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We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

forbes.com

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Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#11

Post by tatterdemalion »

driverdan wrote: post #7

Living in a Mission dump trying to sleep three people to a bed is not how you should be starting a business. Why do people think this is how you optimize for success?

Right. Nothing against this company and all the best to them, but what is the larger narrative this story is building? Its really exploitative to tell young people that they should come to one of the most expensive places in the world and sleep in their cars so they can have the privilege of giving equity to Y Combinator.

It's something really dark in California's culture (I have lived my entire life here). From '49 to Hollywood to now Silicon Valley, its a reverberating call for people to come here and get rich quick. And in any gold rush, its always better to be the ones selling the pics and shovels than the ones buying them.

Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#12

Post by jgreen10 »

driverdan wrote: post #7

Living in a Mission dump trying to sleep three people to a bed is not how you should be starting a business. Why do people think this is how you optimize for success?

I'm assuming it was because they didn't have any money at the time, not as a business strategy. Personally, I'd stay home and build software that solves a real problem, but I'm not in YC...

Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#13

Post by tarof »

S4M wrote: post #8
tarof wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you!

Taro, two questions: 1. What was your thought process when pivoting from a dating site to AnyPerk? They seem to me like two unrelated things. 2. You say that your burnout was very low, but living three guys in a motel room, surely it has to be hard from a mental perspective, how did you guys cope with that?

Thanks for the questions.

1. We pivoted a several times during YC days. Initially we were trying to pivot into similar ideas. (standard "pivots") but after discussing really hard internally, we decided to think what we really are excited about regardless of what we had been working on, and we felt AnyPerk is the idea that we wanted to work for the next 10~ years.

2. I have to admit that it was not easy, but when you are working on your best idea with best people you know is so exciting that you can feel so positive about everything.

Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#14

Post by birken »

tatterdemalion wrote: post #11
driverdan wrote: post #7

Living in a Mission dump trying to sleep three people to a bed is not how you should be starting a business. Why do people think this is how you optimize for success?

Right. Nothing against this company and all the best to them, but what is the larger narrative this story is building? Its really exploitative to tell young people that they should come to one of the most expensive places in the world and sleep in their cars so they can have the privilege of giving equity to Y Combinator. It's something really dark in California's culture (I have lived my entire life here). From '49…

This is what the press does. The median or average case isn't interesting, so they find interesting stories that are outliers and write about them. Is it illustrative of what normal people can and should expect? No. Is it useful in any way for somebody who wants to start a business? No. Is it interesting? Yes. The press' job doesn't involve building a useful narrative for people, it is just to write interesting stories.

Changing the press is not going to happen, but if you disagree with this story, I highly recommend flagging it and if enough people agree that will drop it off the HN homepage.

Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#15

Post by tatterdemalion »

birken wrote: post #14
tatterdemalion wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Nothing against this company and all the best to them, but what is the larger narrative this story is building? Its really exploitative to tell young people that they should come to one of the most expensive places in the world and sleep in their cars so they can have the privilege of giving equity to Y Combinator. It's something really dark in California's culture (I have lived my entire life here). From '49…

This is what the press does. The median or average case isn't interesting, so they find interesting stories that are outliers and write about them. Is it illustrative of what normal people can and should expect? No. Is it useful in any way for somebody who wants to start a business? No. Is it interesting? Yes. The press' job doesn't involve building a useful narrative for people, it is just to write interesting stori…

I think the only reason to flag it would be the title, which is bad clickbait. The narrative problem goes deeper than the press's interest in rags-to-riches stories; journalists are not the only ones telling people that if they too would give up their comfort and security, they could be uplifted by the grace of VC investments.

Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#17

Post by dang »

driverdan wrote: post #7

Living in a Mission dump trying to sleep three people to a bed is not how you should be starting a business. Why do people think this is how you optimize for success?

I don't hear anybody claiming that. The article is just the story of what these guys did.

The determination behind it, on the other hand, is damned impressive.

Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#18

Post by dang »

tatterdemalion wrote: post #15
birken wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what the press does. The median or average case isn't interesting, so they find interesting stories that are outliers and write about them. Is it illustrative of what normal people can and should expect? No. Is it useful in any way for somebody who wants to start a business? No. Is it interesting? Yes. The press' job doesn't involve building a useful narrative for people, it is just to write interesting stori…

I think the only reason to flag it would be the title, which is bad clickbait. The narrative problem goes deeper than the press's interest in rags-to-riches stories; journalists are not the only ones telling people that if they too would give up their comfort and security, they could be uplifted by the grace of VC investments.

Have you guys not noticed that the article was not written by a journalist?

Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#19

Post by kevin »

"We started in January 2012, and may still be the only Asian YC founders ever."

So that is not true. 9gag is from Hong Kong. Semantics3 is from Singapore. Strikingly is from China. Memebox is from Korea. Cleartax is from India. Those are just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are more.

That being said, I actually would love to see more Asian startups applying to Y Combinator. We should be funding one from each country EVERY batch, not just averaging one per batch. I've made several trips to Asia now talking with startups to try and better understand how YC can do a better job and what is it about their ecosystem that makes the Asian startup scene so different. For example, I did office hours with over 60 Japanese startups trying to understand why it feels different over there. What surprised me the most was how much we take for granted here in the US about our startup ecosystem and values.

My plan is to write this all down in depth soon and figure out what actionable things can be done by YC to help. Stories from companies like AnyPerk help, but so much more needs to be done by us to reach out to founders out there.

Re: We Just Thought, 'This Is How You Start a Company in America'

#20

Post by gone35 »

downandout wrote: post #6

You do not necessarily need to start in the Valley to become successful, especially if your situation there imposes additional hurdles to success. Living out of a car or tenement is generally detrimental to one's ability to focus on the business. It's always amazing to me that as tech entrepreneurs we largely sell to others the idea that technology enables us to do anything from anywhere, but simultaneously believe t…

It's always amazing to me that as tech entrepreneurs we largely sell to others the idea that technology enables us to do anything from anywhere, but simultaneously believe that there is exactly one place on earth where we must physically be to get anything done.

A hundred times, this. Granted, with current technology remote is much less efficient than face-to-face collaboration. But then there is also the all-to-important courtiering side to it, which might be rather awkward to do with a telepresence robot (I guess).

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