Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
twitter.com
Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
1–10 of 317 posts
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#2[deleted]
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#3It seems the first few batches of YC were VERY successful. But, the number of successful YC companies I can think of from the last 10 years of batches is very minimal despite them investing in thousands of companies.
Makes you wonder, does the funding landscape need a new YC level disruption because YC seems to have peeked, return wise (not hype wise).
Maybe AI might be their saving grace if everything works out
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#4It seems the first few batches of YC were VERY successful. But, the number of successful YC companies I can think of from the last 10 years of batches is very minimal despite them investing in thousands of companies. Makes you wonder, does the funding landscape need a new YC level disruption because YC seems to have peeked, return wise (not hype wise). Maybe AI might be their saving grace if everything works out
You might find this blogpost eye opening: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/pulling-back-the-curtain-...
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#5It seems the first few batches of YC were VERY successful. But, the number of successful YC companies I can think of from the last 10 years of batches is very minimal despite them investing in thousands of companies. Makes you wonder, does the funding landscape need a new YC level disruption because YC seems to have peeked, return wise (not hype wise). Maybe AI might be their saving grace if everything works out
I do think YC has become chasers of the latest trend rather than creating the trend. That is why most of the successes are skewed early like Reddit and a bunch of other companies which defined the internet.
Now they have gone from crypto grifting companies and AI hyped companies and it really seems that the a-level players are missing.
Or maybe it's just a matter of smaller teams and focus and care.
I think now I see YC more like a job for the partners than a passion.
I might be wrong but there is definitely something to it that YC has not had a success for a very long time.
It's really sad because YC is one of the best things to happen to the tech industry.
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#6It seems the first few batches of YC were VERY successful. But, the number of successful YC companies I can think of from the last 10 years of batches is very minimal despite them investing in thousands of companies. Makes you wonder, does the funding landscape need a new YC level disruption because YC seems to have peeked, return wise (not hype wise). Maybe AI might be their saving grace if everything works out
A) Very true!
B) peaked* :)
C) Can you think of any tech companies from the last 10 years that were successful? The answer is ultimately "they exist, but the victory condition is to be bought by MANGA, so you don't remember them even if you heard about them in the first place."
EDIT: to add more context, this is a great post: https://jaredheyman.medium.com/on-the-176-annual-return-of-a... The TL;DR is that Stripe & AirBnB (and to a lesser extent DropBox, DoorDash, and Instacart) were absolutely massive wins that they have yet to (and shouldn't expect to!) replicate; otherwise, they're doing just fine in terms of ROI.
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#7It seems the first few batches of YC were VERY successful. But, the number of successful YC companies I can think of from the last 10 years of batches is very minimal despite them investing in thousands of companies. Makes you wonder, does the funding landscape need a new YC level disruption because YC seems to have peeked, return wise (not hype wise). Maybe AI might be their saving grace if everything works out
There are many factors (YC needs to allocate more capital, not founder-led anymore, needs to fill more batches...) etc.
But another one is that the first batch has had 20 years to grow and compound while the rest has had less time to become massive.
I'm not saying YC is perfect now (though it's still great). But I think a simple factor could just be time for many portcos.
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#8It seems the first few batches of YC were VERY successful. But, the number of successful YC companies I can think of from the last 10 years of batches is very minimal despite them investing in thousands of companies. Makes you wonder, does the funding landscape need a new YC level disruption because YC seems to have peeked, return wise (not hype wise). Maybe AI might be their saving grace if everything works out
The alternative is that it takes x > 10 years to become very successful. But that seems somewhat doubtful.
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#9It seems the first few batches of YC were VERY successful. But, the number of successful YC companies I can think of from the last 10 years of batches is very minimal despite them investing in thousands of companies. Makes you wonder, does the funding landscape need a new YC level disruption because YC seems to have peeked, return wise (not hype wise). Maybe AI might be their saving grace if everything works out
I do think YC has become chasers of the latest trend rather than creating the trend. That is why most of the successes are skewed early like Reddit and a bunch of other companies which defined the internet. Now they have gone from crypto grifting companies and AI hyped companies and it really seems that the a-level players are missing. Or maybe it's just a matter of smaller teams and focus and care. I think now I see…
Well it’s a function of those that apply and are accepted, and pitches are going to reflect the current hype. YC occasionally puts out a call for applications in areas they think are interesting but perhaps they haven’t seen many compelling pitches for. Have they recently put out a call for specific areas of interest?
Re: Happy 20th birthday, Y Combinator
#10It seems the first few batches of YC were VERY successful. But, the number of successful YC companies I can think of from the last 10 years of batches is very minimal despite them investing in thousands of companies. Makes you wonder, does the funding landscape need a new YC level disruption because YC seems to have peeked, return wise (not hype wise). Maybe AI might be their saving grace if everything works out
A) Very true! B) peaked* :) C) Can you think of any tech companies from the last 10 years that were successful? The answer is ultimately "they exist, but the victory condition is to be bought by MANGA, so you don't remember them even if you heard about them in the first place." EDIT: to add more context, this is a great post: https://jaredheyman.medium.com/on-the-176-annual-return-of-a... The TL;DR is that Stripe & A…
Yeah it's a good question to ask:
Was the startup success rate in 2005 overall higher or was it actually due to YC selecting so well.
Also, success is relatively defined. A $50m exit might be something that gets washed away after a TechCrunch article and a few social media posts.
But that's still life-changing money for the founders. It's not changing the world writ large, but changes the world for a few people.
= Besides, there are many successes we never talk about. Wiz is worth $32B (at least Google was willing to pay that), but rarely talked about because they're a "boring" cybersecurity infrastructure company.