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New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

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Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#121

Post by apardes »

jahewson wrote: post #74

I can't help feeling that there's just too much in this RFS and that much of it lies beyond the expertise of YC. The lack of focus means that the only message I can take away is that YC wants fewer frivolous startups. SpaceX and Tesla are fine for inspiration but they have absolutely exceptional funding - no YC company is going to have access to those opportunities. I'm all for ambition but I don't see how this RFS i…

I'm no expert, but I wouldn't say I've seen many YC startups that I would call frivolous. If a product fills a need, it isn't frivolous.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#122

Post by mikeyouse »

pbreit wrote: post #68
dsugarman wrote: post #2

SpaceX and Tesla were really possible because of the large amounts of money that Elon put into the companies, it is estimated that Elon invested $100MM into SpaceX. his extremely impressive resume was not enough to receive the level of funding to get the company off the ground (get it?) how can a first time entrepreneur actually receive substantial investment without putting in such a large personal investment?

But Tesla is a good example of starting reasonably. The Roadster was mostly a Lotus Elise and the batteries were off-the-shelf notebook batteries, for example.

> But Tesla is a good example of starting reasonably.

The Tesla Roadster was first shown to the public in July of 2006. By that time, Tesla had already raised (and spent) nearly $60M. Before they sold the first Roadster, they had raised $145M including $40M of Elon's own money.

Plowing $150M into a car company before making a sale isn't remotely reasonable.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#123

Post by foobarqux »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #56
kyro wrote: post #7

I feel like this is a big shift in focus for YC and for the industry if others follow suit. This will do a lot of good in changing the image of the typical startup, from who starts them to what their ambitions are, signaling to those in other industries that the valley isn't just about young code-slingers and iOS apps. I hope this encourages people in STEM with years of specialized domain experience to look at starti…

This would reinvigorate some of us who are jaded by SV's astounding lack of ambition towards actually solving hard problems as well. I didn't become an engineer to crank out CRUD apps in some rock star's crazy DSL all day.

A VC's job is to take in money and return even more money. Not to be ambitious. Pension funds don't care about creating innovation.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#124

Post by bfe »

foobarqux wrote: post #119
pg wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://boostedboards.com

That looks like a great company with a great product but it's only capital intensive relative to web software.

But it's plausible as a fast, minimal entry point to electric vehicles in general, potentially attracting more capital to expand a proven product line, instead of trying to start with a car. I hope they're planning something like that.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#126

Post by pg »

bfe wrote: post #124
foobarqux wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That looks like a great company with a great product but it's only capital intensive relative to web software.

But it's plausible as a fast, minimal entry point to electric vehicles in general, potentially attracting more capital to expand a proven product line, instead of trying to start with a car. I hope they're planning something like that.

Bingo.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#127

Post by loganu »

rayiner wrote: post #103
supersystem wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing that really matters for YC is if the company can be acquired. With Google just buying a bunch of robotics companies and the belief in "geek exceptionalism" as high as ever I've seen worse bets.

Okay, can they get Boeing to acquire one of those companies? Because those are the kinds of relevant players in most of these areas.

Why not? Advances in materials, energy, batteries, would be right up Boeing's alley. Diagnostics, communications for planes? What if YC funded a company that had a novel method to make petroleum extraction 20% faster, cleaner or more efficient? Or could help scale lotus-effect paints to mass production? Or could bring big data/ machine-learning to health care to crunch through our habits and health history to find strange correlations and insights that we wouldn't think of?

YC now (publicly) looks like it's working on the ideas and types of companies that the world needs more of. If this shift is real, it opens up YC to smart people without CS degrees. (I know it was before, but it's perception as well) And there are exits, they're just outside of SV. GE, Philips, Exxon, GSK, Pfizer, Bombardier...

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#128

Post by mahyarm »

justhw wrote: post #71
nakedrobot2 wrote: post #25

I hope someone is crazy enough for the Tall Tower project. It is the kind of project the Human Race needs to convince ourselves that we are still capable of getting Big Things done. If you don't know about it already, it is a project jump-started in part by Neal Stephenson, to build a 15km tall tower. http://hieroglyph.asu.edu/project/the-tall-tower/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE0n_5qPmRM

Curious: How do you suggest funding to arrive? What is the net benefit to the stake holders?

Cheaper rocket launches.

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#129

Post by pg »

dsugarman wrote: post #44
tlb wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many first-time entrepreneurs have raised more than $100M. They started with small amounts and showed great results at each stage.

I 100% agree when it comes to software, but if we are talking about long term ground breaking technology.. how can you start a spaceship company without a $100M initial investment? what results can you show at an early stage? it's an honest question and I think about this all the time. If you can solve the funding issue, I would bet a lot more people will choose the more ambitious projects. What can a spaceship compa…

By not starting with spaceships, but instead with something that can evolve into spaceships.

Here's the first product of Boeing, which built the bottom stage of the Saturn V:

http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/bw.page

Re: New RFS – Breakthrough Technologies

#130

Post by loganu »

theuri wrote: post #46

I can't help but feel there's a few major gaps on this list - helping reinvent financial services, and using technology to improve lives in developing economies

It's not an exhaustive list. Maybe it just shows that they feel they've funded enough realtime location-based social pizza-sharing apps.
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