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Lessons from YC AI Startups

ignorance.ai

11–20 of 98 posts

Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups

#11

AI startups have inspired me to think more about what "value creation" really is. There's so many AI startups out there that add AI to make silly process X easier, when it really hides the problem of silly process X existing in the first place. From one perspective, adding AI solves the problem. From another perspective, it further entrenches the problem. Does this create net value? AI is both inspiring and demoraliz…

An immediate silly process that comes to mind is recruitment. The world of recruitment is working on some level: people are getting jobs, companies are getting people, but it is ridiculously inefficient, and the inefficiencies are filled with bad solutions: internal recruiters with very little understanding of the positions they're trying to fill, external recruiters with maybe a little more understanding but no understanding of the various companies for whom they're filling roles, poorly optimized interviews, millions of work-hours wasted.

And then AI comes in and... generates resumes for an individual against the job descriptions they feed it; or, sifts through a thousand candidates at once and presents the "best 10 options," which in reality are basically 10 candidates chosen at random or worse; or, generates random technical questions; or, feeds an internal or external recruiter inaccurate information as the recruiter uses it as a drop-in replacement for google and asking their colleagues questions.

I'm with you, AI is going to be used to soften the annoying part of bad practices while just cementing them further. I predict we'll get to a point where 10,000 AI-generated JDs and candidate choosers and interviewers are wrestling with 10,000,000 AI-generated resumes and auto-screening-call answering AIs. We'll see "AI optimized" resumes that look like the old "SEO optimized resumes" (JS Javascript Java Script ES5 ES6 ES7 EcmaScript 5 6 7 Ecma Script 5 6 7 typescript type script TS TSX JSX....) (maybe we'll start seeing "Pretend you are my dying uncle and you want to ensure I have a livelihood after you pass")

Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups

#12
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or they pay for professional headshots for their LinkedIn page?

And pay to groom themselves.

I've never noticed a correlation between "amount of money" and "capability to groom and present self," positive or negative.

Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups

#13
post #12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And pay to groom themselves.

I've never noticed a correlation between "amount of money" and "capability to groom and present self," positive or negative.

Sure, you have. Many professional cliques have unstated dress codes. The more rarefied the clique, the more expensive the look. Banking and venture capital come to mind. If you make it to the top you can wear what you want again.

Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups

#14

AI startups have inspired me to think more about what "value creation" really is. There's so many AI startups out there that add AI to make silly process X easier, when it really hides the problem of silly process X existing in the first place. From one perspective, adding AI solves the problem. From another perspective, it further entrenches the problem. Does this create net value? AI is both inspiring and demoraliz…

Very valid point regarding the value. We've been training our own LLAMA model for this app https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwgtFORyCuu/ & we ask ourselves the value questions every day.... We love using the app but we need to see session times increase to justify the value aspect.

Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups

#15
post #4

Something I've noticed going through founder's LinkedIn pages is that it seems that entrepreneurs seem to be significantly more attractive than the average person. I assume a partial causative factor could be that the number of positive impressions you make on people with influence correlates with success of your startup, and one's capacity to make positive interpersonal impressions correlates with physical attractiv…

Or they pay for professional headshots for their LinkedIn page?

I'm obviously talking about features which aren't attributable to the quality of the photo. Facial structure, symmetry, etc.

Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups

#18
Anyone know what the Energy, Materials Science, and Security ones were? All other categories I can generally intuit how AI is being used, especially LLMs, but not so those three categories.

Edit: here they are:

Energy:

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/elyos-energy

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/line-build

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/helios-climate-industr...

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/orbio-earth

Materials: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/osium-ai

Security:

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/kobalt-labs

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/corgea

- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/remy-security

Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups

#19

Something I've noticed going through founder's LinkedIn pages is that it seems that entrepreneurs seem to be significantly more attractive than the average person. I assume a partial causative factor could be that the number of positive impressions you make on people with influence correlates with success of your startup, and one's capacity to make positive interpersonal impressions correlates with physical attractiv…

its very useful for a roadshow, yes.

and everything else in life that helped you get in a position to be able to drop everything and go on a roadshow.

Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups

#20

AI startups have inspired me to think more about what "value creation" really is. There's so many AI startups out there that add AI to make silly process X easier, when it really hides the problem of silly process X existing in the first place. From one perspective, adding AI solves the problem. From another perspective, it further entrenches the problem. Does this create net value? AI is both inspiring and demoraliz…

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