YC without being in YC
42floors.com
YC without being in YC
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Re: YC without being in YC
#2Can someone explain the mantra "Do stuff that doesn't scale"? Is this another way to say focus on the hard stuff? Then scale later?
Re: YC without being in YC
#3Can someone explain the mantra "Do stuff that doesn't scale"? Is this another way to say focus on the hard stuff? Then scale later?
It's an acknowledgement that the early days of a startup don't need to look like the later days. At 42Floors, we met with every landlord in person and then manually typed in every listing. Obviously, we can't do that at scale, but it was an important step to getting our startup off the ground when no one had yet heard about us. Later on, when we had built up credibility, we built web scrapers and integrated data feeds
Re: YC without being in YC
#4Great post. It was surprising to see this type of post from a YC alum but I guess it has to for legitimacy purposes.
I agree with almost all the points, but as someone looking from the outside in, I see YC as the most prestigious fraternity in the tech space. What do I mean by this? I go to the University of Michigan; coming in as an out of stater, I didn't know what to expect but I kept hearing this one piece of advice from current students, faculty, and friends that had also gone to big schools: "Find a way to make the school seem smaller to you." I never really understood it but when I arrived at campus for my freshman year, I quickly understood what everyone meant. There are SO many people and it's easy to get lost and have no sense of direction. So finding a community that aligns with your interests is ideal at a place like Michigan--I knew I wanted to get in with a group of bright, driven, and fun kids. One such place was described to be like this by almost everyone I spoke to in the beginning, it was a 'professional' fraternity where about 250 rushed and only 15 got in. I figured I'd give it a shot and went through the process and was selected. When asked why it's so great, I simply respond with, "The people in it make me a better person". It sounds vague, and it is to some extent, but it's true. Constantly surrounding myself with a small group of bright, driven, and fun individuals has truly made me smarter, more fun, and more open. It's been two years now (I'm a junior) and it is the single best decision I've made.
My long anecdote can be paralleled to YC. The tech space, especially in the bay area, is HUGE. Someone starting from scratch can be easily overwhelmed. YC seems to be the best place to get in a group with bright, driven, and fun individuals pursuing quite groundbreaking ideas, assuming you are one of them as well. That is why it is a desired place to someone like me.
All that being said, the aspect of mimicking a YC lifestyle is a great idea, I think all startups should do this and CAN do this given that it is not to expensive to get going.
Re: YC without being in YC
#5Can someone explain the mantra "Do stuff that doesn't scale"? Is this another way to say focus on the hard stuff? Then scale later?
The classic YC example is AirBNB. Brian & Joe flew to NYC every week to personally recruit hosts, take pictures of their apartments, etc.
Clearly recruiting hosts in person, one by one, doesn't scale. But it's okay to do these kinds of things at first because they help you understand your users & help create super-users who will go out an evangelize your product.
Re: YC without being in YC
#6"Sell before you build"
This is what I learned from YC. It was from Paul Buchheit.
Re: YC without being in YC
#7On a sort-of semi-related note... has anyone here participated in nReduce? The "Open Source YCombinator" that launched to much fanfare a while back? They seemed to get quite a bit of buzz out of the gate, but I haven't heard much about them lately. Anybody gone through the program and care to write up your experiences and submit here? I, for one, would love to read something like that.
Re: YC without being in YC
#8"Sell before you build" This is what I learned from YC. It was from Paul Buchheit.
I'm the jackass who downvoted you...it was by accident, I meant to upvote. I just don't have the option to go back on it, sorry.
Re: YC without being in YC
#9"Sell before you build" This is what I learned from YC. It was from Paul Buchheit.
I'm glad you brought this up--I use it as much as any other. Our iteration time for creating a fake mock-up and trying to sell it is only days. We can get through 5 tests in the time it takes to build one of them.
Re: YC without being in YC
#10Great post. It was surprising to see this type of post from a YC alum but I guess it has to for legitimacy purposes. I agree with almost all the points, but as someone looking from the outside in, I see YC as the most prestigious fraternity in the tech space. What do I mean by this? I go to the University of Michigan; coming in as an out of stater, I didn't know what to expect but I kept hearing this one piece of adv…
You bring up some good points. A very powerful part of the YC network is simply being surrounded by awesome people.
I've found that type of community throughout the startup ecosystem. When I lived in Boston, before ever getting into YC, I found it at Betahouse in Central Square. While in NY, I found it at General Assembly. Now I see it at RocketSpace in SF.