YC Demo Day, the Morning After • Hacker News Board

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#11

Post by joonix » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:04 PM UTC

bradhe wrote: post #7

> Founders risk everything, move across the country or further, endure endless stress, damage relationships, sacrifice their health... Why should anyone care about that? > ...pour their every waking moment into creating something people want Isn't that the part we should care about? > and they’re rewarded with a yawn. Why is that anyone's fault except for the founders'?

I know of a lot of "boring" businesses that make buckets of cash. That's what I'm interested in. The tech press isn't, because interesting reporting on them involves lots of research and diving into the real story. They want an easy headline filled with buzzwords to drive clicks.

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#12

Post by duncanmcdowell » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:06 PM UTC

How is what Thalmic is doing in any way considered boring? Insanity.

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#13

Post by johnrob » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:08 PM UTC

All told, you can only seem so impressive on a stage. Nothing impresses me more than when a non technical/startupy friend or relative casually mentions a new product.

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#14

Post by timjahn » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:10 PM UTC

Who cares? Are you in this for the flash-in-the-pan press? Or are you in it to make money and/or change the world?

Every day, I'm focused on growing matchist (http://matchist.com/talent) so it can make more money and become a better business. If that produces yawns, so be it.

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#15

Post by bradhe » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:10 PM UTC

joonix wrote: post #11

bradhe wrote: post #7

> Founders risk everything, move across the country or further, endure endless stress, damage relationships, sacrifice their health... Why should anyone care about that? > ...pour their every waking moment into creating something people want Isn't that the part we should care about? > and they’re rewarded with a yawn. Why is that anyone's fault except for the founders'?

I know of a lot of "boring" businesses that make buckets of cash. That's what I'm interested in. The tech press isn't, because interesting reporting on them involves lots of research and diving into the real story. They want an easy headline filled with buzzwords to drive clicks.

They're boring businesses. When has the press ever been interested in reporting on boring things?

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#16

Post by bradhe » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:11 PM UTC

timjahn wrote: post #14

Who cares? Are you in this for the flash-in-the-pan press? Or are you in it to make money and/or change the world? Every day, I'm focused on growing matchist ( http://matchist.com/talent ) so it can make more money and become a better business. If that produces yawns, so be it.

Here here. Don't tie yourself to press--one write-up in TechCrunch won't make a measurable difference in the long rung.

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#17

Post by baddox » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:18 PM UTC

> Founders risk everything, move across the country or further, endure endless stress, damage relationships, sacrifice their health and pour their every waking moment into creating something people want — and they’re rewarded with a yawn.

Risk and effort are admirable and impressive, but at the end of the day it's the product that is being demonstrated. No one is entitled to the awe of the crowd just because they took big risks or made big sacrifices.

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#18

Post by birchbird » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:22 PM UTC

jonathanjaeger wrote: post #9

"and they’re rewarded with a yawn." Let's hope they're rewarded by making a business that creates value and makes them some cash in the process rather than being the tech darling of the next seven days!

It looks like YC is actually shifting to investing in products that have a real way of generating revenue this time. I'm not sure if this is a trend in the whole VC community though.

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#19

Post by xauronx » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:22 PM UTC

baddox wrote: post #17

> Founders risk everything, move across the country or further, endure endless stress, damage relationships, sacrifice their health and pour their every waking moment into creating something people want — and they’re rewarded with a yawn. Risk and effort are admirable and impressive, but at the end of the day it's the product that is being demonstrated. No one is entitled to the awe of the crowd just because they too…

But I sold my house to buy these crayons and broke up with my girlfriend over the construction paper, how DARE you say my drawing isn't good!

Re: YC Demo Day, the Morning After

#20

Post by pbharrin » Wed, Mar 27, 2013, 8:25 PM UTC

I think what everyone here is missing is that the press is looking for "Tech" companies doing wild, innovative things with technology. -The WSJ article was in the "technology news and insights" section. -TechCrunch has the word Tech in its name. -Demo Day is held at the computer history museum -this is Silicon Valley

Sorry I didn't attend demo day, but when I read the summary I felt none of the companies were very high tech, and I'm sure that's what the press felt too. I was waiting for Peter Thiel to say: "we asked for flying cars and you gave us painless divorce."

Don't get me wrong, I would love to invest in companies that make money over companies that use some fancy new technology.