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Startup School 2016 applications are open

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Startup School 2016 applications are open

#11

Post by pohungc »

cperciva wrote: post #9

A word of advice for anyone who hopes to use electronic devices at Startup School: Make sure they're fully charged before you arrive. There are very few power outlets in the Flint Center, and (unless they've changed their policy in the past two years) the staff won't even let you use those few that exist.

portable chargers for phones are really awesome for cases like these :)

Re: Startup School 2016 applications are open

#13

Post by cperciva »

pohungc wrote: post #11
cperciva wrote: post #9

A word of advice for anyone who hopes to use electronic devices at Startup School: Make sure they're fully charged before you arrive. There are very few power outlets in the Flint Center, and (unless they've changed their policy in the past two years) the staff won't even let you use those few that exist.

portable chargers for phones are really awesome for cases like these :)

In my case I wanted to charge my laptop, but yes, extra batteries could have helped there too. There are a variety of solutions; I just wanted to alert people to a potential problem before they arrived.

Re: Startup School 2016 applications are open

#14

Post by _sentient »

Impossible wrote: post #8

I went to Startup school in 2012, and although the talks and event were good, is there a strong reason to go to the physical event over watching the live stream? I remember it being difficult to network, and not having much time to do so. I guess the "energy" was nice, lots of Stanford students and startup hopefuls that were really excited, but I didn't get any value out of being there. Was I just doing it wrong? Is…

Most of this stuff is noise, but Startup School is a notable exception. I found the combination of great talks and interesting attendees made it a decent use of time. Oh, and it's free. :)

As for networking, like most of these things your mileage will vary depending on your base networking-quotient * luck (who you happen to talk to).

There are definitely worse ways to invest a Saturday.

Re: Startup School 2016 applications are open

#15

Post by hkmurakami »

Impossible wrote: post #8

I went to Startup school in 2012, and although the talks and event were good, is there a strong reason to go to the physical event over watching the live stream? I remember it being difficult to network, and not having much time to do so. I guess the "energy" was nice, lots of Stanford students and startup hopefuls that were really excited, but I didn't get any value out of being there. Was I just doing it wrong? Is…

I went to Startup School in 2014 (this was at De Anza, not Stanford) and made one good friend at the pre-Startup School BBQ. IMO that alone made the meet and greet cocktail party nature of the pre-event worthwhile. I don't think the "meet people" aspect was nearly as strong during the actual event.

The talks were "inspiring/motivational rather than practical/tactical", and I agree that you can get 95% of the value from the video streams. I think that being in the presence of "luminaries" will bring you back down to earth realizing that they're just ordinary folks at the end of the day.

Re: Startup School 2016 applications are open

#19

Post by agibsonccc »

Fwiw: I came to startup school in 2012. One yc founder was kind enough to house me. I bought a 1 way ticket to San Francisco. I met someone who referred me to a startup hostel. I stayed there for about a month and met my co-founder. We decided what to focus on and got into yc 2 years later.

You never know what can happen. Startups school is what you make of it.

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