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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

#611

Post by vasilipupkin »

sama wrote: post #537
souriguha wrote: post #45

I've been closely following YC and the startup scene in SF. What's your advice to a startup, applying to YC this season, and is from a foreign country? I've read most your writings and watched few interviews as well. It'd be great if you have something to add! And thanks for the AMA!

It doesn't hurt or help--we fund lots of founders from foreign countries (more than 40% of the last batch was born outside the US).

that's a somewhat misleading stat - you can be an American and still be born outside the US

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

#612

Post by zkhalique »

sama wrote: post #364
EGreg wrote: post #308

Hey. This may sound like an unusual question, but I thought I'd ask. We started our company about 4 years ago. Since then our apps have been downloaded by 3 million people in over 100 countries (see http://qbix.com/blog/ ) Every year we've been applying to YC, and never even making it to the interview. I know that YC likes to invest in teams and the ideas sometimes change ... and as far as teams go, I think we've don…

can you send me an email?

Sure, sent!

sama@ right ?

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

#613

Post by kirsty »

redshirtrob wrote: post #380

Hi Sam, Does YC take any position on founders in a long-term, personal relationship, e.g. married? Has YC funded companies with such founders? If so, can you say anything meaningful about these company's success or failure? Note: I'm specifically thinking of companies with two founders.

We have funded many companies where cofounders are married or cofounders are dating. The fact that they are married / dating doesn't generally impact our decision. The same things apply that we look for in any founding team - ability to get stuff done, determination, drive....

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

#614

Post by kzhahou »

nostrademons wrote: post #601
kzhahou wrote: post #592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the link. > The founders should end up with about 50% of the company, total. Each of the next five layers should end up with about 10% of the company, split equally among everyone in the layer. This is the typical, and exploitative , arrangement in silicon valley! In today's climate, the founders often get money very early and start hiring right away. They have no real personal risk in the venture, and eve…

If you believe it's exploitative, why not take the other side of the trade? Go become a startup founder yourself. Lots and lots of people in Silicon Valley do that, and ultimately, that's what's causes market correction. If there are way more startups out there than talented engineers capable of building products, then the engineers can negotiate a much better deal for themselves. Or they don't and go out of business…

> Go become a startup founder yourself.

The issue isn't me. And, I might already be a founder. That's besides the point.

I'm happy for your friend. That's excellent, to be able to negotiate well. Most people don't. And most people are TOLD, repeatedly, that 1% is an "excellent" percent even as the earliest joining a company.

The word "exploitative" is as tricky today as in centuries past. If the employee doesn't want to work for peanuts, why not go somewhere else? The market will eventually correct, compensate everyone fairly (by some definition of "fair"), etc. Well, my argument is not that the market itself is broken, because employees enter them under free will. My point is that engineers (early and otherwise) should not accept that their contribution is worth so much less than the 2-3 people on top. This is especially true for the first engineer, who joins at 1% next to the founder at 40%, but it applies to every after as well.

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

#616

Post by njays »

sama wrote: post #172
njays wrote: post #147

Is YC interested investing in international remittance startup?

Yes! sendwave.com is one of our companies, and they are doing phenomenally well. They have a chance of being the best pivot in the history of YC.

Wow, that's huge! Thanks Sam.

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

#618

Post by tomjen3 »

bhayden wrote: post #313
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…

It seems like you really need to know the potential cofounder as a person, though, otherwise you won't be sure what they're like when stressed or making mistakes. Doesn't this limit it to people you already know fairly well?

In need of a cofounder? Join the club. Or rather a club, where you will get to meet new people and, if you choose the right kind of club, get to see them in a high pressure situation.

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

#619

Post by dropit_sphere »

fragmede wrote: post #506

Reddit is well on it's way to becoming a dominant monopoly on the web, however there's a (subtle but important) difference between being a platform for free speech, and promoting hate speech. If there are a billion users, but they're horrible people (eg /r/coontown), is that something you will look back on and consider as having been worthwhile?

This is what this account is for, after all, so:

I am a regular poster on r/theredpill(which was recently "honored" by winning the bigotry category---but with low toxicity---in a recent sentiment analysis of reddit comments). There is a lot of what someone might call "hate speech." Some of that doesn't really deserve the title and is just "truths that polite society omits;" some reflects genuine, generalized anger against women.

The subreddit has grown like a rocket. There are multiple backup plans for where to move the community in case the subreddit gets shut down. In short: there is something there that draws people, for better or for worse.

One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, etc.

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

#620

Post by jamespitts »

sama wrote: post #514
jamespitts wrote: post #508

Could 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.

That is good to hear!

Your last point resonates with me. The YC classes create subnetworks with a strong sense of identity within the greater YC network. It reminds me of how interns/trainees bond into these clusters in various industries (Hollywood's talent agencies and Wall Street for example). The trust and sharing of experience helps participants function far more effectively.

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