I applied to YC and at one point during the pitch, pg said to me, in his best R. Lee Ermey, Full Metal Jacket voice, "Hell, I like you. You can come over to my house and fuck my sister!" True story.
you made my day
YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
11–20 of 47 posts
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#12Don't be distracted by the Marine Corp analogy. This is a really accurate description of what it feels like to do YC.
The description makes me think I'm trying too hard at this stuff. What does an investor think when they see words assembled in this way?
I'm not bagging on this guy specifically, but this article/description is below-average writing even for a high-school dropout. I'm not trying to quibble on semantics or be a grammar-nazi, though I'm sure I'm doing both, but it's long, vague, jumpy, and plain hard to read.
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#13Warfighting by the US Marine Corp is actually a very great book for entrepreneurs to read: http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/service_pubs/mcdp1.pdf
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#14So, I've actually gone through the local version of Marine Corps training with the 'crawling on your belly through mud with bullets whizzing over your head' part and served near North Iraq for 9 months as a squad leader. It was basically hard like hell and fainting teammates due to exhaustion wasn't unusual during basic training.
Should I include this experience to my application form if I ever decide to apply to YCombinator?
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#15So, I've actually gone through the local version of Marine Corps training with the 'crawling on your belly through mud with bullets whizzing over your head' part and served near North Iraq for 9 months as a squad leader. It was basically hard like hell and fainting teammates due to exhaustion wasn't unusual during basic training. Should I include this experience to my application form if I ever decide to apply to YCo…
Absolutely.
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#16Don't be distracted by the Marine Corp analogy. This is a really accurate description of what it feels like to do YC.
The description makes me think I'm trying too hard at this stuff. What does an investor think when they see words assembled in this way? I'm not bagging on this guy specifically, but this article/description is below-average writing even for a high-school dropout. I'm not trying to quibble on semantics or be a grammar-nazi, though I'm sure I'm doing both, but it's long, vague, jumpy, and plain hard to read.
Do you mean investors like Dave McClure who write in all lower case? Or investors like Matt Coffin, who writes his "you" with a u, even in public posts? Just trying to get a little clarification here. And, to answer your question, more than a dozen investors have thought, "Let me sign this convertible note."
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#17To clarify, this was intended to imply that YC is more stressful and intense than any schooling I have ever seen. So, it seemed more akin to training for "life and death" situations. And, since you're training with the best of the best young founders, it's simply a compliment to the Marines. Take it or leave it.
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#18So, I've actually gone through the local version of Marine Corps training with the 'crawling on your belly through mud with bullets whizzing over your head' part and served near North Iraq for 9 months as a squad leader. It was basically hard like hell and fainting teammates due to exhaustion wasn't unusual during basic training. Should I include this experience to my application form if I ever decide to apply to YCo…
Cool. I never did quite that, but I was a volunteer firefighter and a firefighter instructor who literally crawled on my belly in smoke-filled buildings, with a fire burning inside, with nothing but a flashlight and a 2" hoseline, and with flashover a possiblity at any moment... and I trained guys to do LP gas firefighting where the simulator generated so much heat that guys routinely found their helmets partially melted after a training drill. Wonder if I should put any of that stuff on my YC application?
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#19Headlines like this are one of the dangers of our little HN niche.
Exactly. I had a comment ready to go but I didn't want to get too negative on the OP so I deleted it. He forgets that kids his age will die this week doing what his fantasy analogies describe. As someone who served 4 years in the military, I found parts of this post offensive.
Re: YC Is Not a School for Startups; It's Marine Corps Boot Camp for Founders
#20In my experience, any job or any company you start can be exactly as described. If you allow yourself to take on responsibility and then own that responsibility, your life will tend to be dominated by a sense of obligation to that responsibility. There are always highs and lows in any pursuit. When the times get rough, you just have to put on your best smile and do whatever needs doing. There's no point in complaining; you made the choice to be where you are.