A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC • Hacker News Board

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#11

Post by Kalium » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 6:57 PM UTC

bendyBus wrote: post #7

jasode wrote: post #2

>YC is at its core a group of great people. Correct me if I'm wrong but I actually thought that was the obvious reason to most applicants. A $120k investment from YC doesn't provide that much runway. That kind of money doesn't give much wiggle room for founders to splurge on luxuries like Aeron chairs and fancy cappuccino machines. That amount is to allow a small team to live in near-poverty in the SF Bay area for ~6…

I would suspect that this is non-obvious to people who view YC as a structured, semi-guaranteed route to success, the way many people view a degree from a prestigious university. I know many people who are 'interested' in startups and crave some kind of validation that they are a real entrepreneur before sinking their teeth in. My university even offers a 1 year diploma in entrepreneurship. Madness! As though formal…

> As though formal training will help you make the hard decisions you face as a founder.

Formal training means a way to structure your thoughts and assess risks. Don't dismiss it out of hand.

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#12

Post by cj » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 7:02 PM UTC

will_brown wrote: post #10

A not-so-obvious excerpt I took away is this... >Before joining YC, I had been working on my startup for 6 months and a few of my customers were YC companies. I think most people are aware that the startup market is quickly growing, and it is not what the author suggested by any means, but I think entire startups can be created to cater to the startup market...in fact YC is probably so large that a startup could prob…

Funny enough, there's a YC-funded company that does exactly that: https://www.clerky.com

The list of customers on their homepage is mostly YC companies.

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#13

Post by anateus » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 7:17 PM UTC

woah wrote: post #6

totalrobe wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I was about to say. If you want money, go to investors. If you want a community, join an incubator.

Ehhhh... Aren't there syndicates standing ready with millions for every YC startup on Demo Day? I think YC acceptance is worth at least 10 million in funding.

That's... not true. I may have missed sarcasm here, but do you really think every company at demo day gets $10 mil?

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#14

Post by bendyBus » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 7:19 PM UTC

Kalium wrote: post #11

bendyBus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would suspect that this is non-obvious to people who view YC as a structured, semi-guaranteed route to success, the way many people view a degree from a prestigious university. I know many people who are 'interested' in startups and crave some kind of validation that they are a real entrepreneur before sinking their teeth in. My university even offers a 1 year diploma in entrepreneurship. Madness! As though formal…

> As though formal training will help you make the hard decisions you face as a founder. Formal training means a way to structure your thoughts and assess risks. Don't dismiss it out of hand.

Point taken. Education is of course a valuable thing - but a year's worth of instruction on entrepreneurship after you've already got a degree?

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#15

Post by nashashmi » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 7:24 PM UTC

Nurturing relationships while struggling to master a subject or anything else for that matter is the main reason for going to any school in the world.

The key here though is the struggling aspect. If a school does not make you struggle to the point where you look for connections, I doubt then there is a point to the school itself.

Further, every major founder of every major startup has always looked back at the single biggest reason to their success are the relationships they acquired, nurtured, and mastered.

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#16

Post by danudey » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 8:12 PM UTC

jasode wrote: post #2

>YC is at its core a group of great people. Correct me if I'm wrong but I actually thought that was the obvious reason to most applicants. A $120k investment from YC doesn't provide that much runway. That kind of money doesn't give much wiggle room for founders to splurge on luxuries like Aeron chairs and fancy cappuccino machines. That amount is to allow a small team to live in near-poverty in the SF Bay area for ~6…

This is basically what I came here to post. Meeting other founders and having a social and business circle of other successes and work-in-progress companies? Are there any other reasons to join YC? The money is a pittance, relative to the cost of being in SF, but the connections you can make in a month are invaluable.

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#17

Post by smokinn » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 8:44 PM UTC

bendyBus wrote: post #14

Kalium wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As though formal training will help you make the hard decisions you face as a founder. Formal training means a way to structure your thoughts and assess risks. Don't dismiss it out of hand.

Point taken. Education is of course a valuable thing - but a year's worth of instruction on entrepreneurship after you've already got a degree?

Why not? If someone has a degree in something technical I could imagine following a curriculum consisting partly of corporate finance management, fundraising, HR and other corporate issues for a year could be valuable, especially if they offer night classes or something like that so that you can still be working on your main idea.

Most college new grads are not exactly CEO material from the get-go.

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#18

Post by _delirium » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 9:17 PM UTC

anateus wrote: post #13

woah wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ehhhh... Aren't there syndicates standing ready with millions for every YC startup on Demo Day? I think YC acceptance is worth at least 10 million in funding.

That's... not true. I may have missed sarcasm here, but do you really think every company at demo day gets $10 mil?

It's not guaranteed, but it almost certainly raises the odds. The YC "brand" and investor exposure is quite valuable on its own, even independent of any other benefits.

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#19

Post by bendyBus » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 9:17 PM UTC

smokinn wrote: post #17

bendyBus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Point taken. Education is of course a valuable thing - but a year's worth of instruction on entrepreneurship after you've already got a degree?

Why not? If someone has a degree in something technical I could imagine following a curriculum consisting partly of corporate finance management, fundraising, HR and other corporate issues for a year could be valuable, especially if they offer night classes or something like that so that you can still be working on your main idea. Most college new grads are not exactly CEO material from the get-go.

I would assert that a recent graduate who wants to be an entrepreneur is mostly doing themselves a disservice by studying those things. It focuses your thoughts on how to run a business rather than how to solve a problem or turn an industry on its head.

Sure, many of those things could come in handy in the future - but there are far more difficult things which you also have to learn "as you go".

Re: A not-so-obvious reason to apply to YC

#20

Post by Swizec » Thu, Mar 19, 2015, 9:18 PM UTC

bendyBus wrote: post #7

jasode wrote: post #2

>YC is at its core a group of great people. Correct me if I'm wrong but I actually thought that was the obvious reason to most applicants. A $120k investment from YC doesn't provide that much runway. That kind of money doesn't give much wiggle room for founders to splurge on luxuries like Aeron chairs and fancy cappuccino machines. That amount is to allow a small team to live in near-poverty in the SF Bay area for ~6…

I would suspect that this is non-obvious to people who view YC as a structured, semi-guaranteed route to success, the way many people view a degree from a prestigious university. I know many people who are 'interested' in startups and crave some kind of validation that they are a real entrepreneur before sinking their teeth in. My university even offers a 1 year diploma in entrepreneurship. Madness! As though formal…

> My university even offers a 1 year diploma in entrepreneurship.

Wouldn't it be cheaper and more educational to just launch a side-business and keep it running for a year?