11–20 of 29 posts
That chain of events ultimately led to YC W12.
I missed my first startup school in all these years last Friday, but it was to talk to customers so I don't feel that bad. I hope to be back next year!
I got the chance to attend this year and what struck me as most interesting about the weekend was not the day of speakers but the people I met. I meet lots of people who talk about startups but almost everyone I met was deeply serious and wicked smart. Every person I met, every conversation I had I came away thinking that they would be successful...and I am usually quite pessimistic in that scenario. Ground zero is a…
Caveat: I was not there at all. To clarify, was this time exceptional amongst other events like this that you have gone to? I am skeptical, as many people at events like these that I have attended are there to sell you themselves and idea, hence it would be by design that you walk away thinking they all are 'going to make it.'
I never felt like any of the people I met were trying to sell me their idea - it was far more collaborative among the people I spoke with. We shared, offered advice etc. I mostly spent time with people from out of town as we all were in town Friday night and used facebook to coordinate getting together for drinks since we were all there early.
I was lucky enough to attend Saturday's Startup School Silicon Valley event (my first time), and I'm happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've previously blogged about what I think makes a "great" startup event[1], and Startup School does seem to fulfill most of the criteria - Great speakers, a focused theme, a focused audience, and best of all it's free and highly accessible. Despite all that, in the spirit of iter…
I was lucky enough to attend Saturday's Startup School Silicon Valley event (my first time), and I'm happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've previously blogged about what I think makes a "great" startup event[1], and Startup School does seem to fulfill most of the criteria - Great speakers, a focused theme, a focused audience, and best of all it's free and highly accessible. Despite all that, in the spirit of iter…
No event (esp. one this big) is perfect enough to not warrant and suggestions for making it better, though, so to extend this thread, here are a few of my own:
1. +1 for more Office Hours. I would suggest to pepper these in between talks, after a few back to back talks the audience got a bit of an information fatigue, I think. I saw a lot of people on their phones after 4pm. The informational value of the session on Saturdays were huge. IDEABOLT: How about having a web cast of these, I would pay to watch it and I heard other people saying so, too.
2. More interaction with YC'ers and speakers. Maybe this was an absurd expectation with 1,700 people in attendance but I was looking forward to saying hi to pg, Jessica, sama, and the gang during the breaks at SC and at the BBQ but couldn't see them mingling with the crowd (could be that I was too preoccupied with the great food and drinks). Having the speakers available outside to ask questions would be great, too.
3. Better nametags. I think there should be a customizable area on the printed nametags, e.g. I would like to see people's HN nicks (for those who want to put it there, of course). I know/follow quite a few people here but don't know their names, this would have been helpful in saying hi to these folks. Also I saw a lot of people adding information by pen to their nametags about their startup, it would be nice to be able to do this at the signup web page, too. Now that I think about why not even include a NFC tag with more personal information, company website, etc. This would solve the problem of not remembering the names of the many people you chat with during the event.
4. Startup story booths. Picture booths are now popular at parties. Why not set up one which, when you enter your registration code, will tape you for 30secs. You can use this time to pitch your idea/company. These can then be posted online, voted on, etc.
All in all it was a great event to attend!
I was lucky enough to attend Saturday's Startup School Silicon Valley event (my first time), and I'm happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've previously blogged about what I think makes a "great" startup event[1], and Startup School does seem to fulfill most of the criteria - Great speakers, a focused theme, a focused audience, and best of all it's free and highly accessible. Despite all that, in the spirit of iter…
There was also a BBQ held Friday night at YC offices that some attendees were invited to and others not. This ended up being confusing because not all of us knew if we should go, do something else or what. More transparency would have helped.
I love how this year's event illustrated that you don't have to be an asshole or a sociopath to be successful. All the speakers sounded like genuinely nice and wonderful people. Some of entrepreneurship's biggest successful outliers seem to have exhibited those traits and thus they became part of silicon valley lore. I think it's important for people getting into startups to understand that you don't have to turn you…
It's kind of hard to say how kind people are without knowing them but the good Arthur of Market Basket seems an interesting recent example
( http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/25/market-basket-f... ).
Also Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines perhaps. I don't know if you'd consider Warren Buffett an entrepreneur but he's done well and has a good reputation.
"cheap, no-frills, and amazing content and people. And, of course, little to no introductory remarks." Love that. Seeing EU events headed in the opposite direction... increasing fees, more showmanship, speakers all trying to literally sell you something, not very genuine or down to earth.
Hope they carry on with EU events, even if they aren't in London. We certainly do need more of that attitude around here.
"cheap, no-frills, and amazing content and people. And, of course, little to no introductory remarks." Love that. Seeing EU events headed in the opposite direction... increasing fees, more showmanship, speakers all trying to literally sell you something, not very genuine or down to earth.