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Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

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Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#11

Post by lambdasquirrel »

firasd wrote: post #10

Great quote about ‘Unicorns’ (lightly edited from verbal form): “I looked through the list of companies that have an over a billion dollar valuation recently, and more than half, I think, were valued between like a billion and 1.5 billion, and something like a quarter were valued exactly at a billion. So people are clearly obsessed with getting to this mark, and they are willing to put all sorts of weird structure on…

Well how do you address a trollish question then? Honest question. At some point, you need to push back.

Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#12

Post by zem »

firasd wrote: post #10

Great quote about ‘Unicorns’ (lightly edited from verbal form): “I looked through the list of companies that have an over a billion dollar valuation recently, and more than half, I think, were valued between like a billion and 1.5 billion, and something like a quarter were valued exactly at a billion. So people are clearly obsessed with getting to this mark, and they are willing to put all sorts of weird structure on…

nope. pet peeve - symbolism isn't irrational. "a billion dollars" is a powerful symbol, and may well pay off as much in psychological benefits as it loses in structural weirdness. or it may not, but it's definitely not clear-cut enough to dismiss as "dumb".

Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#13

Post by seiji »

ThomPete wrote: post #5
on_ wrote: post #3

> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-09-24/y-contributo... Ahh yes, Dan Altman, a recent hire at SV clone "Y Contributor", talks about attention to detail, and working with the Samwer bros. Edit: << pun intended.

I am not actually sure why people have so much against the Samwer brothers. Have they done anything particularly despicable? I know their model is to copy any potential idea coming out of the US which I don't understand the issue with. One thing they really did well was to have a structure that makes it easy for them to localize any company. I hear the work environment is hard but so is it many other places. Or maybe…

copy any potential idea coming out of the US which I don't understand the issue with.

Except, they don't just copy the idea, they copy the entire products and companies wholesale (interface, API, UI, user interaction model). How is that not bad?

Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#14

Post by firasd »

zem wrote: post #12
firasd wrote: post #10

Great quote about ‘Unicorns’ (lightly edited from verbal form): “I looked through the list of companies that have an over a billion dollar valuation recently, and more than half, I think, were valued between like a billion and 1.5 billion, and something like a quarter were valued exactly at a billion. So people are clearly obsessed with getting to this mark, and they are willing to put all sorts of weird structure on…

nope. pet peeve - symbolism isn't irrational. "a billion dollars" is a powerful symbol, and may well pay off as much in psychological benefits as it loses in structural weirdness. or it may not, but it's definitely not clear-cut enough to dismiss as "dumb".

Yes but anytime you are engineering “financials” instead of engineering sales and customer satisfaction you are headed down a path that warps things. In the case of unicorn valuations it’s your term sheet: investors who are getting in at high symbolic valuations are asking for special provisions to protect downside that you wouldn’t otherwise grant them.

Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#15

Post by seiji »

zem wrote: post #12
firasd wrote: post #10

Great quote about ‘Unicorns’ (lightly edited from verbal form): “I looked through the list of companies that have an over a billion dollar valuation recently, and more than half, I think, were valued between like a billion and 1.5 billion, and something like a quarter were valued exactly at a billion. So people are clearly obsessed with getting to this mark, and they are willing to put all sorts of weird structure on…

nope. pet peeve - symbolism isn't irrational. "a billion dollars" is a powerful symbol, and may well pay off as much in psychological benefits as it loses in structural weirdness. or it may not, but it's definitely not clear-cut enough to dismiss as "dumb".

How is it not dumb? It's an arbitrary number of digits in base 10 numerals.

Perhaps your point would be better addressed during your next regularly scheduled Bloomberg interview?

Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#16

Post by firasd »

lambdasquirrel wrote: post #11
firasd wrote: post #10

Great quote about ‘Unicorns’ (lightly edited from verbal form): “I looked through the list of companies that have an over a billion dollar valuation recently, and more than half, I think, were valued between like a billion and 1.5 billion, and something like a quarter were valued exactly at a billion. So people are clearly obsessed with getting to this mark, and they are willing to put all sorts of weird structure on…

Well how do you address a trollish question then? Honest question. At some point, you need to push back.

Well, why isn’t he interested in pontificating about the business environment? It’s probably because he doesn’t consider it worthwhile. I would just say that: I don’t pontificate on trends when I don’t see concrete value in reasoning about them. If you’re literally on someone’s show and dismissing their program or channel it’s a bit biting. Their whole raison d’etre is to talk about the business environment.

Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#17

Post by dperfect »

firasd wrote: post #10

Great quote about ‘Unicorns’ (lightly edited from verbal form): “I looked through the list of companies that have an over a billion dollar valuation recently, and more than half, I think, were valued between like a billion and 1.5 billion, and something like a quarter were valued exactly at a billion. So people are clearly obsessed with getting to this mark, and they are willing to put all sorts of weird structure on…

Maybe Benford's Law[1] has something to do with the distribution being skewed toward the $1 billion mark (at least in part).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law

Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#18

Post by firasd »

ibsufupu wrote: post #7

Good job dodging those landmines. It's always nice to hear him talk about this stuff. What I would like even more is to just hear people knowledgeable about this kind of stuff just chat. Doesn't even have to be able what they're good at. I just want to witness their mindset.

I know what you mean and there's surprisingly good content on youtube along those lines. Some examples:

(1) How to Start a Startup (by Sam Altman et al): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxIJaCMEptJjxmmQgGFsnCg (2) CS183C: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnsTB8Q5VgnVzh1S-VMCX... (3) PreMoney conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOStnEM8wBOYdQ6FFXTnY...

And of course a lot of great podcasts.

Re: Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]

#19

Post by rguzman »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #9

I would like to see a YC clone for Dude's businesses, companies that interested in building a profitable business that pays dividend yearly. No exit, No billion dollar valuation, actually no valuation necessary.

http://indie.vc/ maybe?
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