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How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

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Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#81

Post by unknownian »

TheGrassyKnoll wrote: post #59
edent wrote: post #12

Am I missing something here? You can get $$$ and top quality advice for an _idea_ and then just turn around and say "bored now - let's do something else"? And then, so it seems, when that idea runs out you just say "uhhh... let's do this instead!" So, what are the YC people investing in? Two guys who seem pretty smart? I appreciate that you might need to pivot from "a social network for dogs" to "a social network for…

CS degree from Stanford == clout in the startup community

Stanford is really a great school, but I hope that isn't generally the determining factor here. Many other universities have great CS departments with strong entrepreneurial programs on the side. (MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, etc).

edit: I guess Stanford grads apply in much higher numbers than most other colleges.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#82

Post by myth_buster »

edent wrote: post #12

Am I missing something here? You can get $$$ and top quality advice for an _idea_ and then just turn around and say "bored now - let's do something else"? And then, so it seems, when that idea runs out you just say "uhhh... let's do this instead!" So, what are the YC people investing in? Two guys who seem pretty smart? I appreciate that you might need to pivot from "a social network for dogs" to "a social network for…

> So, what are the YC people investing in? Two guys who seem pretty smart?

In a lot of talks by VCs, Seed funds and incubators posted on YT, they have said that they invest in people. It's been said that people with entrepreneurial spirit will keep coming with ideas & executions and the said VCs/Seed Funds/Incubators want to build relationships that span across these ventures.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#83

Post by zeeshanm »

Thanks for writing the article. One thing have bothered me for a long time is why tech startups think TechCrunch or any other high-speed news website writing about them is an indication of early success. It may help you get early customers via the write up if your customers are actually those clicking through these clickbaity links. But this probably doesn't apply in all cases. A lot of the times those reading such viral stories more often than not are on the lookout for the next big big idea to copy. So why bother? May be I don't get as it is some sort of a Valley thing.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#84

Post by rsp1984 »

Aside from some other great comments here (some of it which really nail it) I'd like to point out that the greatest difficulty of the author seems to be being in charge of things.

Throughout the entire story he is denying control.

Being accepted into Y Combinator? Pure luck. Most critical interview factor? Sound of biting a plastic bottle. It doesn't surprise me a tiny bit that he thought he had impostor syndrome since he probably felt he is getting rewarded for something that is seemingly totally out of his control.

Then all the "pivots". Again feeling that startup success is something that will magically come just by "waiting a bit longer" or "having a slightly better idea" (i.e. being largely out of one's control), of course you re-set the course right away if the odds seem against you. Even if it's just some objections by interviewers who know you for about 10 minutes. Because they surely know better, right? No way to to prove these guys wrong, right? Probably much better to try something different...

The author ends by saying he wants to get back into startups once he's found a suitable problem to work on. That's cool. Even better would be to find a problem he knows he can solve, by being in charge.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#85

Post by pavlov »

The "impostor syndrome" meme would have us believe that if you feel like an impostor, don't worry -- it's a positive sign that you're actually a modest, shy kind of genius.

But sometimes it just means that you really are out of your depth.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#86

Post by scobar »

Meekro wrote: post #70
charlierguo wrote: post #49

Hey everyone! Author here. First off, thanks for reading! To be honest, I really didn't expect to get this much attention. This is a story that I've wanted to share with friends and family for a long time, and was thoroughly surprised when it was picked up by Backchannel (and then posted here). Regarding some of the points made here, I (mostly) agree. Getting into YC or raising money is not success. Changing your ide…

Cool story, great read! I'm surprised how negative some of the comments here on HN were. They're probably just envious about how they're not getting that sweet, sweet investor money!

Most probably aren't just envious. However, those who wrote negative comments weren't afraid to announce seemingly definitive conclusions without enough data to justify their assurance. Keep in mind that the author and his cofounder were interviewed by YC partners and all of the cofounders. While their selection system has flaws, most probably agree that it's one of the best that exists right now. Perhaps they saw strengths in the author's founding team that the author himself had not perceived.

Based on the author's age, I assume he considers this the greatest failure in his life. He wrote this shortly after exiting an educational system that indoctrinates students to believe that success occurs without failures. So his perspective may have been from a point of low self-worth making it difficult to see his own strengths that will help him recover and succeed moving forward.

Thank you for writing about your experience Charlie. I hope the traveling has been beneficial, and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#87

Post by porter »

bkeroack wrote: post #5

This is what happens when people want to "do a startup" more than they want to build a business doing X. The passion for the idea/product should come first, with incubators (if deemed necessary) being used as a tool towards achieving that goal.

People want to do a startup to get rich. Solving interesting problems keeps you motivated, but it's the profit motive that pushes people to actually do a startup. It's the profit motive that drives capitalism, not the "solve interesting problems" motive.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#88

Post by Meekro »

scobar wrote: post #86
Meekro wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool story, great read! I'm surprised how negative some of the comments here on HN were. They're probably just envious about how they're not getting that sweet, sweet investor money!

Most probably aren't just envious. However, those who wrote negative comments weren't afraid to announce seemingly definitive conclusions without enough data to justify their assurance. Keep in mind that the author and his cofounder were interviewed by YC partners and all of the cofounders. While their selection system has flaws, most probably agree that it's one of the best that exists right now. Perhaps they saw st…

For some of the negative comments, the data actively contradicts their conclusion. Many here seem to think that only an idiot would "invest in a 21 year old with a half-baked business plan." The people posting that have probably made less from whatever they're doing, than PG/YC have from their 21 year old founders.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#89

Post by jvrossb »

thoman23 wrote: post #8

Please tell me that this Ryan Lawler from TechCrunch is writing in that style to insinuate his utter disdain not only for the FanHero business model, but for the whole "free money for 21-year olds with a half-baked idea" industry. He can't possibly write that way for real, could he?

He may be writing in the style of the YouTube celebrities the product targeted.

Re: How I Crashed and Burned in Y Combinator

#90

Post by bezalmighty »

charlierguo wrote: post #49

Hey everyone! Author here. First off, thanks for reading! To be honest, I really didn't expect to get this much attention. This is a story that I've wanted to share with friends and family for a long time, and was thoroughly surprised when it was picked up by Backchannel (and then posted here). Regarding some of the points made here, I (mostly) agree. Getting into YC or raising money is not success. Changing your ide…

Thanks for such a heart-felt post. I think you're doing exactly the right thing by analysing and understanding what went right and wrong, and moving forward towards bigger and better things with new wisdom to draw on. You've come out of this as a significantly better entrepreneur than when you started. I think the smart money would back you in the long run, because you're the personality type that learns hugely from each experience. Some failure is inevitable, but when you do, you do it fast, and never in the same way twice. This makes success inevitable, too.

Watching your career with interest Charlie!

-B & Ida ;)

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