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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

#381

Post by suyash »

sama wrote: post #250
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.

The supply can't just be produced out of the blue. There isn't enough land in San Francisco to build a whole bunch of housing. The key is to expand out of city or create zones in city for affordable housing.

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

#382

Post by jpmcglone »

ValentineC wrote: post #302
sama wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. When I was running my startup, we got catastrophic news that the first big customer in the space (Boost Mobile) was signing a deal with a competitor instead of with us. This would have killed us. The competitor was a much larger and better funded company that had been around for years. I was a 20 year old CEO. Most big companies do not like to make risky decisions, so this was not entirely surprising. We got th…

Is this more hustling than hacking? I'm scratching my head and trying to figure out how it's a "hack", as in "beating the system" [1]. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html

I'd consider it a hack. It was improvised in a short amount of time, and with limited resources. Sam shouldn't have gotten the deal, but he did! I'd say he beat the system. Which system? The Universe.

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

#384

Post by sama »

lettergram wrote: post #377

I think most of the YC funded startups have good ideas, but some of the more recent batches (past three years) seem to have a much smaller market than the earlier batches. Has there been a conscious decision to move to more niche markets, or has that just been where the chips fell? Also, why has the average age of the founders YC funded slowly been rising?

Ideas look niche when the companies are starting out. As Peter Thiel says, you first want to dominate a small market.

Most great companies were derided for focusing on a small niche when they first started.

I think the average age has risen something like 3 years over the past 10 years. Part of it is that we're funding companies in other spaces. I bet the average age for founders of Internet/mobile startups hasn't moved much.

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

#385

Post by eachro »

latj wrote: post #376
sama wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a personal choice for workers. If you're an engineer and you want a guaranteed $250k per year, go work for a financial firm. Nothing wrong with that decision. Everyone gets to make his or her own. Engineers at startups make $100k+, sometimes much more. I don't think people are being asked to subject themselves to unreasonable financial strain. It is indeed "maybe-someday" competition. When you work at a startup,…

>Engineers at startups make $100k+, sometimes much more. I don't think people are being asked to subject themselves to unreasonable financial strain. Is $100k enough for a person to live without roommates within 20-30 minutes commute from said startup? Eat healthy food? Pay student loans? Have health insurance and build savings? I'm not from the Bay Area- this is a serious question.

You probably won't be able to afford living without roommates. But the rest, is certainly feasible on a 100k+ salary.

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

#387

Post by sama »

latj wrote: post #376
sama wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a personal choice for workers. If you're an engineer and you want a guaranteed $250k per year, go work for a financial firm. Nothing wrong with that decision. Everyone gets to make his or her own. Engineers at startups make $100k+, sometimes much more. I don't think people are being asked to subject themselves to unreasonable financial strain. It is indeed "maybe-someday" competition. When you work at a startup,…

>Engineers at startups make $100k+, sometimes much more. I don't think people are being asked to subject themselves to unreasonable financial strain. Is $100k enough for a person to live without roommates within 20-30 minutes commute from said startup? Eat healthy food? Pay student loans? Have health insurance and build savings? I'm not from the Bay Area- this is a serious question.

Yes, though not if you live the lifestyle many engineers at startups choose to :)

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

#388

Post by MangoDiesel »

johndoe42 wrote: post #218
treeform wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We were in the same situation. But we were completely open with our YC founders and they helped us a lot in getting into YC and with tons of advice. It seems like you are building the relation ship wrong based on some sort of deception. I would think about it.

Thank you treeform for your answer. I agree that if this would be possible this would be the best way to go. Unfortunately all the founders are not the same, and mine are not opened AT ALL to these kind of initiatives :)

Without knowing much, this does come across as very hypocritical of them to do this to you. It seems like the type of attitude that would be frowned upon by the YC community.

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

#389

Post by spoiledtechie »

I can't give up my current life to run a startup that I have to move away from family for 3 months for YC.

I have always wanted to do YC, but just can't family wise. Is there any chance YC is looking to invest in companies adhoc wise? I know and understand you sell the process. Thats what YC is all about, but the simple fact that Im in VA and your in Cali makes things soo much harder.

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

#390

Post by lsllc »

There's a well known theory that non-competes stifles innovation and in particular CA's ban on these has allowed SV to flourish.

There have been moves afoot in MA to enact a similar ban, although recently it seems to have been somewhat defanged through lobbying by the likes EMC (despite still being protected by copyright, trade secrets and patents!).

What are your thoughts on this; if MA is able to pass a ban on non-competed of any substance, how do you think it'll change the startup/VC scene in Boston.

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