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

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

#21

Post by reduce »

Nice story. I'm so tired of hearing all the "get rich without stressing yourself - by using this one simple trick" folks. Not that I encourage going to extremes for no purpose, I just don't see these as extreme at all. Just determined.

Sharing a room with a few people for a little while to save the last bit of money? I just call that camping and adventure, which some people actually seem to like. Have the commenters here never been camping? Travelled on a small boat? Been in competitive sports? Hiked a mountain? And they cry about sharing a room for a little while? What a bunch of wimps!

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

#22

Post by [deleted] »

kevin wrote: post #19

"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 c…

[deleted]

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

#23

Post by kevin »

dasil003 wrote: post #9
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?

It just makes a good story feeding into the mythology of SV. Not to take anything away from these guys for their actual achievements, but the article itself is nothing more than color-by-numbers startup porn clickbait.

You're right that most people's experiences don't turn out this way, but that's why it's worth reading. I also think it's unfair to say that this is nothing more than clickbait. It's easy to see a lesson about grit here and I think founders need to hear these stories as much as possible...regardless of where they are located.

Also, it seems odd to me that you would say that you don't want to take anything away from their achievement, because this seems to be the only reason you're commenting. I think it's very obvious that Taro has no agenda to perpetuate the mythology of SV. It just happened to be in SV that these series of events happen to him.

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

#24

Post by rosser »

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 took the story as descriptive, not prescriptive. Did I miss some subtext suggesting otherwise?

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

#25

Post by coralreef »

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…

I think a lot of the time people miss the positive side of these stories.

It's not just a story of impoverishment, its also story of adventure. If you were going to backpack around the world, you're certainly going to be sleeping somewhere dumpy, eating poorly, dealing with crazy situations, etc. But thats okay, because you've accepted that you're trading off comfort for some unique experience.

When I was a teenager, my friend would crash at my house and we'd just hack on our websites, play computer games, and occasionally step outside. For weeks at a time, that's all we'd do. And honestly it was some of the most fun and fulfillment I've ever had.

You don't really get to do that as an adult, except in extreme cases like when you try to build a startup. Life isn't about necessarily optimizing for comfort or salary. Sometimes its more fulfilling to do what you want to do, where you want to do it, on your terms.

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

#26

Post by kevin »

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 believe Taro would be the first person to tell founders they should NOT follow their path to building a company. In retrospect, he realizes how ridiculously naive they were. The lesson that I take away from their story is that even if you don't have a good plan and it turns out it was stupidly inefficient, you can still succeed if you just don't give up.

I see a lot of smart founders give up even with a good plan. The reason? They don't have grit.

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

#27

Post by tatterdemalion »

coralreef wrote: post #25
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…

I think a lot of the time people miss the positive side of these stories. It's not just a story of impoverishment, its also story of adventure. If you were going to backpack around the world, you're certainly going to be sleeping somewhere dumpy, eating poorly, dealing with crazy situations, etc. But thats okay, because you've accepted that you're trading off comfort for some unique experience. When I was a teenager,…

I absolutely agree, but people need an honest appraisal of the situation. You should be making these sorts of decisions because this - in the moment - is the lifestyle you want, not because you believe it will make you a founder of the next WhatsApp.

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

#28

Post by rokhayakebe »

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…

From random readings, it appears that great musicians, scientists, artists live not only during the same era, but usually very close to one another.

I guess today you could call the Internet the city/town.

There is also something to be said about what seems to be serendipity. When there is a high concentration of people doing the same thing, you are more likely to bump into people who can help you turn your vision into a reality. This is why you hear the joke "Go to jail with a bachelor in theft, come out with a PHD in insert_high_level_crime_here."

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

#29

Post by [deleted] »

kevin wrote: post #19

"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 c…

[deleted]

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

#30

Post by vineetch »

jimmaswell wrote: post #16
teach wrote: post #2

I wish more university students had this kind of attitude. Instead of "Let's take out the maximum amount of loans so I can get a new iPhone!" Well done.

Do people really use loans for iPhones?

I've known people who've subsidized their phones and unnecessary possessions with college loans, yes.
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