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I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#241

Post by chimeracoder »

sama wrote: post #226
shubhamjain wrote: post #140

With you recently leading a round of investment for reddit, it seems you are quite optimistic about its success but as of late 2013 (and maybe now too), Reddit remains in red even after nearly a decade of its inception[1]. Reddit CEO once said, that ads are the reasons Digg failed[2], so I believe the site would be wary of using ads to the fullest. How do you think Reddit would become profitable and would be able to…

I am an extremely patient investor. I just invested in a company that I believe will take 20-30 years to work. If reddit gets to a billion users, which I believe it will, the company will have many, many interesting monetizations opportunities. It's on its way to become one of the great monopolies of the web.

> I just invested in a company that I believe will take 20-30 years to work.

How do you conceptualize investments on that sort of timescale?

20 years ago was 1995, and 30 years ago was 1985. So much has changed between then and now. I understand that broader market trends can sometimes be predicted, but when you invest, you're betting not only on a market trend but on a specific instantiation of that trend.

How do you conceptualize an investment in a specific team and company on that sort of a timescale, when there's already so much uncertainty around what markets will even exist in 2045?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#242

Post by ceejayoz »

atroyn wrote: post #56

Given your recent comments about the potential danger of A.I, would you fund a startup which seemed dangerously close to making superintelligent A.I a reality?

If you think it's dangerous as well as being possible, I'd imagine you'd jump at the chance to help guide it to the least damaging end.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#243

Post by awalGarg »

sama wrote: post #185
annelutz wrote: post #57

If we get an interview but aren't accepted, will you still reimburse the traveling expenses for us poor people?

Yes, of course. We reimburse travel expenses for everyone who comes to interview with us, and I think it's shameful when other accelerators don't. I probably would not have interviewed at YC if I had to pay for the trip--I was super poor at the time.

Also, what if we cannot arrange for the trip initially...?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#247

Post by sama »

wayfarer2s wrote: post #234

Competition is a tricky concept. If there is competition, that can be seen as verification of the concept, but at the same time it offers valid counterpoints. If there is no competition, it might be because the idea is so hard that nobody else has figured it out or so unpromising that everyone else dismissed it. What role does competition play in your evaluation of a startup?

I have never cared too much about "validation" or "verification of the concept". I trust my own judgment, and the companies I've made the most money on had far, far more people saying the idea was stupid than validating it.

I just try to evaluate every idea on its own merits and potential, and not worry about anything else. I suggest you do the same.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#248

Post by minimaxir »

GolfyMcG wrote: post #205
shubhamjain wrote: post #140

With you recently leading a round of investment for reddit, it seems you are quite optimistic about its success but as of late 2013 (and maybe now too), Reddit remains in red even after nearly a decade of its inception[1]. Reddit CEO once said, that ads are the reasons Digg failed[2], so I believe the site would be wary of using ads to the fullest. How do you think Reddit would become profitable and would be able to…

Also, if you don't use Alien Blue (the mobile app for Reddit) then you might not know they have been testing "Sponsored" posts. It didn't take a genius to know people would complain, but the ads are getting A LOT of pushback from users. I supposed you can put this in context and look at how Facebook gets crap for changing anything, but is this really the most creative idea Reddit can come up with to generate more rev…

Context: http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2znkjk/i_paid_for...

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#249

Post by api »

mbym wrote: post #207

Question re solo founders: "A startup is too much work for one person" and if you can't convince even one friend to join you, that doesn't speak well for your idea! On the other hand, a bad hire/partnership can ruin the company. YC gives signal it really prefers to look at teams than individual applications. Q: Do you have have advice or rules of thumb re how much time a solo founder should put into finding partner(s…

Seconded: statistics such as these:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=77525

... seem to show that very successful sole founder stories do exist. But nearly everything from the YC orbit says "find a partner or you'll fail," etc.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#250

Post by sama »

jes5199 wrote: post #244

How do you feel about what the constant influx of 22-year-olds making six-figure salaries is doing to the culture and social fabric of San Francisco?

I think the biggest problem is that it's making housing totally unaffordable. I think it's critical SF fix this, and that the only real solution is more supply.

Unfortunately, homeowners are the ones that vote, and they are loving the increase in home values and don't want to see a lot more supply get built.

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