Thanks for the AMA. You haven't answered the hardware related questions in this thread yet, so I'll try: do you think you'll see the day when YC funds a hardware startup that develops custom ASICs or semi IP for licensing? If so, what type of startup would be a good fit for YC?
I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
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Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#512Thanks for the AMA. You haven't answered the hardware related questions in this thread yet, so I'll try: do you think you'll see the day when YC funds a hardware startup that develops custom ASICs or semi IP for licensing? If so, what type of startup would be a good fit for YC?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#513You have suggested that Silicon Valley is successful, in part, because workers accept a notion of "long-term compensation" [1]. Long-term compensation, perhaps better called maybe-someday compensation, requires SV software engineers to work for relatively less (factoring in cost-of-living) than many other skilled professionals, with hopes that they'll be rewarded with a big windfall in the future. With the rising cos…
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,…
How senior is this guy who makes 100K? Is that out of college or 5/10 years? How tough is the competition?
I appreciate YMMV, but I'm asking on behalf of my brother, who is graduating Columbia CS soon. We've got family in the SF area, so it might be a good choice for him to head over that way.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#514Could you elaborate on what external factors and/or internal improvements are driving you and the team to again develop a larger number of companies per YC batch? Is the scale-up going well? Background: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/05/05/y-combinator-... Thanks!
There are just so many good companies applying. As long as we can keep upping the quality bar, I'm happy for us to fund more companies.
I think there is good chance that there are more than 1 billion-plus dollar companies in the current batch.
YC is fundamentally a network, and so the value goes up O(n^2) with the number of good companies.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#515How much do you think moving to the valley improves the odds of a startups success as opposed to another city, say Atlanta or Raleigh on the east coast?
At least 10x.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#516Hey 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…
Why don't you have a prototype? That'll be an important question.
That said, we make most of our money backing companies at the "initial concept" stage, so we'd love to hear from you.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#517Earlier 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…
Parker Conrad of Zenefits was also still a solo founder in his application video. If a founder intends to add a co-founder before the batch starts, how much does that impact your view on them as a solo founder during the application process?
Parker and I spoke about a cofounder then. He was very receptive to adding one, and that helped his case.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#518Hi Sam,
I am just about to send my application for the summer batch, but before I do I would like to know your opinion on founders who are not both sharing a programming background, especially considering that we are in the sketching stage? Also, do you think there is any chance to compete against other startups that already do have an established product?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#519Do you think that YC's batch model will one day be eschewed in favor of something more seamless and less dependent on timing? One could argue that, for certain startups, the optimal play right now is to launch just prior to submitting a YC application. It takes advantage of the high traction surrounding launch, and avoids applying in the midst of a typical post-launch slump, if timed correctly.
We might do something like rolling admissions, but the advantage of the batch model are huge. It's so helpful to the startups to be around other startups at roughly the same stage.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#520what is the kind of traction that you look for in companies that you fund? Is it an absolute number or a consistent week on week growth for a few months in a row?