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The Irony of Applying to YC

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: The Irony of Applying to YC

#11

Post by joeguilmette »

karzeem wrote: post #7
socmoth wrote: post #2

one of the best things about YC is the peer group and the environment. you get a lot from talking to your new friends who are going through exactly the same thing you are.

That's definitely the reason we applied. When they came out, reviews of Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan said wisely that for people who want to get into scalable jobs^, the main lesson of the books is to expose yourself to as much randomness as possible and to just get out there and do your thing. Success is built on a small number of big breaks, so you need to put yourself in a situation where your chances f…

i think that is a great point. people look to incredibly successful people like steve jobs and bill gates, and they hear their stories and think 'hey, if i had gotten that lucky i could've done that too.'

it's not about luck, it's about odds. successful people fail on a consistent basis. the more you put yourself out there the more likely it is that the next time you do you'll get lucky.

Re: The Irony of Applying to YC

#12

Post by nailer »

karzeem wrote: post #7
socmoth wrote: post #2

one of the best things about YC is the peer group and the environment. you get a lot from talking to your new friends who are going through exactly the same thing you are.

That's definitely the reason we applied. When they came out, reviews of Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan said wisely that for people who want to get into scalable jobs^, the main lesson of the books is to expose yourself to as much randomness as possible and to just get out there and do your thing. Success is built on a small number of big breaks, so you need to put yourself in a situation where your chances f…

"A scalable job, according to Taleb, is any job where given success, the amount of money you make is vastly disproportionate to the amount of time you put in--like starting a company, or becoming an actor or musician. "

That's a terrible misuse of the term scalable.

Re: The Irony of Applying to YC

#15

Post by jsackmann »

nailer wrote: post #12
karzeem wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's definitely the reason we applied. When they came out, reviews of Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan said wisely that for people who want to get into scalable jobs^, the main lesson of the books is to expose yourself to as much randomness as possible and to just get out there and do your thing. Success is built on a small number of big breaks, so you need to put yourself in a situation where your chances f…

"A scalable job, according to Taleb, is any job where given success, the amount of money you make is vastly disproportionate to the amount of time you put in--like starting a company, or becoming an actor or musician. " That's a terrible misuse of the term scalable.

In fairness (and in context), Taleb is quoting some random b-school guy he encountered. He reuses it, but I suspect he does so that he doesn't have to mess with the original story and/or quibble over definitions.

Re: The Irony of Applying to YC

#17

Post by carter »

andresoileau wrote: post #9

Y-Combinator is an edge. Y-Combinator is a valuable resource; peer review, networking, and heavy motivation. These are things not easily gained on your own. If you really need Y-Combinator to gain success, then you better question yourself and what you offer. Personally, I know my idea will revolutionize the industry it pertains to, but submitting an application to Y-Combinator is giving me the needed kick in the but…

Agree. It's like to travel from A to B. You can choose a train to get there in an 3 days or you can choose a plane to get there in 4 hours. YC's money are not critical for my team too, cos we're already building our app. But I can't overestimate YC's value.

Good luck. Make something people need.

Re: The Irony of Applying to YC

#18

Post by rokhayakebe »

If you do not need it, then why try? Maybe you could simply save yourself the anxiety and code some more. I think we ought to stop fooling ourselves. Technically you do not need anything, Heck you do not even need a startup, but if you are applying to YC then you probably need it Now, if you do not make then at that point you do not need it anymore.

Re: The Irony of Applying to YC

#19

Post by rms »

comatose_kid wrote: post #16
Tichy wrote: post #14

Building cool things != being successful

What if I believe being successful == building cool things?

I think that's great.

To me, being successful is flying around the world blowing oil and spewing carbon in a decadent state of material excess, until I attain immortality and start meditating while bombarding myself with all of the energy around me.

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