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YC without being in YC

42floors.com

21–30 of 43 posts

Re: YC without being in YC

#22
post #21

OK, does this mean the time is right for a YCaaS site? ("For just $X/month we will poke and prod you along a simulated YC path. Start anytime!")

If there is the option for online interaction, why not?

Your market would be terribly small though ;)

Re: YC without being in YC

#23
The network of YC alumni is quite awesome. Everyone’s willing to help each other out. It’s the second most helpful community I’ve ever been a part of. The first? Hacker News. Ask for feedback and you’ll get it. Ask for help and you’ll get it. Give back to the Hacker News community whenever you can.

I have to second that Hacker News has been one of the most helpful communities for me. They (you) single-handedly are responsible for helping me seed communities for 5+ different applications, and most still exist today (graffitiGeo, OfficeHours.TV, Hacker News Directory, Bloc, CupidWithFriends) and pushing the sales of a book I wrote into bestselling categories on Amazon. I know friends who have similar experiences when they launched their own products. I hope to some day write a proper thank you letter to HN.

I see other products launch and I'm sometimes envious that the owners run another large community where they promote their other apps (e.g. Let's Date promoted by Suicide Girls), but realized that the same opportunity exists for anyone on HN. Makes me wonder how most people grow their products early on, because I'm probably taking HN for granted at this point.

Re: YC without being in YC

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

fixed :)

Thanks! Not sure how you fixed it (or how you know its fixed) but if you're an admin, I'd love to know why anything I submit is automatically 'dead'. Email is aashayk@umich.edu, thanks again :)

Re: YC without being in YC

#28
This is a great idea for GTD on your project, but it leaves out something pretty significant that YC also gives you, when you go to do your next round of investment: validation and DD. You see investors offering deals on the spot at demo day, not just because you show them 5 weeks of traction, but because of their trust in PG and crew. They probably discussed your co. with PG during the past 10 weeks without you knowing about it.

If you run the process on your own, at the end you'll have something built, but still have 1-3 months of work ahead of you securing another round of money.

Re: YC without being in YC

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

fixed :)

Thanks! Not sure how you fixed it (or how you know its fixed) but if you're an admin, I'd love to know why anything I submit is automatically 'dead'. Email is aashayk@umich.edu, thanks again :)

He probably 'fixed' it by up voting the comment you accidentally down voted.

Re: YC without being in YC

#30

Can 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 first thing to do is actually validate that people need your product. If you can't win in the short term then there won't be a long term.
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