Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

491–500 of 757 posts

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

#492

Post by Gozu »

Hey Sam,

I'm working on this idea on my free time but for now it's in an early stage. We believe strongly in it but we don't have yet a ready prototype which means we don't have any structure, users, revenue, etc..

I'm wondering if YCombinator's goal is to encourage people from initial concept or help existent startups to grow and go further ? Knowing our story, do you honestly think we have a chance at this time to be selected by YCombinator ?

Thanks.

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

#493

Post by solve »

tchock23 wrote: post #444
sama wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really prefer at least two founders, but it's not a deal-breaker. We funded Drew Houston of Dropbox as a solo founder, but he got a cofounder before the batch started. A bad cofounder is far, far worse than no cofounder. I'd spend maybe 20% of your time looking for a cofounder, and the rest on your business. But don't force a cofounder if you don't have a good, organic option. The more progress you make on the bus…

I help out as a mentor at an accelerator in upstate NY. Unfortunately, we see solo founders rushing to find a co-founder just to go through accelerator programs. I wish your reply was shared widely with anyone applying to any accelerator anywhere...

(Most) accelerators are the problem here. They stack all the incentives on adding a cofounder no matter what, and none of those that I've closely known would stand behind the idea of "A bad cofounder is far, far worse than no cofounder." E.g. if your original cofounder leaves, they'll lay big penalties on you if you don't refill that seat immediately, even if it's bad for the company.

What investors tend to leave out here is a real incentive for them, as a class. It's far easier to fire a founder if there's two. If there's two, it's often easy to make them turn on each other if they want one forced out. Forcing one of 2 out tends to be much less frowned upon, than kicking out the sole founding CEO and replacing him with outside management. Having 2 cofounders is big leverage for keeping the founders in line.

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

#495

Post by jpmcglone »

swampthinker wrote: post #426
jpmcglone wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I interviewed for a company once that had different kinds of offers, ranging from low-salary/high-equity, to high-salary/low-equity. I thought that was an interesting idea :D They had 5 options total, and the middle option wasn't awful. I'd like to see more of this in the valley.

Any specifics on the amount of equity offered? That's an interesting concept.

I don't remember specific numbers (this was over a year ago) but I imagine it would change depending on the startup. I remember thinking the offers were fair.

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

#496

Post by sama »

bherms wrote: post #229

How was your meal at Delifina the other night? Just kidding :) I don't really have a question, but my girlfriend and I were seated next to you and I wanted to introduce myself and thank you for your insights, writing, and contributions to the startup community, but didn't want to disturb your meal. Now I have an opportunity. Thanks!

Delicious. One of my favorite restaurants in SF!

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

#499

Post by sama »

atroyn wrote: post #96

As a proportion, how much of the value of YC is in the advice partners give, how much in the 'brand name' and network, and how much is just being around tons of smart focused people for 3 months?

I tell founders it's about 50% advice and 50% network value.
Post reply on HN