another 10000 by buying them out (which is kinda good for YC but not really... they'd rather own a chunk of a Google).

Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#19

Post by fragmede »

michaelt wrote: post #16
cj wrote: post #6

If 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 ti…

> How else can you scale an accelerator? I mean, you could delegate the scaling to the startups you're investing in. If I'm gambling at the horse races, should I bet $100 on every horse to make my gambling scalable and diversified, because I don't feel I can pick winners with any reliability?

That is the game though. If I bet $100k on each of 10 contestants. That’s $1m total. With odds of 1000:1, a single win pays $100m enough to cover all bets and leave a huge profit.

Re: Y Combinator and Power in Silicon Valley

#20

Post by geysersam »

fragmede wrote: post #19
michaelt wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How else can you scale an accelerator? I mean, you could delegate the scaling to the startups you're investing in. If I'm gambling at the horse races, should I bet $100 on every horse to make my gambling scalable and diversified, because I don't feel I can pick winners with any reliability?

That is the game though. If I bet $100k on each of 10 contestants. That’s $1m total. With odds of 1000:1, a single win pays $100m enough to cover all bets and leave a huge profit.

If the horse race has 10 contestants why would the odds be 1000:1?
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